Story Route Zero: Recent Episodes
Story Route Zero
Story Route Zero is a podcast where friends gather to discuss their travels through the good, the bad, the ugly, the funny, and the often confusing worlds encountered in games. We don't always know where we're going, but that's half the fun.
Join Moose, Jason, Michaela and Matthew Kiel each and every week. Let's have a journey.
Everyone is present and accounted for to cover Gamescom Opening Night Live. Then we go in a different direction with an announcement. No, Story Route Zero is not ending but we are taking a break. This will be the last (not final) episode as we go on hiatus. We hope you enjoy this show and all our shows and we will see everyone soon.
Jason was off this week but the rest of the group still gathered for a chat about video games and some news. Enjoy the episode!
Matt took the week off but Michaela, Moose and Jason are here to talk games and some news.
Road Squad is fully saturated this week as Michaela returns to regale with tales of Dragon Quest XIs and the child soldiers in Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Jason is playing Kingdom Hearts (still to Matthew's confusion), starting Salt and Sacrifice, and Monolith as well as releasing impressions of Tarnishing of Juxtia. He's also still dominating his Mario Kart weekends with the family. Matthew is STILL hunting Monsters in Sunbreak and loving it. Moose is still chilling in Night City as well as playing Outriders with Jason and friends and he prefers it that way over solo play. Moose also has walked around in the cat game (Stray). Moose also took a mini tour through the PS+ essential tier free games via Warhammer Chaosbane.
We also dig into the Annapurna showcase that happened last week as well as some other news.
As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you!
We hope you have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
We're at 75% capacity and somehow managed to release our shortest episode ever. Matthew is back after a 2-week absence to talk Monster Hunter Rise and he's still loving it. He's about to start the Sunbreak content and realizes how much he still has to learn. Moose is cruising toward the platinum in Cyberpunk 2077. He and Jason have both begun journeys into Live A Live. Jason is still here to deliver the weekly reminder that Vampire Survivors rules and is still enjoying Monolith. He reviewed Xel and it seems like it might be a meal that hadn't finished cooking. He also returned to Outriders, did a little more Kingdom Hearts, and regales us with stories of the Marshall family Mario Kart Sundays.
As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you!
We hope you have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
We're back up to 3/4 of the group on this week's episode. Moose and Michaela were laser-focused on one game each while Jason finished off multiple cyberpunk games and tried to be diplomatic about a review that is not going so well.
It's only Moose and Jason this week but they still talk games and news and games and news.
Matt's playing fighting games, Moose is not playing Elden Ring, Jason is reviewing games and Michaela experienced game crashes because she's cursed. All that and a Nintendo Mini Direct on this week's episode. Enjoy!
Fun fact: most of the episode titles are either pre-show or during the show quotes. We hope you enjoy this week's hour of shenanigans.
It’s a full car this week as everyone is back and games were played!
Michaela is chugging through Dragon Quest XIs and loving it. Jason, Matthew and Moose passed the mic around talking 20 Minutes to Dawn, TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge, and Neon White. Demos from Steamfest are also discussed, including Jason's preview on Lone Ruin. Matthew tried Mistover on Michaela's recommendation and immediately fell in love. Moose finally made the return to Horizon Forbidden West and is enjoying what he's been playing this second time around.
Square news and Dragon’s Dogma news are also discussed with Matt asking what is a Crisis Core.
As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you! We hope you have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
It's a Moose-less show this week as he’s on vacation. However, Matthew purchased Elden Ring on Steam, so there’s more of that here. He also played a couple of other things. Michaela has been cleansed in the pun-filled waters of Dragon Quest XI. Jason beat Salt and Sanctuary, reviewed Card Shark, and continues to carry the torch by reminding everyone that Vampire Survivors is wonderful.
Lots of news this week, as we try to tackle the beginning of Summer Games Fest and cover Sony's latest State of Play.
As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you! We hope you have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
It's a bit more of the same this week with some exceptions. Michaela had some computer issues, so she watched Spy X Family and immediately sells Matt on it. Moose is bouncing between characters in Elden Ring and stepping back into Division 2. Jason platinumed Elden Ring and then bit a bullet and beat Lords of the Fallen. Matt is attempting to not keep falling into Elden Ring by playing a lot of Circuit Superstars, which he absolutely loves.
As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you! We hope you have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
And we’re back again.
Jason has beaten Elden Ring and is playing Kirby Star Allies with his daughter. He’s also reviewing something else because that is what he does.Michaela has finished another Fire Emblem: Three Houses playthrough and is quite excited for the upcoming Musou game. Moose got another platinum in Elden Ring and finally started Vampire Survivors. Matthew has started and is liking Dunk Lords, continuing Elden Ring, and has bounced on and off of Eiyuden Chronicle Rising.
We discuss the premises of I, Inquisitor as well as PlayStation trying to help provide definitions for ‘gamer speak’.
As always, enjoy the show and we hope you have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Back again talking games! Matthew was stuck at work and unable to make the show, but there was no shortage of discussion.
Michaela is doubling down on Xenoblade Chronicles and its many, many (MANY) side quests. Moose is dabbling in things other than Elden Ring (but is he though?) like Horizon Forbidden West and Tunic (which Matthew thinks is awesome!). Jason finished Dark Souls 2 and Horizon Forbidden West, took his first steps in Dark Souls 3 (Moose and Michaela are so happy for him) and continues playing Kirby with his daughter. He also stepped back into Lords of the Fallen and The Surge for some more Soulslike-lite(ish) action.
As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you! We hope you have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Matthew has finished Elden Ring for his 187th platinum trophy, Michaela is doing side quests for days in Xenoblade and Jason reviewed Weird West and is slowly nearing the end of Dark Souls 2.
We talk quite a bit about mean spiders in games and in life and discuss some news.
Happy 28th anniversary, Final Fantasy VI.
As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you! We hope you have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Michaela throws us all a curveball as she started and beat Ara Fell: Enhanced Edition on Switch. Moose has platinumed Elden Ring with Matthew close behind in the endgame (which means the weekly Elden Ring talk will begin to slow down, allegedly). The day of recording was Jason’s birthday, so he finished Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition, returned to Returnal, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, and, of course, Vampire Survivors. It’s also the anniversary of Kingdom Hearts, so we mention that too!
As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you!
We hope you have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Breaking news! Moose and Matthew spend a lot more time gushing about Elden Ring, specifically their experiences rather than going for spoilers.
Michaela finished Triangle Strategy and reviewed it for Obilisk.co. She also dipped into Horizon again to just continue clearing the map and tasks. Then she started Stranger of Paradise, brought out notes and says it’s a hot mess, but she might still like it.
Jason is continuing his travels through Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition as well as the nebulous and weird world of Gran Turismo 7 and its microtransactions.
As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you!
We hope you have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Michaela has published a review of Horizon Forbidden West on obilisk.co. You should read it. She's know all about that Triangle Strategy.
Matthew is out this week because he's a coward who's afraid to do homework.
Moose is still playing Elden Ring hard, but somehow also Tom Clancy's The Division 2 for when he needs to shoot people in the face.
Jason is making his own way through Horizon Forbidden West now and getting detoured all the way. He also took the advice of "What you should play next on steam," and started up Dark Souls: The Prepare to Die Edition and, like most, hates the great hollow.
We also discuss the recent State of Play and other news in this dual holiday week.
As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you!
We hope you have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Michaela has finished and platinumed Horizon Forbidden West (Spoiler alert: she loves it) and began Triangle Strategy which is also giving her those good, good vibes. Jason has gotten all the achievements in Vampire Survivors and reviewed Shadow Warrior 3 and What Lies in the Multiverse. Check those out on www.obilisk.co.
