Gameenginestart Podcast

We took a long break, but now we're back with all you'd expect from us.We Played...Euan gives his final thoughts on Death Stranding 2 after seeing the credits roll.Calum have a bumper crop of Grounded 2, Dawn of War: Definitive Edition and hot game of the moment Peak, which is, as the kids say, peak.We both discuss interesting psychological thriller Dead Take, and it's incredible performances.Timestamps00:04:29 - Death Stranding 200:12:19 - Dead Take00:19:09 - Is This Seat Taken?00:22:23 - Peak00:27:25 - Dawn of War Remaster00:30:00 - Grounded 2 Early Access00:33:13 - News - Gamescom ONL00:46:53 - News - Tencent Horizon00:49:38 - News - VTM 200:56:08 - Upcoming & Housekeeping Intro Music - There It Is - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Outro Music - Honey Bee - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)News Sting - News Intro - Maximilien (soundbible.com)All Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

It's time for a new Destiny 2 expansion. God help us all for the discussion that was had.Spoiler WarningWe talk pretty explictly about the story of the new Destiny 2 expansion, Edge of Fate, between 0:44:08 and 0:49:09. We say so before hand, but if you are worried the timestamps below should help you skip it.We Played...Euan tries 'new Zach' in Kaizen: A Factory Story, a new Zachntronics game by not Zachtronics, Astra Logical (featuring Zach). He also continues discussion of Death Stranding 2You know it. You love it. It's Calum's time to talk about the new Destiny Expansion Destiny 2: The Edge of FateTimestamps00:04:13 - Kaizen: A Factory Story00:07:51 - Death Stranding 200:39:27 - Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate00:44:08 - Destiny 2 Spoilers00:49:14 - Destiny 2 Spoilers End01:16:54 - Death Stranding 2 Audio Issues01:19:28 - News - FBC: Firebreak has not launched to great reception, but Remedy are hoping that a major rework coming in September will improve things01:21:34 - News - Off The Grid is a meh Battle Roya

A new Kojima has been released, and so new Kojima must be discussed.We Played...Euan plays follow-up story DLC Still Wakes the Deep: Siren's Rest and the new madness from Hideo Kojima Death Stranding 2: On the BeachCalum deals with the grim dark 41st millenium in Warhammer 40K: Rogue TraderTimestamps00:03:19 - Still Wakes the Deep: Siren's Rest00:07:29 - Death Stranding 200:25:39 - Rainbow 6: Siege00:28:07 - Rogue Trader00:49:29 - News - Med students are using 8BitDo controllers to aid with exam revision, and it seems to have just naturally grown.00:51:40 - News - Nintendo have locked down the USB-C port on the Switch 2, seemingly to try and stop 3rd party peripherals00:53:53 - News - Microsoft have laid off another 9000 employees, mostly in the XBox division and across their studios.00:59:12 - News - Redditors found undeclared use of generative AI in The Alters, and people are not happy01:08:20 - Upcoming & Housekeeping Intro Music - There It Is - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Outro Music -&nb

Summer Games Fest has come and gone and this podcast is only an hour. That should say something about the show this year.We Played...We talk about a few of the things that stood out at Summer Games Fest, which is a pretty small listCalum gets into why Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls is such an interesting announcement, and has early thoughts on the Switch 2Euan has been playing with plant machinery in Roadcraft, and having an existential crisis as to why he likes it so much.Timestamps00:00:49 - Summer Games Fest00:12:59 - Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls00:25:48 - Roadcraft00:36:37 - The Alters00:37:21 - Switch 200:52:17 - News - Marathon has been delayed indefinitely, seemingly due to a mixed reception from the Alpha and the stolen art direction controversy.00:58:09 - Upcoming & Housekeeping Intro Music - There It Is - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Outro Music - Honey Bee - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)News Sting - News Intro - Maximilien (soundbible.com)All Licensed under Creat

