Introducing SPOOKTOBERFEST, our (hopefully) annual celebration of horror video games throughout the month of October. First up in this smorgasbord of scares is an underrated gem of a game from 1998 - Square's survival horror RPG Parasite Eve. We praise the game's mechanics,unique mixing of genres, and its ragtag bunch of characters, whilst lamenting the relentless difficulty spike of the ending's huge dungeon and boss fight marathon. You know by now how this works so tune in for a deep dive into the game's story from start to finish, but watch out for a jump scare of our own when David's mic decided to quit on us and his sound goes all echoey and shitey. Sorry about that! Make sure you check back for the rest of the month for more horror highlights from the gaming sphere.

Please don't hate us for our brief hiatus, this game is just suuuper long! We decided to do a deep dive on a game that has been itching away at us since its less-than-earth-shattering release back in 2019 - Bend Studio's Days Gone. That's right, we went full on backlog busting with this one! We discuss the game's numerous issues - the story, the bland characters, the bugs and glitches, the length, the mission structure... but also we show our appreciation for how, in spite of all that, it's undeniably good fun. Our deep dive tackles all the main characters and their arcs, as well as what we feel about the 'true' ending (or what we don't understand about it, to be honest). It's a long one, but so is the game, and you surely expect that from us by now, right? Good!

There's not much more to say than this podcast celebrates the 30th birthday of one of the greatest games ever made. A practically flawless masterpiece that we will likely play forever. Despite that, we digress quite a lot in this pod, so if you're a fan of our shitey banter then you're in for a right ol' treat! Otherwise, tune in for the history of the game and its development and reception, some trivia and our standard run through of the whole game. Don't forget to check us out on YouTube for the video version of this podcast if you prefer your pods with a little more sweaty, bearded men in hats.

Modern game time again, as we throw open Death's Door nice and wide for a deep dive into Acid Nerve's Metroidvania/Zelda clone/Souls-like. We talk about what we loved and didn't like about this excellent indie title (surely a shout for some GOTY lists), discuss story beats and go through the game area-by-area to chat our experiences. There's also a bit of end-pod chat about the secret ending, so beware spoilers on that one if you're bothered about that sort of thing.

With the excitement surrounding the new beta for Back 4 Blood currently gripping the gaming landscape, we decided to take a trip back to where it all began to revisit the still-fantastic Left 4 Dead (and a bit of its brilliant sequel). We chat about the special infected and their various powers, the lore behind characters Bill, Francis, Louis and Zoe, and discuss our favourite moments in each of the main game's campaigns (with a cheeky ranking of them in there too). David also has a ton of trivia to dish out including Dead Rising easter eggs, the Japanese arcade version of the game, and how the special infected wound up in a Hollywood movie.

Don't expect a relaxing episode, because this one's coming to you directly from the streets... of rage! We played through all four SoR games to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the original Mega Drive/Genesis classic that released on 2nd August 1991 (we got the date right this time). We're chatting all about the mechanics of each entry, the bosses and music, how the series has evolved, the controversy around the censorship of number 3 and the glorious renaissance realised in number 4. So, get yourself a plate of apples and chicken, put on your dominatrix outfit, call your mate Donovan and get ready to party for the big 3-0 for this absolute classic beat 'em up.

The streets aren't quite ready to be filled with rage just yet (well, wait until the last segment of this episode), so we're filling in with some more top 5s, you know you love it. Starting off, we're finally giving the people what they want - the culmination of all the many weeks of Apex Legends digression comes to a head with our top 5 Apex Legends... legends. Mirage mains need not apply. We then pay our respects to those developers no longer with us... after we get some of the developer/publisher housekeeping out of the way. Sorry, Acclaim. We end the show with some lovely bashing of the bigger boys, with our top 5 worst games IGN ever rated 10/10. Honestly, most of them are pretty good anyway, but we can still disagree with a 'perfect' score for a fair amount of them!

Well, never believe everything you read on the internet, right? Somehow, somewhere, Alex read that Limbo was 10 years old this year. That is not correct (we read that on the internet). So, join us now in celebrating a happy 11th birthday to Limbo! We discuss the impact of the game, ugh, 11 years after its initial release and whether it still leaves the same glowing impression it always did. Does it still play well? Is it dwarfed in the shadow of Playdead's follow-up, Inside? For some reason, we also talk loads about Bam Margera, burning batteries and pooping out of trees. It all ties into Limbo, honestly! After that nonsense, we reign things back in and close out with some theories on the game's story and meaning. Is the sister dead? Is the car crash theory right? Whose limbo are we actually playing in - the boy or the sister? All the questions are... asked, at least, and more!

We're still hungover from Sonic's birthday bash in the last episode, so we decided to try curing it with some hair of the hog. We basically just played an absolute scrote-load of Sonic games over the last couple weeks, all so we could bring you three more wonderful Top 5 lists. This time around, we are ranking the Top 5 Sonic Songs, so throw off your running cleats, stick on your dancing shoes and get ready for a boogie. Next up, we run the AWIY rule over the Top 5 Sonic Zones (arguably harder than deciding on the five worst zones, but whatever). Lastly, we go for the big score as we discuss and produce for you the absolutely definitive, iron-clad list of the Top 5 2D Sonic Games. Our relative unfamiliarity with every single series game probably makes this list quite unique, so be prepared to hate us, think we're morons and have Sammyclassicsonicfan scream and cry about us ruining the franchise.

Happy birthday to the Blue Blur! Yes, Sonic is officially not young any longer, although he's been through some tougher times than most of us before our 30th birthday.  Today is not about those tough times (well mostly), as we're here to celebrate the iconic Sega mascot and talk about the very first game released on the Mega Drive on 23rd June 1991. We'll also talk you through the background to Sonic's creation and the impact he had on gaming at the time, and briefly discuss Alex's cheeky completion of Sonic & Knuckles whilst he was still in the mood for Sonic games. We end the show with a more sombre chat about modern Sonic, as Alex forced himself to play as much as he could handle of the utterly abysmal Sonic 2006. What kind of birthday is it without some kind of crippling introversion and self doubt, eh?