Moose and Matt are still face deep in Elden Ring and enjoying their time with it, but not really wanting to get too deep into spoiler territory. They also voice their own distaste for the discourse around the game.
We also cover some news and will take this moment to tell anyone and everyone to get the Ender Lillies physical edition from Limited Run!
As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you!
We hope you have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
The pod is basically split this week with 2 of us playing Horizon Forbidden West and 2 of us playing Elden Ring. Both games are wonderful in our estimation and we really try to avoid spoilers (to decent success). Neither are without their problems and we get into that a little bit, but from our points of view, both are absolutely fantastic.
Jason also played more Vampire Survivors and has had a bit of a downer time with Elex II.
As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you!
We hope you have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Horizon Forbidden West has been released and all of us have started it. You’ll hear first impressions, a little talk about referencing the first game, and a couple of early-game spoilers.
Michaela has tried the new demo and is excited about Triangle Strategy. Matthew and Jason are still in an arms race with Vampire Survivors and it’s still fun. Jason is enjoying his time in Dark Souls 2 as he enters the Doors of Faros. Moose played the Cyberpunk 2077 demo and is digging it. Matthew enlisted 3 new Helldivers, started and finished Dishonored, and made a bunch of progress in Metroid Dread.
As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you!
We hope you have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Matt has the week off but we covered quite a bit. Michaela is still playing Horizon Zero Dawn as she anxiously awaits for Horizon Forbidden West. Jason finished up reviews for Rise of the Third Power and is near completion on OlliOlli World and Grapple Dog as he continues his adventure in Dark Souls 2. Moose played a bit of everything but finished off the Horizon Zero Dawn DLC just in time for Friday's launch.
We also discuss the PlayStation Indie showcase and the latest Nintendo Direct.
Enjoy the show and have a great week!
This week, EIC of The Outer Haven Keith Mitchell (aka @shadowhaxor) joins us for shenanigans, Souls talk, Sifu talk, discussing Sony’s acquisition of Bungie, and the need for outlets to stop covering Elden Ring so he can go in as fresh as possible. It’s a nonstop good time of an episode this week.
As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you!
We hope you have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Another week, another acquisition, but we’re still talking about games we’re playing.
Jason is reviewing both Rise of the Third Power and Grapple Dog and spreading the addiction of Vampire Survivors (though Matthew has reported his exposure already - and he calls it an idle-mussougelite). He also played Beat Saber and Super Hot VR. Michaela’s ass is numb and she’s still doing Horizon Zero Dawn’s photo mode as well as testing the waters with the Monark demo. Matthew has made massive progress in another backlog title, Scarlet Nexus. He’s also gotten further in Deep Rock Galactic and briefly mentions Wordle. Moose is tying up loose ends in Breath of the Wild and kicking Biomutant to the curb because he’s not enjoying it. He also began Plague Tale: Innocence and has a good first impression. We then dabble in some news of the week.
As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you! We hope you have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
We hit the Wilt Chamberlain number this week. While we didn’t plan anything, we certainly came to talk about games.
Michaela loves Horizon Zero Dawn for anyone who didn’t know, Matthew is completely enraptured by his time in Yakuza 0, which he finished this week, Jason is tearing through the Mario series like it ain’t no thang but left some time for another platformer as he finished up Sackboy, and Moose is doing Dark Souls mods.
We mention the thing that Microsoft did and go through our PlayStation wrap ups for 2021.
As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you!
We hope you have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
For our second episode of 2022, we have our first guest of the year. Lovingly called The Maestro, Lee Navarro is one of the 3 main folks behind The Phoenix Overdrive Extra Life Team who, for more than a decade now, has dedicated almost all of their off time to the one weekend in November where most of the gaming world comes together to raise money to help sick kids via the Children's Miracle Network of Hospitals. While they are just one team among many, they've continued to gain more donations every year since forming. In 2021, they raised over $25K which is no mean feat when you consider they do all the grassroots work locally in New York. But all that work has not stopped him from playing games and stopping by to tell a story or 2. Give him a follow @nisiar83 on Twitter or check out the wonderful Phoenix Overdrive Extra Life Team at https://www.phoenixoverdrive.com/ and find out how you can help this crew help those of us who might need it more than others through the Children's Miracle Network.
Also, we talk about video games a bit and Matt was up for 27 hours.
As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you!
We hope you have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
After a brief break following our Game of the Year discussion, everyone is back in 2022. We start the year by finishing up the old backlog challenge before trying out a new way to tackle that endless list.
Michaela played Atelier Ryza and enjoyed what she has played so far. It is not recommended for JRPG newbies though.
Moose explored the Oldest House in Control and even went ahead and nabbed that platinum trophy.
Matt finally experienced Ratchet & Clank: A Rift Apart and loved every minute of this Pixar-esque video game.
Jason time-traveled back to ancient Egypt and completed Assassin's Creed Origins with thoughts of possibly playing Odyssey and Valhalla.
With some time to spare, we briefly go over what we have played during the hiatus.
As always, enjoy the show and we will see you next week.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Game of the Year Discussion Part 5. The top 3 for all 4 hosts. Enjoy and see you in 2022.
This week is just Michaela and Jason. Before jumping into games played, they share what Black Friday gaming purchases were made.
If you have not played Inscryption, this is your spoiler warning.
There were a few news items to discuss like the possible PS Plus leak (confirmed now), a Chrono Cross rumor, some news about Horizon: Forbidden West, and more. Enjoy the show and join us next week for our Game of the Year discussions.
This week, the group played some old games, some new games, and had some interesting thoughts about games. Jason had a ‘Trigger Witch moment’ with Inscryption and has some mixed feelings towards Guardians of the Galaxy. Matt is Helldiving, F.I.S.T.-ing (PHRASING) and Halo (ing?). In a strange twist, Michaela is surprisingly not feeling Shin Megami Tensei V. Moose is back to Breakpoint as he dove into the new content.
We also discuss some news including Hitman 3's 2022 roadmap, GTA's rough week (or two or three), and a few game delays.
As always, enjoy the show and we will see you next week.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Michaela took a week off so it's just Matt, Moose, and Jason. Surprisingly, there were little puns probably because it would not annoy anyone. We got a couple of platinum trophies to discuss and some news to go over.
As always, we hope you enjoy the show.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
It’s back to normal business this week with the road posse as Michaela defeats three games in a week, Jason tackles CoD on day one and Moose goes absolutely bananas playing all the games. Good thing too because Matthew had to basically be responsible all week and couldn’t play anything new.
Didn’t stop us from having a bit of fun for one second. We also discuss news in brief (Elden Ring, drag Nintendo a bit despite loving them).
As always, we hope you enjoy the show.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
It’s game club time! We all played Curse of the Dead Gods, a roguelite developed by Passtech and published by Focus Home Interactive (or whatever their name is this week). Lots of thoughts, comparisons, and wonderful praise for this game with only a few minor gripes. We unanimously loved this game.
We also discuss the Sony State of Okay and Matt gets excited for a PS1 Demake of Bloodborne.
As always, we hope you enjoy the show.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
It's only down to three this week but we discuss what we're playing and the news for the week. Predictions are made for the PlayStation State of Play and video game movies are briefly discussed.
As always, we hope you enjoy the show.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
A full complement of cohosts is here and games are discussed, wisecracks are made, Matt makes some dumb statements as usual and Moose spends time playing Borderlands 3 as just a shooter. Michaela discusses a bit of FIST as well as her shared experience of Life is Strange: True Colors. Each cohost hints at Curse of the Dead Gods and backlog games are decided for Moose and Jason as Matthew and Michaela will keep theirs (Ratchet and Clank and Atelier Ryza, respectively). News is also discussed and the cohosts go in on Nintendo for doing their thing the way they do. All this and so much more!
