How important are the writers? Chamberlain is playing Alan Wake 2, a bad game that should feel bad about itself, whose characters induce headaches every time they open their mouth. Alex is playing Dragon Age The Veilguard, a game that pales when compares to his predecessors. Chance gets around all this writing nonsense by looking at all the new pre…

Surprisingly little, if any, talk of horror games this week. Boo! But there is the once a year treat of Chamberlain, Chance and Alex all playing the same game at the same time. This time it is the Diablo 4 expansion. One finished it and loved it, the second was enjoying before a bad PC patch killed the framerate and the third got bored and wandered…

Knowing that it was going to be a slow week, Chamberlain gave the podcast an assignment: come prepared with a list of the top three videogame soundtracks. A list of nine games was produced and there was almost no arguing! Also this week, Alex finishes Metaphor, Chance gives Horizon Forbidden West a second (maybe third?) chance and Chamberlain settl…

Chance didn't play anything new this week, but he did play old things as the god of resolution and HDR intended on his brand new TV, named the new hotness. Alex has flown through Metaphor, a game he is this close to calling Atlus's best. And Chamberlain moped his way through the Silent Hill 2 remake, easily the best thing that Bloober Team has ever…

It's October and there is a new old scary game! Chamberlain was unable to resist the call of Silent Hill 2, the only game to ever give him literal nightmares, and much to his and everyone else's surprise, it's good. He tempered this experience with Astro Bot, a game that Chance ambush played just so he could say that it was not as good as Chamberla…

2024 is promptly forgotten as Assassin's Creed Shadows has been delayed and, more importantly, Ghost of Yotei has been announced. In the present, undefined time, Chamberlain is still working his way through Dungeons of Hinterland, which has moved far beyond mediocre dungeon crawling into political intrigue and the failings of a tourism based econom…

In the rarest of occurrences, Chamberlain, Chance and Alex have all played the same game. This time it is Star Wars Outlaws. Unlike modern classics like Spider-Man, however, there is some disagreement on its quality. In other words, Chamberlain hated it and cannot be dissuaded. He brings Nobody Wants To Die and Dungeons of Hinterburg to the table, …

Yes, two thirds of the people on the podcast are not fans of the PS5 Pro's price. Two thirds will also end up buying it, but is that the same two thirds? Also this week, Chamberlain was right to be concerned about Vision of Mana's writing. They are either bad at their job or cowards. Chance wishes Star Wars Outlaws had a new game plus and Alex cont…

In a moment that no one saw coming, Chance heartily endorses a Ubisoft game for the first time since Far Cry 3. Star Wars Outlaws is his new love and he swears that history will eventually see it as right up there with Knights of the Old Republic. Chamberlain is plenty happy with a easy, breezy, beautiful JRPG that isn't trying to kill him in every…

There will be no 420 jokes in this episode. Drugs are to be taken seriously, with intent, as they can lead to extended conversations on Kojima's skewed view of women and why Metal Gear Solid 5 needs a current gen remaster anyway. Drugs certainly had nothing to do with Chamberlain tapping out on the last boss on SMT V and Alex getting lost in Prince…

It's been two weeks and Chance still has not finished a play through of Baldur's Gate 3. He has started over, twice, and then gone back to punching zombies in Dead Island 2. Alex has emerged from his cruise unscathed, or at least well enough to get started on the Persona 3 remake and Prince of Persia The Lost crown. And Chamberlain, who has never p…

This week, Chamberlain finishes up Tevi and then gives Shin Megami Tensei 5 a second chance, now that he can play it on a real console at more than a handful of frames per second. Alex spends far too much time trying to get Rayman 3 running on his Steam Deck. And Chance plays a just enough of Thank Goodness You're Here to realize that he is not Bri…

No, it was not the Crowdstrike debacle that took us down last week. Chalk that up to a simple internet outage. But we did use that time to double down on our efforts of playing new and exciting things. And by that I mean that Alex got all of the Bioware games he cares about running on the Steam deck, Chance hates Overwatch again and Chamberlain is …

Chance and Alex admit, with no prodding, that the final boss of the Erdtree expansion is not fun or good. This does not mean that they have stopped playing Elden Ring, only that they are not bothering with that boss again. It did drive Alex back to the original Dark Souls titles and Chance to high level comp success in Overwatch 2, so win/win? And …

Everyone in the whole world is playing Shadow of the Erdtree. Alex is stuck on the final boss, which he admits is on the less fair side or things, and Chance is taking his sweet time, backstroking through the world, stumbling headlong into areas that he didn't know he needed to do. They love it, but the praise is not without some complaints. Chambe…

It's not Elden Ring time YET. Instead, Alex messed around in the beginning of Kingdom Come before playing a good chunk of Dragon Age Inquisition, remember that, once upon a time, Bioware made good games. Chance messed around in the middle of Kingdom Come, all the while fighting with his old PS4 for character saves for the Erdtree expansion. And Cha…

It's not E3! This year's not E3 saw a very, very tepid Summer Games Fest and a much better than expected Xbox Games Showcase. Chance would love to tell you about them, and he would if he were not distracted by the several year old Kingdom Come Deliverance, a game that Chamberlain denounced as trash upon its release. Chamberlain has had little time …