As the dawn of the Switch 2 approaches, our heroes find themselves playing non-Nintendo products both old and new!We Played...Euan discusses further VR adventures with Defector & Wanderer, and reflects back on some old Blendo Games hits with Quadrilateral CowboyCalum briefly talks Warhammer 40k CRPG Rogue Trader and the new release of the season Doom: The Dark AgesTimestamps00:01:24 - The Switch 2 Is Almost Here00:12:26 - Defector & Wanderer00:20:00 - Quadrilateral Cowboy00:24:19 - Rogue Trader00:26:33 - Helldivers 200:28:46 - Doom: The Dark Ages00:41:13 - News - Fortnite added a Darth Vader AI that can talk to you, which went as well as you would expect00:56:26 - News - Theoretically we talk about the GTA 6 trailer, but actually we just talk about expectations for the game.01:08:15 - News - Randy Pitchford keeps saying dumb shit.01:12:23 - Upcoming & Housekeeping Intro Music - There It Is - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Outro Music - Honey Bee - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com

Its just turned May and we are already on our third GOTY candidate. Also, it's one we might actually agree on!We Played...It's been a rough week for games media, so we start the podcast with some reminiscing on the good old days of Giant Bomb and mourn the passing of the institution that was Polygon.We found Room 46 in Blue Prince, and Euan spend some in the deep south in South of MidnightWe spend a long time talking about Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, a game there is as much to talk about as there is attempts at trying to spell it.Timestamps00:00:57 - Giant Bomb & Polygon00:27:40 - Blue Prince00:33:41 - South of Midnight00:37:33 -Clair Obscur: Expedition 3301:28:04 - News - We have a final GTA 6 release date, and it's next year01:31:03 - News - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is making such a splash that even Emmanuel Macron was posting about it01:33:52 - News - Insiders are claiming that Valve has a version of Half Life 3 is playable from end to end.01:36:52 - Upcoming & HousekeepingIntro Music - There I

Blue Prince has caused some differing opinions on the show this week. It's an interesting discussion but I worry about the outcomes...We Played...Euan talks about the new game from Paradise Killer developers Promise Mascot Agency and wonders if the series can be saved in Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 2We both talk all things Blue Prince and it gets in depth and interesting.Calum gives a brief glimpse once again into Final Fantasy 14 Savage RaidingTimestamps00:05:47 - Promise Mascot Agency00:08:48 - Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 200:24:40 - Blue Prince00:54:19 - FFXVI Savage Raiding01:04:15 - News - Bungie finally revealed Marathon, an extraction shooter with stunning art direction and some pretty big unanswered questions.01:06:53 - News - Nintendo finally showed us the Switch 2, in an unfortunate maelstrom of world news.01:13:07 - News - Respawn and ex-XCOM devs are making a Star Wars turn based strategy game.01:19:22 - Upcoming & Housekeeping Intro Music - There It Is - Kevin MacLeo

If you're listening to this podcast, I hope you're maximising your sleep and you're on your eighth bottle of sparkling water by now...We Played...Calum does a check in with Monster Hunter Wilds and is in full preparation mode for the next raid tier in Final Fantasy 14: DawntrailEuan also wraps up Citizen Sleeper 2 and Split Fiction, and talking ins and outs of Contractors: ExfilTimestamps00:12:30 - Monster Hunter: Wilds00:14:19 - FF1400:20:25 - Citizen Sleeper 200:21:56 - Contractors: Exfil00:30:00 - Split Fiction00:37:06 - News: AI ARK trailer00:41:07 - PSA: Great Humble Bundle00:42:04 - News: Nintendo Stream00:50:30 - Upcoming & Housekeeping Intro Music - There It Is - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Outro Music - Honey Bee - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)News Sting - News Intro - Maximilien (soundbible.com)All Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