As always, enjoy the show and have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
It's just Michaela, Moose and Jason this week as Matt was on vacation.
We talked about the Battlefield 2042 beta, a new PS Plus freebie, Hell Let Loose, and Metroid Dread already being pirated.
Moose enjoyed his time with the Battlefield 2042 beta and played the next game club, Curse of the Dead Gods.
Michaela finished up Kena: Bridge of Spirits minutes before showtime.
Jason is enjoying his time with Far Cry 6 and briefly started Metroid Dread.
As always, we hope you enjoy the show and have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
It's a two-man operation this week for the Backlog Challenge.
Moose played Cave Story + and thoroughly enjoyed his time while Jason finally played Cat Quest II, the sequel to the wonderful Cat Quest.
Fun fact: Moose and Jason, on their previous podcast had the opportunity to interview Desmond Wong of The Gentle Bros so they know that Cat Quest II is only the second game of a planned 9 (lives - cats, get it?)
As always, we hope you enjoy the show and have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Everyone is here this week to discuss the latest Nintendo Direct which showed quite a few exciting things.
What have we been playing?
Matt is absolutely obsessed with Hades but had some times with a bit of co-op Demon's Souls
Moose dove into the Death Stranding Director's Cut and Diablo 2 and he finished up Cave Story +
Michaela stopped fishing long enough to complete Tales of Arise and was able to start up Kena
Jason was a few kills away from breaking the loop in Deathloop but also had time to work on a review for Tails of Iron and, much to Michaela's delight, started up Final Fantasy X
As always, we hope you enjoy the show and have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Everyone is present and accountable this week. We talk about RPGs and JRPGs and WRPGs, THQ revealing a few games/remakes of games, the PS5 system update that is more than just a stability patch, and Nintendo finally discovered Bluetooth technology.
What are we playing?
Michaela is tackling Tales of Arise and making progress despite the fishing causing some catfish PTSD.
Matt finished up Art of Rally, tried some Deathloop, and had time for some co-op in Demon's Souls.
Moose streamed some Tails of Iron and even got a visit from the game's art direction, and he played Deathloop, Demon's Souls, Curse of the Dead Gods, Control, and Cave Story +.
Jason played Curse of the Dead Gods, jumped in the Call of Duty Vanguard beta (he now wants to buy the game on release), some more F.I.S.T., a bunch of Deathloop, started Eastward, is reviewing Tails of Iron, and put out his review for Golf Club Wasteland.
https://www.obilisk.co/golf-club-wasteland-review/
As always, we hope you enjoy the show and have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Back to business this week as we discuss games we’re playing and the PlayStation event. Moose beat Trigger Witch so of course, we discuss that hard left turn of a final act for a bit of therapy for Matthew. Golf Club Wasteland was given high praise around the room. Michaela briefly played F.I.S.T. (Jason is as well) and loves what she has experience but spent most of her time with Tales of Arise. Matthew made his return to Hades while still plugging away at Demon’s Souls.
As always, we hope you enjoy the show and have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
It’s a Game Club episode this week and we go for a deep dive into Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights from Aglobe, Inc. and Live Wire, published by Binary Haze Interactive. Be ready for spoilers and a bunch of gamers just gushing about how much they love this game. 8 thumbs up and 4 glowing recommendations for this wonderful Metroidvania.
We also do some talk about what else we’ve played. Matthew briefly touches on Trigger Witch and that absurd left turn in the story. He is very confused right now. No spoilers though because Moose is only at the start of the game.
As always, we hope you enjoy the show and have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
This week, Jason left us, so we’re unsupervised but surprisingly well-behaved adults. Matthew and Moose managed to co-op half of Dark Souls Remastered, Michaela blitzed through Game Club (patent pending) game in preparation for next week, and Moose jumped back into Division 2 again but claims he’s going to delete it.
We also discussed Gamescom and Opening Night Live for a bit.
As always, we hope you enjoy the show and we will see you next week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Everyone is present and accounted for this week. Games were played, news was discussed. We also chose the next torture, errr, backlog game for everyone to enjoy next month.
This week, Michaela is not with us, so Matt does at least 1 horrible pun that she'll frown about when she listens to the episode. Jason reviewed Jupiter Hell and really loved it but also went hard in Eldest Souls and beat the game. Moose ventured into Diablo 2 Resurrected and came away with both positives and negatives from the experience. He also jumped into Back 4 Blood with Jason and Jeff. Matthew started and finished Boyfriend Dungeon and had a wonderful time, fought the urge to go back to Hades (but for how long?), and also jumped into Art of Rally on Game Pass, a chill racer with a wonderful synthwave soundtrack.
We also spend some time discussing the Nintendo Indie World from the previous week.
As always, we hope you enjoy the show and have a wonderful week.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
After another week off, we’re all back to talk about some games. This week, it’s a backlog week. Michaela is more than a little underwhelmed by River City Girls, Moose loves the free jazz beat-em-up Ape Out, Jason found he really loved his time with Disco Elysium and Matthew enjoyed Void Bastards.
We also mention a few other games we are playing and a few news items that took place since the last episode.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/447150/APE_OUT/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1049320/River_City_Girls/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/632470/Disco_Elysium__The_Final_Cut/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/857980/Void_Bastards/
As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Have a wonderful week.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
It would be par for the course that Moose and Michaela return and Matt shows up late. This is why we cannot have nice things.
Anyway, a ton of games were played by all. We even decided on our next Game Club game which spawned out of a F@*#! You, Jason moment with Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knight. It was not a busy news week but there were some items to discuss.
Enjoy the show!
Intro Music: "All Time High" by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: "Brightest Hour" by Young President
Finally, it’s here. The Resident Evil 2 Remake chat featuring 1/3 of the podcast formerly known as Nerds Gone Platinum, Jeff Glasson.
We go through our thoughts on the experience, make feeble attempts to parse out the lore and find our own differences in our routes and actually consider playing more of these games on our own.
We also let talk Jeff talk about what he has been playing since last coming on the show.
As always, we hope you enjoy the show and have a wonderful week.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
We were going to have our Resident Evil 2 Game Club episode but an audible was called. Check back next week for that discussion.
It is only Matt and Jason this week so they go back and forth with what they have been playing. Since we had a week off, we discuss what we have been up to in the past 2 weeks and detour into fandom, hating gatekeeping, and improvise a Top 5 for the first half of 2021.
This was supposed to be a quick chat but turned into a full-length episode.
As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Well, the entire cast now has a PS5 and this episode is our most game-packed episode in a while.
Michaela had a ‘fuck it day’ and got in a bunch of Ratchet and Clank. Found a way to have a keyblade as well. Matthew was able to mess with Astro’s Playroom for a bit and was dumbfounded by how cool it is. Jason played the wonderful looking Ender Lillies and now the rest of the cast is sold. Moose hoodwinked the rest of the cast with the surprise of him acquiring a PS5 and then proceeded to play a bunch of games on it, including Returnal and Demon’s Souls.
No, this is not everything discussed, but that’s why you should listen to the episode. Love you!
We hope you have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Everyone is present and accounted for this week.
Michaela demoed some games, Moose is still playing tons of WoW, Matt found himself a PS5 and Jason finished off two platinums. We make our backlog selections and discussed Nintendo's E3 show.
Everyone's present and accounted for this week as Michaela is now in her new digs, Matthew is almost completely over the illness and a complete cavalcade of games news has taken over the summer.