Being unapologetically gen-x, Chamberlain was most amused by Shady's return. Chance, having more refined tastes, was bemused. And Alex refused. In other news, Chamberlain played Deliver Us Mars, a depressing hard sci-fi walking sim and enjoyed it. Chance finished his domination of nuka world in Fallout 4. And Alex watched all of the Elden Ring expa…

Politics warning! We have been avoiding this for weeks but tonight it was just to juicy. If you would like to avoid our righteous schadenfreude, skip forward about ten minutes. There you will find that Chamberlain hated Hellblade 2 so much that he quit playing it, finally settling on Tales of Kenzara. Chance is still on Fallout 4, picking his way t…

As has been custom on the Chamberlain Chance and Alex podcast, it is time to through shade at Hellblade. Hellblade 2 is out, and just like last time, everyone is wrong but us. The game is bad and Ninja Theory should feel bad. Also this week, Alex finished what is currently available of Hades 2 before jumping back into Diablo 4 and finding things mu…

We have reached an end of an era. Microsoft has finally done something so heinous that even Chamberlain refuses to defend it. Pour one out for Tango Gameworks. Also this week, Chance has to buy a new PS5 to remove a Fallout 4 mod (almost). Alex begins the multi-year process of playing early access Hades 2. And Chamberlain finds emotional fulfillmen…

It's all Fallout, all of the time, unless it is still post-revolutionary war America and Chamberlain is still busting ghosts with a surprisingly effective sword and solid Scottish accent. Chance and Alex are both thousands of years past that, just not is the same place, with one in Fallout 4 and the other in New Vegas. You know which is which. Also…

Except for Brotherhood of Steel, but we won't talk about that. The Fallout love fest continues, with Chance and Alex making impassioned cases to Chamberlain that he should obtain a Prime subscription. He will not. He will instead continue on with the flawed but affable Banishers. Alex has deserted Dragons Dogma 2 for Fallout New Vegas (along with j…

Alex has fallen victim to Chance's hype over Dragons Dogma 2, purchased it, and proclaimed it 'ok.' Chance is appalled and is taking revenge by continuing to enjoy the game he was already enjoying, only now out of spite, which makes everything better. Alex has also declared the Fallout series worth your time and done so without the spoilers that Ch…

Chance has finished up Dragons Dogma 2 and immediately turned around and starting playing it again, something that not even Spider-Man 2 managed to illicit. It's that good. Alex started playing Citizen Sleeper, remember a better game, and finally finished I Was a Teenage Exocolonist instead. And Chamberlain played a bunch of little games while in r…

(yes, the title is an HTML joke based on the episode number, nerd) Alex continues to reject all things new in favor of games that run great on the Steam deck. This week it is Days Gone, that other open world zombie game. You know, the one with the bikers. Chamberlain was going to come prepared with a full game breakdown of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth…

Despite there being literally too many new games to play Alex has decided to dive way, way back into his backlog and sample a game he missed the first time around: Devil May Cry 2. He makes no promise of finishing it, but he did try to make Dante do things. Chance tries to enjoy Unicorn Overload, fails, and runs back to Elden Ring. And Chamberlain …

While not technically a holiday (at least in the western hemisphere) the release of a new Final Fantasy game is almost always cause for celebration. Or usually. Or sometimes. Okay, once in a while a good Final Fantasy game comes out. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is one of the good ones and Chamberlain is thrilled. Also this week, Alex puts an incredib…

You would never guess why, but two thirds of the podcast is playing Elden Ring again. Alex has joined the Balatro card cult, and he is playing Elden Ring. Chance continues to do his part to spread democracy throughout the known universe, and he is playing Elden Ring. And Chamberlain finished up Prince of Persia The Lost Crown, and he has never nor …

Important work is done this week. Chamberlain, Chance and Alex each pick their top four games OF ALL TIME. Each brings their own criteria for selection and no one names more than four games. No one at all. Also this week, Chamberlain continues to shill for Ubisoft, swearing up and down that Prince of Persia The Lost Crown is actually good. Alex fin…

Chance is doing his part, killing giant insects with democracy. He promises that it is exactly as good as you have heard. Alex crowns Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth one of the three best JRPGs he has ever played (without encouraging debate on what the other two are). And Chamberlain looks past the amazing environments of Avatar and finds that there …

In an unprecedented turn of events, all three of us play (relatively) new games! Alex in not skipping the cut scenes in Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth, loving the good natured Japanese mafia and all the good that they do. Chance is mourning the tragedy that is Suicide Squad, specifically that it is only when you are pushing buttons that it gets bori…

It wasn't really a soulslike, but Chamberlain is still proud of himself for finishing The Last Faith. He is less proud of himself for buying Tekken 8, not because it was a bad game, but he is not looking forward to patching the drywall again. Chance finished The Last of Us Part II, and it is just as if not more emotionally draining as the first tim…

