Watch Out For Fireballs!

This month's Dispatch episode features a discussion of mapping systems in games, as part of a broader discussion about friction that used to be charming but is now kind of tedious. We also read your responses about Left 4 Dead 2, Stardew Valley, and Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty.

You givin' me orders? Wings of Liberty and Starcraft 2 in general is the last gasp of a certain kind of RTS and a certain kind of Blizzard game. The last expression of their dumb as nails plotting and finely tuned gameplay outside of mmos and cardgames. This game may be stacked to the gills with story cliches, but it dispenses gamertreats with a consistency almost unmatched, which makes it worth your time, if not your money. What with the monsterism at blizzard. Hear the full episode at patreon.com/duckfeedtv

This week go back to basics by starting up a brutal one-man factory farm in Stardew Valley. This indie successor to Harvest Moon is a phenomenon, with tons of people succumbing to the wide variety of tasks and its charming aesthetic. In fact, the combination of all of the elements is so much greater than the sum of its parts that it manages to make us enjoy certain gameplay elements we wouldn't like in other games. Listen in to hear about life on the farm, or in the mines, or on the docks, or... Thanks, Zack!

Everyone has Green Flu Fever, or Green Fever Flu. Something like that. And it's a hard time in the big easy for 4 charismatic goofballs, shootin' and slashin' their way through a horde of zombies and equally charismatic "Special Infected." This incredibly generous game encapsulates the first entry in the series, and proves an excellent example of Valve at their finest, both in terms of design and after launch support. It's the rare competitive game that can get two beta boix like us to sit up and take notice, and it remains extremely playable more than a decade after release.

This week we answer your questions, read your responses to October's games, and talk about when it's time to let game series die.

Thank you Adam Bucceri! Check out their game, Enter the Survival Horror, at adam-bucceri.itch.io Ethan Winters vs Magneto and a hot topic creepy doll? And it's good? What the heck? This direct follow up to RE7 is a love letter to the series, featuring an impressive array of bosses and locations that evoke the series high points. While Ethan Winters remains as compelling as some kind of unintelligent wad of white bread, the cast of colorful weirdos around him defines the game. Check it out! To hear the full episode, go to patreon.com/duckfeedtv

A god incubated by pain and hate creates a paradise of blood and rust around it, and that's what Harry Mason must run through to save his daughter. This classic survival horror game didn't just start a series, it influenced the aesthetics of most horror games that came after it. Though the series wouldn't find its legs until Silent Hill 2, this entry is still worth your time, and it's a great deal of fun to talk about. A special thanks to our executive producer for this episode, Cassie.

Thank you Jeremy! This is a weird one! En, a member of a hyper capable cult of child somethings tries to revive her dead friend(?) who is also a cube(!) The story, lore, and world-building in this game are really quite great but the play never comes together. Listen in to hear why!

This month's Dispatch episode has us talking about our thoughts on doing ten years of Watch Out for Fireballs! We also answer your questions, and read your responses to Katana Zero, Sonic 2, Singularity, and Darkest Dungeon.

Ruin has come to this podcast network, thanks to Jack! This is the preview episode about Darkest Dungeon and it's one of the meatiest previews we've ever done. If you want to hear the whole thing, head to www.patreon.com/duckfeedtv

It's time crimes right on down the line as we tackle the forgotten 2010 shooter, Singularity. Created by Raven Software right before they were exiled to the Call of Duty mines, it's a fast-paced shooter with ambitious but under-explored time manipulation mechanics. You play as an American special forces soldier investigating a disturbance at an old Soviet military facility called Katorga-12, and by the end of things you could end up with godlike powers.

Listen, there's a lot to talk about here. You could talk about how we've been doing this show for a decade, or about how Sonic exemplifies the tension between freeform arcade gameplay and the slower, more exploratory form of platformers that would ultimately win out in the end, but the real story here is that I need you to imagine a screenshot of a notes app post where I apologize for mixing up the seed drill and the cotton gin in this episode. Big thanks to Gwen Static for this awesome remix of the theme song!

It's rain-soaked, neon-soaked, and blood-soaked. It's Katana Zero, an action game that takes multiple pages from the Hotline Miami book. You play an unnamed contract killer with the unlikely ability to manipulate time, and you're in the middle of a conspiracy that has a lot to do with your sordid past. The play is great, but does the additional emphasis on story work out?

In this episode we answer your questions, talk about crafting in games, read your responses to August's games, and announce October's games.

This week, we set our wayback machines to 1995 to discuss one of the most beloved games of all time. Chrono Trigger was part of a late salvo of 16-bit RPGs that defined a generation of storytelling for people who grew up with it. We have problems with the shallowness of its systems, but its charisma can't be denied.

Thank you Nicholas! Welcome to the Courtesy Dome where two polite midwesterners sensibly argue whether this game is good or bad. Is it a cool mystery story with a neat aesthetic? Or is it an effectively linear, barely interactive time tax? ONLY YOU CAN DECIDE. Paradise Killer is an odd duck. Part visual novel, part mystery adventure game, part 3d collectathon platformer? With light dating sim elements. We spoil the whole mystery here, so listener beware!

It's the heartwarming tale of two psychopaths who save the world from people more dangerous than even them. Sam is a laid back dog, Max is an impulsive rabbit-thing, and they are classic adventure game protagonists. This episodic adventure game came early in Telltale's life as a studio, when they were attempting to reimagine how to make classic adventure games well after the bottom fell out of the industry. While this season shows some growing pains, it's hard to deny the inherent charm of these characters and this world.

Our mental health meters were running low and we didn't have a topic in us, so we just did a bunch of questions. We also read your responses to July's games before announcing Septembers crop.

Which you can you trust? Prey is a rare creature: an immersive sim that's more like System Shock 2 than Bioshock. You are Morgan Yu, an amnesiac on a space station overrun with shapeshifting monsters, and you have to use everything at your disposal to fight overwhelming odds to stop the threat from reaching Earth. It's a strange game with an ambitious story and unique retro-future aesthetic, and we think you should play it.

Thank you I See Spiders! We all know defenestrating is one of the coolest things you can do in video games. But what if you could do that... in space? With a near best in class group of gadgets and weapons, In an immersive proc gen ludic playpen with real time pause? You'd get Heat Signature, quietly one of the coolest games we've done for the show. Check it out!