With regard to games, Moose is still WoW-ing, Jason has almost platinumed Biomutant and Ratchet & Clank and Michaela accidentally platinumed a game as well. Matthew has been in a weird funk as far as games go, but he did fire up Crusader Kings 3 and incestuous shenanigans ensued.
Jason, being the responsible one here, has compiled a wonderful list of game news for the rest of us to examine in our way and we couldn’t be more thankful.
We hope you have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Matt was under the weather this week but the rest of the group dove into their backlogs. Michaela is playing Ys Origin and, while she did enjoy it, it did not scream 3 playthroughs. Moose is all about Golf Story and even recommends it just to play a few rounds of golf if you need a break from, well anything. Jason is on the final mission of Uncharted 2 and is already planning on playing the rest of the series. He quite enjoyed topping his friends with the in-game stats provided.
We also discussed the all-digital events that are flooding our timelines for the next few weeks.
Indie Live Expo https://t.co/hseN3ubh58?amp=1
Guerilla Collective https://t.co/h0yE8ZptaP?amp=1 (it will take you to Twitch but you can click on the recent broadcast)
EastAsiaSoft Showcase https://t.co/qXSLeQGid5?amp=1
Playdate Update https://t.co/w0mBaXzAGl?amp=1
Battlefield 2042 Reveal https://t.co/d5o6X8c54D?amp=1
Summer Game Fest https://t.co/tAZRjWWHQm?amp=1
Day of the Devs https://t.co/tAZRjWWHQm?amp=1
Netflix Geeked Week https://t.co/nEwN58D29g?amp=1
Everyone's present and accounted for this week as Michaela is now coming from the dark den that is Rhode Island, Matthew has been not gaming a ton, but the show shall continue. Moose has dumped his life into WoW and is still loving it as he's almost content current in the ever-present MMO, Michaela has been moving and not gaming, Matthew's still on his bullshit with Binding of Isaac, but has taken opportunities to expose the youths to Undermine and Heave-Ho on Nintendo Switch, and Jason has nothing but praise to lavish on Biomutant which is a breath of fresh air considering the discourse around it.
We also discuss the pre-E3, pre-Summer Games Fest news dump of Dragon Quest, Horizon, and a few others.
Matthew also started a music podcast called Trivial Merit where he and his friend Caroline create 8-song playlists to move them (and maybe others as well) from a negative headspace to a positive one. Find them @TrivialMerit on Twitter. Shows will be every 2 weeks.
We hope you have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Everyone's present and accounted for this week as Michaela's move continues on, Matthew is working Monday through Friday now, Moose is on the WoW and Jason is playing EVERYTHING.
Moose goes into some transmogging in WoW and his trials with that and Matthew had a long Genshin Impact session along with still loving Binding of Isaac: Repentance (but that's him on his bullshit). Jason is playing his and everyone else's backlog game and Michaela, in her preparation to move, had a final smash with the roommate and is blowing her way through Pandora in Borderlands.
Matthew also started a movie watch podcast called Free Reeling It! and the first episode (actually episode 0) where he and Jesse (@sleeperofthebed) go through films they like is now available. Look them up on Twitter @freereelingit.
We hope you have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
In one of the shortest episodes we have done so far, the group is down a member this week (he'll be back). Moose is still battling a WoW addiction but the release of Mass Effect Remastered was enough to pull him away for a bit. Jason is still chipping away at Returnal and Rising Hell but joined Michaela on Pandora as she has finally started Borderlands 3.
All this and some news. Enjoy the show.
This episode, the crew keeps it (appropriately so) nice and tight. We get into Nier Replicant, Monster Hunter Rise, WoW, Returnal, and Jason talks up Rising Hell. We also discuss some news and crack jokes. You know, the usual.
All this and more on another winding road with the posse.
We hope you have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Once again, it's Game Club time (our 10th to be exact) and 3 of us are present. Here we discuss Concrete Genie by Pixelopus and the adventures of Ash Paint 'em, a bunch of bullies and some helpful, adorably horrific monsters. Being that it's a short game, that gives room for talk of Returnal (probably too much) and its reception as well as Matt and Michaela to further discuss Nier Replicant [Square Root of Pi].
We also talk the 30 minutes that could've been a tweet in the most recent State of Play from Sony as well as the China Hero Project's Lost Soul Aside showcase. All this and more on another winding road with the posse.
We hope you have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
2 things have infected the road posse this week, Matthew had spread Monster Hunter to a couple of his cohosts successfully. Also, Michaela and Matthew are enraptured by Nier Replicant ver. 1.22474487139 and go appropriately hard on the game. No real spoilers, hopefully. Jason is inching closer to the Outriders platinum, Moose is playing Ding Dong XL and no episode would be complete without some stupid puns from Matthew.
All this and more on another winding road with the posse. We hope you have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
The gang is all here this week and all smiles (odd for a Monday). Michaela finished Bravely Default 2 and then finished it again, Moose is having fun with his PC and may start streaming soon, Matt found out why Jason raved about Loop Hero and is all about the Monster Hunter (Rise) while Jason played a bit of everything including Saga Frontier Remastered which earned him a "Fuck You Jason" from Michaela.
We also discuss Nintendo's Indie World from the previous week and a slew of other news.
It’s Backlog Time! Jason and Matthew played Hitman (2016), Michaela Watched some Dogs, and Moose saved Christmas with the eldest of gods. We also talked about how Jason wrapped both Loop Hero and Outriders and dug into some news. E3 is changing, but still the same, somehow.
Matthew is in a new recording locale, Jason is mere days from a 5G upgrade, and Moose’s family increased by 21,000.
All this and more on another winding road with the posse. We hope you have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Back at it again, like crack addict again! Moose is appropriately celebrating his birthday and getting the education only a first viewing of the film Terminator can give. Jason is still at it with Loop Hero and further diving into Outriders while Michaela is using a cute dragon to incinerate folks in Bravely Default 2 and Matthew played all the games this week, several of which are on Apple Arcade and briefly started Monster Hunter Rise.
We also briefly discuss some news and Matthew has a bunch of technical issues. We hope you have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
And we’re on the road again.
Jason is playing all the games, but really falling both in love with and further from the ability to describe Loop Hero. Moose is on a steady diet of WoW. Michaela is enjoying Bravely Default 2 and getting through her backlog game. Matt has re-caught up to where he was in Hitman 3, got the platinum, and admitted it’s probably going to keep him playing much of the year with the new DLC announcement.
It’s another video game road trip with this group. We hope you have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
It’s another video game road trip with Michaela, Jason, Moose, and Matthew.
This week, buckle up for Bravely Default 2 love, WoW love, and Hitman love. Moose has a gaming laptop and has wasted no time chasing the MMO dragon and loving it all over again. Jason and Captain Canada have joined in his journey as he re-learns how to heal party members. Michaela is having a ball with Bravely Default 2 to the point where Jason picked up the original and his 3DS on his breaks from the ever-addictive Loop Hero. Matthew is still galavanting around the World of Assassination trilogy of Hitman and loving it.
We also discuss the news of Sony partnering to buy EVO among other things. We hope you have a wonderful week!
Matt took the night off so Jason opens up the show by annoying Moose and Michaela. Michaela finally dove into Bravely Default 2 and is enjoying her time so far. Moose played a bit of everything but he bought a gaming laptop so there should be exciting things to walk about next week. Jason continues on with Loop Hero all the while exterminating spiders in his upcoming review.
Also, we speculate on announcements as press conferences galore were scheduled for after the show's recording.
It’s another video game road trip with this group.
