The Crate And Crowbar

Pip, Tom F, Chris and Marsh gather to discuss the oldest recipe, what windows are and whether objects are real. Also! Videogames: The Wild at Heart, Citizen Sleeper, Norco and Hellsinger. Also also: the return of Questions from Questions and, thrice-also, a quiz. Zachtronics is shutting down with one more game: Last Call BBS The [...]

Jamie and Marsh climb into their effluent splattered diving-bell and plunge into the bowels, literal and metaphorical, of Mad God, the wildly deranged, deeply harrowing stop-motion masterpiece from animation legend Phil Tippett. Bon appetit! Mad God has been released on Shudder, a horror streaming service. Fellow Hell-depicters of yore: Hieronymous Bosch and Pieter Breughel This [...]

Jamie and Marsh discuss the highlights, or rather the extensive mid-range tones, of the E3 week that wasn’t, delight in Next Fest’s demos for Old Skies and Agent 64: Spies Never Die, and usher in the doom of humankind in Shadows of Forbidden Gods. Geoff Keighley’s twitching automaton presents Summer GameFest aka Keigh-3. Enjoy it [...]

Jamie, Chris and Marsh dive into the kaleidoscopic weirdness of Everything Everywhere All at Once. Join us as we discuss it in the context of such cultural touchstones as Christopher Nolan’s Fart Clock, musical instruments designed to make children faint, and Crysis 2. Lots of spoilers, almost from the outset, and even in the cast [...]

Chris and Marsh mull over videogame fictions on TV, reject the inhumanity of space capitalism in Citizen Sleeper, embrace the inhumanity of space capitalism in Dune: Spice Wars, bounce off Dracula’s digs in V Rising, and get their Sokob-on in Jelly Is Sticky. Sony says its creating TV series based on Horizon, God of War [...]

Graham, Jamie and Alex delight in being terrible at traditional roguelikes. Recklessly quaff an unidentified potion, dodge the snapping maw of an ASCII eel, and join us as we plunge into the unknown, die horribly, and rise again. This is a pod about the more closely related descendents of Rogue! E.g… Brogue! The Community Edition [...]

Tom S is joined by Jamie and, I believe, a blackbird to chat formative gaming experiences, co-op caving in Deep Rock Galactic, oddly named leggings in Injustice 2 and the many delights of the Steam Deck. Jamie cut his teeth on games like SpaceQuest and Monkey Island. Defunct game mag of yesteryear: PC Zone. It [...]

Graham, Tom S and Marsh have somehow found the time to watch, then rewatch and even discuss The Batman, the recent bladder-bursting film directed by Matt Reeves and starring Robert Pattinson. Obviously, we spoil the film. Don’t listen or read below if you have yet to see the film and wish any of its surprises [...]

Tom S, Chris and Marsh gather to discuss wedding whoopsies, monkey winkies, Weird West’s wonkiness, Nobody Saves the World’s classy class combos and Bloodhunt’s world of darkness warzoné. Congrats to Tom S and Emma! May your union be unmarked by further calamity. Embracer Group acquire Eidos, associated studios and their IP from Square Enix for [...]

In which Jamie Brittain, Tom Francis and Alex Wiltshire convene to discuss the excellent Apple Plus existential workplace comedy drama Severance. All spoilers are off from the start with this one! But it’s great, so you should def watch it! Severance is on Apple Plus Meta employees are called ‘Metamates’, ewwww. Escape at Dannemora is [...]

Jamie and Marsh enthuse about Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film, Licorice Pizza – an energetic and uplifting tale of an eccentric romance set against the backdrop of 70s LA. Watch it, it’s fab. The 94th Academy Awards! Licorice Pizza woz robbed! Maybe? Billy Crystal getting covered in gob Who’s in this film then, eh? Alana [...]

Tom S, Alex and Marsh graft themselves into a singular mass of thrashing limbs and return to Elden Ring’s shattered land, get lost in the knot of Tunic’s shortcuts and enjoy the drizzle of Gran Turismo 7. Be wary of lore, in short, hole ahead: Elden Ring. Homage to Zelda games of yore, Tunic. The [...]

Jamie and Marsh compile a list of 50 movies, released across the last 22 years, which are dead good. Are they the deadest good? Decide for yourself! They certainly contain all manner of blood-drinking, cow-kissing, custard-selling, marmalade-making, bestiality, incest and murder. Phantom Thread There Will Be Blood The Piano Teacher The White Ribbon Cache The [...]

Chris, Tom S and Marsh deliver the world’s very first takes that anyone has ever had about Elden Ring. Salute the skill of Bumbo, fear the knife-eagle’s fire-bollock, regret the crafting system and wonder, “Why is it always behind?” Are show notes even necessary for this episode? Elden Ring is the new game from From [...]

Jamie offers Marsh a cinematic serving suggestion: a pairing of Hitchcock’s classic 1940 adaptation of Rebecca with the 1948 version of Brighton Rock starring Richard Attenborough. Discussed: hauntings, Hell and the occult origins of beef tea. You can watch both of these films for free on The Inter-Net! Rebecca is on Youtube and Brighton Rock [...]

Chris and Marsh define irrelevance by recording a podcast hours before the release of the biggest game of the year so far, and instead discuss Destiny 2’s Witch Queen expansion, brutalist physics puzzler ABRISS, Total War: Warhammer 3, how much whomp you can put in a bog, and more. Destiny 2‘s shaggy dog story about [...]

Jamie and Alex take a trip up the castellated spires and lethal staircases of the Castlevania series. We cover both the bonkers camp of the Symphony Of The Night-likes, and also the lethal twitching of the 8 & 16 bit games on Old Nintendos. Yes in that order, as this is a very personal and [...]

Tom S and Marsh discuss the underwhelming goon-kicking reward loop of Dying Light 2, the high-calibre clobbering but confusing structure of Sifu, and the many ways of being stuck in Expeditions: Rome. Dying Light 2: Staaaaaay Human is an expansive parkour game with comically wonko interpersonal drama and surprisingly crap combat. Hybrid tactics/strategy RPG Expeditions: [...]

Jamie, Graham and Chris get lost in the desert of the real for three and half hours. Join them as they discuss the several Matrices, velcro, dads, bad squids, comedy French Dracula bastards, whether Geoff Keighley is real, whether films themselves exist, the “vocabulary of power”, the emotional logistics of sofas, 5D aeroplanes – and [...]

Graham, Alex and Marsh revel in the dopamine hit of spook-’em-shmup, Vampire Survivors, grumble about Halo Infinite, cultivate occult vegetables in Strange Horticulture and use children as ammunition in Fuga: Melodies of Steel. Starting out strong, it’s Robotron with Ghosts and Upgrades, aka, Vampire Survivors. And why not? Also playable in your browser. There may [...]