Chamberlain continues to play new(ish) things, finishing up El Paso, Elsewhere, a game everyone slept and missed out on, and The Last Faith, another overly difficult metroidvania. Chance plays a new version of something old, finding a new appreciation for The Last of Us 2. And Alex plays an older new version of something old, revisiting Persona 4 G…

What's indy as all get out, ugly as your favorite tiktok dog and a blatant homage to Max Payne? El Paso, Elsewhere, and Chamberlain is absolutely in love. Chance refuses to sully his eyes with games built of so few polygons so he is playing Baldur's Gate 3, again, and Cyberpunk 2033, again. And Alex lost his save file for Inscryption, then instead …

It's the first episode of the year! In which Chamberlain meets two games half way and enjoys them in spite of their obvious weaknesses. Chance buys Baldur's Gate III for the second time and starts a new character in Cyberpunk for the 100th and Alex does something absolutely unthinkable: he finishes an Assassin's Creed game.…

There is nothing left to do in 2023 but catch up on missed games and worry about how few games are slated for 2024. Chamberlain got into the Skull & Bones closed beta and can confirm that it is indeed a game that can be played. He also enjoyed the free Valhalla expansion to God of War Ragnarök more than expected and Super Mario Wonder about the cor…

Yes, this is another game of the year list show. Ours is better. Why? No sponsorships, no external money at all, and very few, if any, fucks given. No Keighley, no Kojima, Alan Wake 2 gets nothing and Spider-Man 2 does not get ignored. It is also less then half the length of the Game Awards, so much more respectful of your time.…

You heard us. (Recorded during the first hour of The Game Awards, so be prepared for random outbursts, mostly by Chamberlain) Different things satisfy different people. The Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer more than sated Chance's and Alex's desire for open world, booty filled ultra-violence but Chamberlain was left out in the cold. Chamberlain finds hap…

With a week off there is much to talk about and unfortunately Alex is not here this week. Instead of making the world a better place, Chamberlain finished up Assassin's Creed Mirage, the first Ass Creed game in ages that had an actual ending. He also died an obscene number of times getting to the end of Ghostrunner 2, yet still says he had a good t…

Based on Chance's recommendation, Chamberlain watched one episode of Blue Eye Samurai. Alex watched all of it. You can predict how this discussion will go. This does not meet Chamberlain's complaint quota, so he also says a few choice things about Assassin's Creed Mirage. Chance travels far, far away, back into Star Wars Jedi Survivor and Alex frui…

This week, good Overwatch games stir Chance's creative juices, leaving time for little more than plays of the game and more Spider-Man 2. Chamberlain remembers that, once upon a time, he liked Star Trek, and he liked Telltale Games, and those past proclivities (on top of having nothing else to play) made Star Trek Resurgence inescapable. And Alex t…

There is a spider shaped hole in all of our hearts and the only thing that can fill it are spoilers. Spoilers of Spider-Man! GET ME SPOILERS OF SPIDER-MAN, PARKER! Ahem. Against their better judgement both Chance and Alex purchased Alen Wake II. While neither can understand the reviews, at least one of them is enjoying it enough to finish it. Chanc…

Spider-Man 2 is out, meaning that 2023 has officially peaked and it is all downhill from here. Everyone has played it, Chance and Alex have finished it, and Chamberlain took time out from the new AAA hotness to spite finish Blasphemous 2. Seriously, just go back and play the first one. Mild Spider-Spoilers throughout. Serious Spider-Spoilers next w…

Good news everyone! The soundalikes for Chamberlain and Chance have arrived and they are indistinguishable from the real thing. Without Alex here to defend it, Chance is able to lay into The Fall of the House of Usher, saying it is so slow a burn that it actually goes out before the end. He also returns to Hyperlight Drifter and Dead Space after su…

SEE! Chamberlain bounce off of another souls-like and then settle for a pale imitation of an excellent game! FEEL! Alex forget enough about Elden Ring to fall in love all over again, then mess up his build in the first 15 minutes! HEAR! Chance enjoying a Dairy Queen blizzard before disparaging Phantom Liberty and talking about a whole bunch of good…

It doesn't happen often. Chamberlain, Chance and Alex all consumed the same piece of media, at the same time, and feel roughly the same way about it. Castlevania Nocturne came out, and in a vacuum, it is quite good. Not as good as the first series, but still better than most of the other anime lurking in the dark corners of Netflix. Also this week,…

We missed a week, so prepare for a double episode! Or 1.5 times, whichever comes first. It is Starfield spoiler season. Chamberlain has yet to finish it, but has suffered through more than enough crashes to have something important to say. Alex has finished it, and started a new game plus, but has left the universe for the friendly confines of Dogt…

Chance is sick this week, something that can only be explained by him not playing Starfield. Alex is not sick because new game plus mode is so good the endorphins rushing through his system prevent infection (I assume this is a thing). Chamberlain is not sick because the hourly crashes of the console version have increased his cardiac fitness ten f…

There can be no excuse for what Alex has done. He paid to play a game, a big, important game, early. For shame. This was of course Starfield, a game that Chamberlain is also enjoying. A game that Chance is very much not enjoying, as he has chosen a very specific hill to die on and will not be purchasing it on PC, much less purchasing a new piece of…