Michaela still has not started Bravely Default 2 but is going for one grindy platinum in Persona 5 Strikers. Matthew shares the trophy frustration with 3 bugged trophies in Hitman 3 but, he’s not giving up, just starting over. Jason is addicted to Rogue Heroes, worried about getting the F*** You Jason treatment with Loop Hero, and getting his money’s worth out of the Outriders demo. Moose has also been putting a ton of time into Rogue Heroes while still causing chaos in Breakpoint. We also talk about our next game club game and submit our picks for it as well as some brief news. We hope you have a wonderful week!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
We start things off with the sad news of the passing of The Nintendo Guru, Bobby Pauls. Our hearts go out to all affected by the loss of a truly wonderful individual. May he Rest In Peace.
We then talk Foul Play, a beat ‘em up with a good setting, lesser mechanics, and story. While none of us hated it, we don’t go hard on a recommendation either.
Michaela discusses Persona 5 Strikers and the fact that she purchased Bravely Default 2. Matt talks about Earthbound and Hitman giving him the feels. Moose and Jason discuss Outriders and Jason has now settled into playing games that the rest of the panel will not hate him for.
Last and definitely least, we discuss Sony's latest State of Play. Lackluster only begins to describe it. Welcome to the video game road trip.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
The gang's all here and the show starts off like Festivus. Apparently, there are many grievances with Jason's (excellent) game recommendations. Games played were also discussed but, to follow last week's footsteps, two more big showcases took place.
Nintendo had its first showcase in nearly 18 months and BlizzCon was all digital for the first time ever. A lot of new games were announced and we got dates on some things and were just teased on others.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
It is down to three this week as Matt needed to tend to off-screen things. Michaela finished up Ys IX and plans to write the review (that review was written and is up on the Obilisk website). Jason tried Valheim, did not like Valheim, but thanks to Steam, was able to refund Valheim. Moose helped a friend out in Yarnham but was mainly having a blast in Super Mario 3D World.
Also discussed were the Epic Games Showcase and Ubisoft killing it just about everywhere.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
The road posse returns to talk games for a bit. Jason continues cranking out reviews for Obilisk with Olija and the totally-fine-but-I-can’t-believe-this-is-going-to-be-seventy-dollars Destruction All-Stars. Michaela is all in on Ys IX and has wrapped up FFXII: The Zodiac Age and is ready to adjunct at RPG University. Also, movie the-A-ter butter Nioh 2 has thrown her an 8-trophy curveball that might have her trekking back into it. Moose is back into Moose things with Division 2 and Breakpoint. Matt is playing fighting games with abandon. Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator 2 has taken over his house along with Under Night and he’s still trying to get better at Smash Brothers so he can totally be an adult and beat the crap out of some trash-talking teens. He also drops a giant Moose on a capitalist criminal in Hitman 3, which is a very good game.
News gets some brief discussion at the end and we laugh a bit along the way.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Welp, we’re back again and this time we are talking about our backlog adventures. Matt comes out swinging for the fences with some of his worst jokes. The majority of the crew ends up bouncing off their backlog games for various reasons: Moose feeling the anxiety of a platinum, Michaela for questionable rewards for progress, Jason because he wanted more religious NBA Jam on fire, and Matt because of the timing of playing his game.
Also discussed: Stadia studio shutdown, Lovely Lady Dimitrescu, id software makes us feel old, Matt and Reba are now going to EVO, Jason keeps pumping out reviews, Moose hates planes and Michaela is preparing to teach at RPG U.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
It was the week of returns on Story Route Zero. Matt made a temporary one to address the "Memory" but work rudely called right in the middle of storytime. One of our favorite streamers, Nakandrea, came back for a visit after 23 weeks as well.
Lots of games were discussed as well as acquisitions and other news.
Be sure to follow Nak over on Twitch at https://www.twitch.tv/nakandrea
Next week sees the backlog discussion and some of us are not too thrilled with our choices.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Matt is still on break but he was very much a part of this episode. Michaela jumped into a different Final Fantasy, Moose was all over the place again with games, and Jason nabbed his first platinum of 2021.
There was also quite a bit of news to discuss and the next game club was announced.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Matt took a week off so Jason started the show trying to make Michaela laugh. Michaela is really enjoying Immortals, Jason did not play much but he started (keyword: started) a certain challenge game and Moose just played everything including Age of Calamity which he is absolutely loving.
Backlog nominations were made and we discuss some of Nintendo's recent decision making including the removal of games under a certain price point.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Well, we all made it out of 2020 so let’s kick off 2021 with new backlog tackling ideas and a Game Club! This time around, we played the PS3-PS4 generation straddler Sleeping Dogs from United Front Games and Square Enix.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Before Game Club, we have to remember how to record an episode since we were gone for what felt like an eternity (2 spouses forgot Monday is a recording night). Over the break Jason moved, Michaela read and Kiel and Moose played and platinumed games. Matt also pays respect to MF DOOM, may he Rest In Peace. A bit of a shocking twist comes in the form of Jason and Michaela having changes of heart regarding games they swore never to play. Michaela will buy Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory if Jason can get through 2-3 dungeons of Persona 5 and talk about it on the show.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Additional music: “Funky Uncle” by Pop Villains
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Story Route Zero’s first season comes to a close. This is our second of 2 Game of the Year shows, the one where we talk out our individual 10 favorite games of the year.
We also had a bit of input from our friends T-man from Make Me A Gamer, Julian the awesome music maker, Allen “The Meme Wizard” Heinen as well as Becky, Lee, and Rey from Phoenix Overdrive, who took the time to chime in with their favorites of 2020 as well.
Settle in for a long one as we get completely passionate about our favorites and probably spoil things along the way.
We wish you the happiest of holiday seasons and a safe new year. We’ll see you in 2021.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Story Route Zero’s gas tank has triggered the low fuel light on our first season. We’ve reached the first of two (2) Game of the Year episodes for 2020. This is our category show, where we point out what we liked in certain areas of games this year. There will be spoilers, so beware. We do our level best to remember the many highs of 2020 with regard to games. There were some lows, yes, but we tried not to get too down.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Matthew is back this week and as unhinged as ever. Throwing down gauntlets with our previous guest and finding new ways to annoy his cohosts. Discussed this week are a cavalcade of games including Demon’s Souls for PS5, and Spider-Man: Miles Morales (which has given Michaela frustration, Matthew elation, and Jason a fun platinum).
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Matthew is back this week and as unhinged as ever. Throwing down gauntlets with our previous guest and finding new ways to annoy his cohosts. Discussed this week are a cavalcade of games including Demon’s Souls for PS5, and Spider-Man: Miles Morales (which has given Michaela frustration, Matthew elation, and Jason a fun platinum).
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Matt was feeling under the weather so we brought in his replacement Jeff. Matt is never here when Jeff is on and Jeff is never on when Matt is here. The plot thickens! Anyway, Jason hyped up Moose playing a new game so Moose obviously talked about The Division. He claims to be burnt out but we have a sneaking suspicion as to what he will be playing next week. He did start playing Ghost Recon Wildlands and more Breath of the Wild.
The real reason for Jeff's visit was to discuss the PS5 with the group. Jeff and Jason raved about the new Astro game (1st PS5 platinum!). Jeff also played Bugsnax and Jason already beat Miles Morales. Michaela is loving Demon Souls with the exception of those pesky spiders. Overall, it seems like the PS5 is an instant hit.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
We’re down a Moose this week, but Matthew returns. We begin with Notre Dame defeating Clemson, Election Results, and all of Matt’s PC parts being delivered and ready to build. Big shoutout to Phoenix Overdrive for raising nearly $10k for Extra Life.
Then we go to games, where Michaela finally jumps into Mortal Shell, Jason is wrapping up Watch Dogs Legion and Matthew has wrapped Paradise Killer and begun 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim.
We also discuss next-gen being right around the corner.
Intro Music: “All-Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Matt decided his return from vacation was too soon so he is out again. No worries because we brought in a guest, one half of the WH40K Book Club, Keri Honea! While we were interested in what Keri has been up to, what she has been reviewing was far more enjoyable to discuss. Michaela finally jumped into The Outer Worlds, Moose is back in The Division 2, and Jason has been playing Watch Dogs Legion.
We also discussed the random Nintendo Direct from last week and next-gen consoles that drop in only one week's time.
Be sure to check out Keri at www.wh40kbookclub.com where you can find the podcast and patreon.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
The road posse loses a Michaela this week (relax, it's only one episode) but GAINS a Lebanese Lady Killer in the form of Chris Har of the Where’s The Beef Gamer Podcast. Matt returned from vacation and immediately puts his foot in his mouth dragging his cohosts by accident (still sorry guys). Chris lets the world know he’s playing Watch Dogs Legion but absolutely nothing else about it. Moose decided to restart Forager with the recent update while saying he didn’t play Division 2 but then proceeds to talk at length about Division 2. Jason is once again writing reviews at speed (Gunfire Reborn this time) and playing tons of games old and new. He’s the hero we need in these times.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Matt took a week off so Jeff filled in a plethora of dad jokes. Michaela not only played Remnant but she rolled credits in just two sittings! Moose played several games not named Bloodborne or The Division and Jason finished up Gunfire Reborn.
Also discussed was the new PlayStation party chat features and the PS5 UI reveal.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
The group is still riding high on Hades from last week's Game Club but other games were played. Moose is back in Yharnam, Jason is playing another roguelite, Gunfire Reborn, Michaela uncharacteristically played several games and Matt platinumed Dark Souls II.
Also, we discussed the PS5 teardown.
Enjoy!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Welcome to this, the 7th installment of our game club, Hades. Developed by Supergiant Games and released into early access in 2018. Recently going 1.0 on PC and released on Switch, the crew here called an audible on Sleeping Dogs because we are all absolutely smitten with it.
We are joined by TMan from the Make Me A Gamer Podcast as well. A fun time ensues and Matt is attracted to everyone in this game.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Additional music: “Funky Uncle” by Pop Villains
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
It only took almost a whole year but Matt got the episode number correct. Our good friend Lee Navarro took a break from re-re-rebuilding PCs to join us and speak about Extra Life 2020. Everyone was dying to talk about next week's game club but there was some time for other games. Moose played a bit more Risk of Rain 2 and jumped back into Bloodborne, Jason discovered a new roguelite (shocker) in UnderMine, Michaela nearly finished the platinum in Persona 5 and Matt was all in for Untitled Geese Game.
For more information about Phoenix Overdrive and Extra Life 2020, check out these links:
Facebook http://fb.com/phoenixoverdrive
Facebook Group http://fb.com/groups/ponation
Twitter/Instagram @phx_overdrive
Phoenix Overdrive Merchandise http://tinyurl.com/phxodmerch
Phoenix Overdrive Extra Life Team Page http://extra-life.org/team/phxod20
Top Fundraiser Prize - Nintendo Switch Raffles: Available Saturday PS5 Disc Version, Xbox Series X Phoenix Overdrive FUNdraiser http://fb.com/poelfundraiser - iRobot Roomba 675 - AOC 31.5", 1440p, 144Hz Curved Gaming Monitor - Elgato Stream Deck - Cuisinart Griddler Elite
Enjoy!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Another week, another show where Matt messes up the episode number (FYI, he went to school and back to school where math was an integral part). That does not really matter as the previous week saw things just popping off. We’re joined by Jeff Glasson to discuss and reflect on the chaos. We’ve switched our next Game Club game from Sleeping Dogs to Hades. We try really hard not to talk about it (First Rule of Game Club) but Jason keeps checking that the recording did not go haywire. Jeff brings Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-reckoning and Wasteland 3 to the table for discussion, Michaela took a break from Persona to get into the Wargroove, Jason is also playing Kingdoms of Amalur but finally managed to get a decade's long achievement in World of Warcraft, Moose did not talk about The Division 2 as he is all in on Risk of Rain, and Matt canceled everything else because Spelunky 2 is out in the wild now.
Also discussed: PS5 reveal, Nintendo’s Mini Mic Drop and, Microsoft’s industry-rocking flex.
Enjoy!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
One half of the road posse was missing but Game Club must go on! Jason and Michaela spend a good amount of time talking about how meta the meta really is in Radical Fish Games' CrossCode which recently became available on the console side after a number of years on PC.
They also talk about the next gen Xbox leak/reveal and the upcoming (well, it was when they recorded) PlayStation showcase. Predictions were made!
Enjoy!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Another week, another show with these 3 chuckleheads and Michaela. 3 of them talk about actual games and then Matt drones on about some weird internet culture....thing, I don’t know. Jason is submitting reviews despite Michaela’s pleas for him to go to sleep, Moose is actually talking about breaking up with Division 2 (doubtful), and Michaela has a new hard drive and is doing her best to avoid the enabling from the rest of the cast. Matt...he apparently loves Blaseball to an incomprehensible degree.
We also discuss Nintendo dropping a bunch of Mario games and the end of Vlambeer.
Enjoy!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
2020 has taken way more from us than we would like but did it cross the line in taking Michaela's hard drive? The crew is back though talking about games this week. Michaela did play Persona 5 Royal, albeit temporary. She also met both the benevolent and business ends of RNG-sus in some time with Slay the Spire. Jason played way too many games this week, but he did FINALLY review Neon Abyss for Obilisk. Moose has devised a plan to get to watch level 1000 and be out of Division 2 (allegedly), but did manage some Bloodborne and Dark Souls as per usual. Matthew streamed some Spelunky and got a victory. He spends most of his time waxing rhapsodic about the wonderful anime soccer visual novel that is Captain Tsubasa: The Rise of New Champions and even he was surprised at how much he loved it.
We also discussed Gamescom’s Opening Night Live and backwards compatibility rumors on PS5.
Enjoy!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
In the words of Chance the Rapper, “We back, we back, we back” again. This week, Michaela reflects on a week of Persona 5 Royal and the differences between this version and the 2017 version. Jason, once again, turned in another review, but he and Matt also played and finished the final DLC for Remnant From the Ashes and are here to make the hard sell for others (cough, Michaela, cough) to play it. Moose stepped up his Fall Guys game and claimed another crown and also ran more Division 2 while Matt finally stepped into Neon Abyss and has a new roguelike love in his life.
Just prior to technical difficulties stepping all over things, we try to discuss Nintendo’s Indie World. And we also touch upon Apple vs Epic. We certainly had some stuff to say.
Enjoy!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
In this eon of our lord 2020, the road posse is out here playing games. Michaela dips into her wheelhouse of JRPGs with Persona 5 Royal as she’s on vacation from the paying gig this week. Moose has snatched a royal seat of his own via obtaining a crown in Fall Guys while Jason is playing and reviewing adaptations of Frank Kafka novellas. Matt is still loving the hunt of the monsters and all 4 are playing the next installment of our monthly game club, Cross Code.
We also try to discuss the absolute wild news that happened in the form of Halo Infinite’s delay and the corporate dick waving between Epic and Apple.
Enjoy!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
This week brings us a new member of the road posse, Michaela Criscione from Obilisk Games. Let's just hope the rest of us can be as awesome as she is. Matt immediately aims a bazooka at his feet with the number of terrible puns and jokes he brings to the table this week. Jason wrapped up Ghost of Tsushima for Platinum #1010 while Michaela is steadily closing in. Jason and Matt heap a bit of praise on Fall Guys, Moose talks more about the bullet hell that is ITTA and Matt has returned to Monster Hunter World as he performs circus tricks up and down spines of his enemies. All this and Jason still managed to write a review for Fall Guys and be on the verge of finishing his West of Dead review.
We also the final DLC for Remnant: From the Ashes and discuss Sony's State of Play event with Matt, surprising no one, getting way too excited for Spelunky 2.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Welcome to this, the 5th installment of our game club. Ghost of Tsushima, released a mere 2 weeks ago, is the latest from Sucker Punch Productions and the final PS4 first-party exclusive. The hosts have long documented their anticipation for this game and 2/3 of them finished the game in time for this show. But in honor of Moose, we mention all the games he plays regularly to keep his presence alive.
We’re joined by Michaela of Obilisk.co and Jeff Glasson to go as deep as we can on this open world, stealth action game.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Intro Music: “All-Time High” by Colin Fraser
Additional music: “Funky Uncle” by Pop Villains
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
The road posse is joined by the wonderful streamer Nakandrea. Check her content out at twitch.tv/nakandrea. It’s absolutely delightful.
This week is mostly recapping games previously played, but none of us can talk about the game we’re spending the most time with (next week’s game club game), Ghost of Tsushima. Kiel does derive quiet joy from Jason’s dismay as Moose and Nakandrea go even deeper on Animal Crossing.
We may be biasd here, but this episode is a fun one.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Not to be undone by technical difficulties, we hit record for the second time this week. So we flew fast and loose with the show as we announce our next game club game as Ghost of Tsushima. Jason may have a new love in his life in the form of Neon Abyss, Moose is still fully committed to his love of Division 2 with some Animal Crossing and Resolutiion sprinkled in for flavor, and Kiel is still playing and loving Darkest Dungeon.
It’s a leaner show this week, but a fun one nonetheless.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Volume 4 of our game club is a called audible of sorts as we tackle the Devolver Digital published, Le Cartel developed Mother Russia Bleeds. This is a beat ‘em up about 4 abducted Ruska Roma street fighters that are forced by the Russian Mafia to be test subjects for a drug called Nekro. It’s an interesting exercise in beat ‘em ups with the distance it goes with violence just drowned in pixelated blood and set to a synthwave soundtrack that was almost textbook Devolver Digital fare circa 2016.
We also discuss the Devolver Direct from the weekend and briefly look at Ubisoft Forward.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Additional music: “Funky Uncle” by Pop Villains
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
3 man road posse back in effect this week talking about games. Kiel’s continuing the revitalization of Willowthorne Estate in Darkest Dungeon. He’s cured a curse, ventured into the Darkest Dungeon for the first time, and survived to tell the tale only to learn that the squad he took there is actively disinterested in going back. Moose rolled credits on Link’s Awakening and continues to Tour plague-riddled DC and New York in Division 2 while Marshall has finished The Last of Us Part 2 and demoed Mortal Shell. Mid-show, Marshall also ambushes with the befuddling Shadow Warrior trailer. All this and more in what remains to be a tight 27th adventure.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
The 3 man road posse is back in this weird week in this year of our lord 2020. Moose is still deep into his Division 2 tour of duty spreading true patriot pestilence throughout DC and NYC with friends, but also taking time for chill puzzle-solving in The Touryst on Switch. Jason mainlined Last of Us Part 2 and believes it’s one of the best games he’s ever played. Kiel revisited Return of the Obra Dinn for his 151st platinum and spent a year attempting to restore The Darkest Dungeon and his fictitiously venerable Willowthorne Estate to its former glory. All this along with trying tabletop games, doing yard work, and having plenty of problems with the industry we love being full of dirtbags and more.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
The three man road posse is back this week talking about games. Kiel achieved his 149th and 150th platinum trophies and revisited an old favorite of his that was stealth dropped on Switch this week, Invisible, Inc. Moose is still running through DC in Division 2 but he took some time to adventure as Link on his Switch. Jason put on the Iron Man suit in VR but his week was mostly occupied by the game du jour, The Last of Us Part 2.
Also discussed: Star Wars Squadrons reveal and all (well most...err some) the Zelda games.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
3 man road posse this week as we try and do our own bit of escaping through video games. Kiel got his 7,000th trophy this week as he platinumed Kentucky Route Zero, finished Return of the Obra Dinn on Switch, and traveled between dimensions in the Moonlighter DLC. Jason started Treachery in Beatdown City and co-oped briefly with Kiel through the Swamps of Corsus DLC in Remnant From the Ashes. Moose has added yet another soldier to his shoulders as Jason has entered plagued-drenched DC to join the fight. Moose continues to run all over DC and NYC like it’s his job and help others along the way. We also discuss the approaching PS5 event and speculate wildly.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
In volume 3, half of the road posse is present to tackle Return of the Obra Dinn, Lucas Pope’s sophomore outing from 2018. Sadly, due to a lot of the real-world events right now, Jason was the only one present to complete the game but Kiel tried his best to do research and bring other things to talk about with regard to the game. He cites what he remembers and this is admittedly slap-dash, but we are indeed trying. Obra Dinn is fascinating.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Additional music: “Funky Uncle” by Pop Villains
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
This week, Todd Oxtra of Secret Friends Unite and Co-op Mode joins the road posse to talk games he’s revisiting and why he might be buying a Wii or Wii-U. Moose has gone full tracksuit drug lord in Animal Crossing, Matt marvels at his wife’s skill in Castle Crashers and Jason platinums some free games. The crew also got together for Risk of Rain 2 co-op chaos this week and Matt’s time in Funkytown may have been ended for him due to save corruption.
All this and more on episode 21!
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
We’ve got a packed clown car of a podcast for you this week. The full road posse is accounted for and joined by the three-headed Cerberus that helms the Phoenix Overdrive Extra Life Team and hosts the recently rebooted (for real this time) Nerd Overdrive Podcast. As large groups of friends go, per their wont, we abandon the rails more swiftly than usual discussing life, games, and the new normal but find time to talk more Animal Crossing, WoW, and a host of other games in this whirlwind of a gathering.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
75% of the road posse showed up to just go off on games for a while. Kiel is back on his bullshit with Animal Crossing and Moose is catching his stride with it. Jason is fully back into WoW with Moose’s interest clearly piqued. Playing to type, as always, Dark Souls, Bloodborne and Divison 2 all get mentions as well as Streets of Rage 4, John Wick Hex, Children of Morta and Void Bastards.
Settle in for a ride and enjoy.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
In our second installment of our game club, the road posse tackles the latest adventure game from Rob Gilbert & Gary Winnick, Thimbleweed Park from 2017. It’s Twin Peaks meets X-Files clowns, human sized pigeons and a cake shop that only sells vacuum tubes. Not to mention hotels gated by ghosts, a sheriff, coroner and hotel manager that are inexplicably the same person, and there hasn’t even been a mention of curses, hi-tech computers and, of course, those Fed-erinos. It’s absurdity abound in this lovable point-and-click adventure game from Terrible Toy Box.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Additional music: “Funky Uncle” by Pop Villains
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
The road posse is at 100% and, like last week, they have a special guest once again. This time it is Nathan Brandt, one half of The New Entertainment System Podcast. It is not all about the guests as the guys share what they have been playing. Moose caved and joined in on owing everything to Tom Nook, Jason returned to Azeroth for some World of Warcraft, Captain Canada tried out the new XCOM game while Matt finished up Thimbleweed Park and is pumped to talk about it for Game Club on the next episode.
Also discussed: leaks and spoilers and The Last of Us Part II and Ghosts of Tsushima. Settle in for a ride and enjoy.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
The road posse is at 100% and brought along some guests. Mutual friends of the crew Justin Das and Michaela from Obilisk.co swing through to have a massive discussion that covers Michaela’s review of Nioh 2 and a shared love of Final Fantasy 7 Remake among the panel as well as a burgeoning interest in playing the game from other members.
Settle in for a ride and enjoy.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
There were no Matts present so Jason and Moose decided to hold a reunion. With Jeff back, the Nerds Gone Platinum crew was reunited. Good thing Jeff was around because someone needed to talk about Animal Crossing. Jason also jumped in but with the 3DS version and Moose continued patrolling the streets of D.C. and N.Y., even helping a few friends in the process. Also discussed: using controllers for different consoles and why it is so confusing to go back and forth.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Released in 2018 for all platforms, Moonlighter puts players in the shoes of Will, keeper of the oldest shop in Rynoka. Will ventures into the ever-changing dungeons outside of town in search of treasures, not only for his shop to sell, but to aid his obsession with opening the fabled 5th door of the dungeons, something that has not been done before. Developed by Digital Sun out of Spain and published by 11 Bit Studios and Merge Games, the road posse deep dive into this gem of an indie game.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Additional music: “Funky Uncle” by Pop Villains
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Road Posse is at full strength this week and we’re all out here trying to survive. Kiel is in his first week back on day shift and still doing Animal Crossing but he also went back to Nioh with Ahmed, the OG Hammer Bro. Jason and Moose revisited Borderlands 3 with a new level cap and DLC dropping this past week. Jason reviewed DOOM Eternal and to no one’s surprise, loved it all while playing several other games this week. Moose is still doing Moose (meaning he played Division 2 and Bloodborne) and Phillips wrapped up all the DLC for Metro: Exodus.
Also mentioned: Nintendo’s Mini Direct and possible Mario remasters.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
The guys discuss Doom Crossing or is it Eternal Horizons? Jason expected to enjoy Doom and it did not disappoint. Kiel never knew what he was missing with Animal Crossing and now he spends his non-playing time heading down Reddit rabbit holes and joining Discord communities. Moose is still cleaning the streets of D.C. and New York. Is The Division 2 his new Bloodborne? Also discussed: Mark Cerny lullabies and Nintendo hitting those directs out of the park.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Road Posse is 3 strong this week and we hope everyone stays safe out there. Kiel and Moose discuss Division 2 in weird detail this week. Jason talks claiming soon-to-be unobtainable trophies in Drive Club as well as his review of Neon City Riders for Obilisk. Kiel then discusses the intangible reward a platinum trophy can bring. Also discussed: excitement for upcoming games and a mutual friend’s disappointment with the Nintendo Switch.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
The Road Posse is at 75% strength again this week but still able to announce Story Route Zero’s first game club title, Moonlighter (to be discussed 4/6/2020). Jason gives his impressions of Scourge Bringer (which he did publish on Obilisk) and speaks to the magnetic frustration of Awesome Pea (to which Moose agrees). Moose took a vacation from DC to visit NYC in Division 2’s Warlords of New York expansion. Kiel is less attached to his new team in Super Blood Hockey and having a fun albeit frustrating time in Bastion. We have a leaner show and are able to meander through brief topics as well.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
The Road Posse is at 75% strength this week with Phillips caught up in the real world. Jason regales tales of Bloodroots and Blood Breed, one good and one less so. He also played a mobile game, Pirate Outlaws, and is enjoying it. Moose tells of more DC shenanigans while Kiel got overly attached to his team in Super Blood Hockey and returned to Bastion (spoiler: still great!). Also discussed: A Game Club? Like, a book club? Yup, the guys plan on doing a monthly Game Club. Stay tuned next week for all the info.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
We’ve got the full road posse present and accounted for this week. Jason tells of his travels through swamps in the 1890s in Hunt: Showdown, dipping into ScourgeBringer and ending up West of Dead. Moose talks of wandering a ruined DC in Division 2. Kiel and Phillips briefly discuss old adventure games, but Phillips spent a ton of time with Black Mesa. Kiel passes on the frustrating fun of Super Meat Boy and Baba is You to a younger generation and steps into his backlog. It’s another all-over-the-map journey into video game fun.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Michaela from Obilisk Games joins the road posse this week to talk JRPGs and things stay completely normal. Just as well since Kiel is still in his post-Kentucky Route Zero console playing funk, Jason can’t stop reviewing games, and Moose hits for the cycle mentioning Bloodborne, Borderlands and Dark Souls 3. Kiel did spend time revisiting mobile games, Moose did go back to DC with the Division and Jason got his 88th platinum. Meanwhile, Phillips got stuck in real life again.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Captain Canada is stuck in customs this week, but the road posse treks on unfazed and undaunted. Jason wrote about Bookbound Brigade for Obilisk Games, Moose went back to Pandora and the land of Lothric, and Kiel was shook after wrapping up his travels in Kentucky Route Zero to the point of watching movies rather than playing games. He did end up playing Song of Bloom on his phone and Wide Ocean Big Jacket on his switch.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Captain Canada is absent this week, but Antonio @hypecaster Guillen joins us this week to talk pre-fatherhood, and vaguely describing an embargoed game he’s reviewing. Jason has joined Obilisk Games and been sent to a savage planet, Moose has done more time in Pandora and Ashen with Kiel and Kiel can’t help but wax poetic and simultaneously hold back on details in his love affair with Kentucky Route Zero. Wonderful 101 is back with a Kickstarter and the road posse discusses.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
We went from down a Captain Canada to up a Jeff Glasson this as the video game road posse talk older and not-so-older games. Phillips is back on Half Life 2, Marshall mentions some Fallout progress but decides that the more difficult road of a strategy classic is still fun after all these years, Kiel and Moose spend a ridiculous amount of time gushing about the A44 debut Ashen while our guest is both producing and executing hits by playing Hitman and entering the music production game.
Also discussed: An Atari Hotel?
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
We’re down a Captain Canada this week due to some personal things, but on we must truck. Kiel decided to stream this week and forgot he played Tetris 99 again (game is still good!). Moose is working on his Master Trials in Breath of the Wild and fixing his bike in Days Gone. All while Jason is bound and determined to survive the wastelands of Fallout 76 with a platinum trophy in hand.
Also discussed: Rumors of Horizon Zero Dawn coming to PC, Devolver Digital still exuding power to delay video games and whatever else pops into our minds.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
The 4 Person Video Game Road Posse are back at it again with brief mentions of Kiel being excited for old games, Microsoft’s strats for exclusives, Sony not going to E3 again and other nuggets. In what is likely to happen a ton, the crew themselves find solace in replaying favorites, but we can’t talk about fight club.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
This 4 man video game road posse returns for our official kick off of sorts. Here, we freestyle our way to how we’re going to go about this show’s format as well as our own individual takes on how to tackle this leisurely venture. We also talk about what we’re playing and Moose forever locks himself into the chaotic evil aligned necromancer as his permanent D&D class.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President
Episode 0 - Take 2
The Cerberus has grown a fourth head this time out as Captain Canada Matt has joined the fold and all four hosts rank their 10 favorite games of 2019. Honorable mentions are present as well as are some surprises at the top for each of the hosts. Now, we get to figure out what we’re doing.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser
Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young Presidents
That strange sign you see is not an illusion. It’s a new day, so of course a new podcast is started. This one is from 4 friends (3 appearing here). In this inaugural 2 part episode, Matthew, Jason and Moose tackle their favorite video game things from 2019.
Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young Presidents