After a two week break for two big games the two host return to (read as two) talk about them. Two.We Played...Calum has played both rather large games of the past month in Obsidian's latest Avowed and continuing culling of ancient enemies in Monster Hunter WildsEuan returns to teen type in Lost Records and gives a brief overview of Split Fiction. More to follow.Timestamps00:01:28 - Avowed00:17:23 - Minor Pillars of Eternity Spoilers00:27:16 - Minor Avowed Side Quest Spoilers00:37:03 - Lost Records01:00:00 - Monster Hunter: Wilds01:17:30 - Split Fiction01:26:38 - News - Unity announced a number of layoffs, and are focusing on "Live Services and AI" as one of their tenants moving forward01:27:46 - News - Phil Spencer said some really dumb shit about AI01:32:51 - News - Asynchronous multiplayer Resident Evil spin off Re:Verse is shutting down as it has "served its original, celebratory purpose"01:36:01 - Upcoming & Housekeeping Intro Music - There It Is - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Outro Music

It's 2025 and we emerge from our winter hibernations. Turns out all we did was play video games. Funny how that works.We Played...Euan has been stuck in the virtual world with Contractors: Exfil. He also tries to go to the stars in the highly anticipated Citizen Sleeper 2Calum played newest Atlus offering Metaphor: ReFantazio, the same game 90% of people were playing over winter Marvel Rivals, and is very ill in the head and this returned to WarframeTimestamps00:09:32 - IXION00:11:02 - Contractors: Exfil00:38:11 - Metaphor: ReFantazio00:44:30 - Dishonoured 200:54:34 - Marvel: Rivals01:05:58 - Warframe01:22:14 - Citizen Sleeper 201:30:23 - We have a half announcement for the Switch 2, and it sure looks like a Switch.01:33:43 - The next Destiny 2 episode is shipping with so much missing voice acting due to the SAG AFTRA actors strike that it has subtitles on by default to cover it. Intro Music - There It Is - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Outro Music - Honey Bee - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech

It is the time of year to put another log on the fire, grab your drink of choice, and listen to us talk about our favourite games of the year.Or in one case spend 20 minutes just quoting it.Timestamps00:06:13 - Euan - #500:10:44 - Calum - #500:17:42 - Euan - #400:24:13 - Calum - #400:34:06 - Euan - #300:43:54 - Calum - #3 & #200:56:21 - Euan - #201:10:09 - Calum - #101:24:48 - Euan - #101:46:20 - Runners Up01:56:52 - Looking to 2025 Intro Music - There It Is - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Outro Music - Honey Bee - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)News Sting - News Intro - Maximilien (soundbible.com)All Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

The world has conspired so that we both got a game from a series we love in one week, so it's a long one.We Played...After months of discourse, Calum digs into Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and seems to like it a lot.Life is Strange: Double Exposure takes Euan into his Pacific North West feelings, even though this installment takes place in Vermont. Remember, "sad teen" is a genre not a time period.Timestamps00:05:55 - Euan Game Catchup00:09:31 - Dragon Age: The Veilguard01:00:31 - Life is Strange: Double Exposure01:36:15 - News - Sony decided that the "best path forward" for Concord is to close the studio completely01:37:47 - News - 343 Industries is now Halo Studios, and are pivoting to Unreal Engine for the future games.01:38:35 - News - The mobile Animal Crossing game is getting one more year of updates, and if you want access to it then it's going to cost you $20.01:44:52 - News - Another month, another Destiny 2 controversy, this time with the community sleuthing out a bug with their drop rates.01:59:39 -

Nostalgia is a double edged sword, make sure your not falling for it. Also some quirky hardware with a crank. Real hard swings this episode.We Played...Silent HIll 2 is a foundational game for Euan, so his time with the Bloober Team remake is complicated.Awful delivery companies aside, Calum finally got a Playdate. It seems cool!We realised we had never talked about the joy of Astro Bot, so we remedy that. Timestamps00:03:31 - Euans Random Games00:06:07 - Silent Hill 200:54:49 - Playdate01:09:20 - Astro Bot01:24:07 - News - What is happening over at Ubisoft?01:33:53 - Upcoming & Housekeeping Intro Music - There It Is - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Outro Music - Honey Bee - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)News Sting - News Intro - Maximilien (soundbible.com)All Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

We took some time away. We've come back. There are video games. It never changesWe Played...Calum talks now real video game Deadlock. We all thought it was a secret, but it was just a MOBAEuan talks about the seemingly perfectly average Star Wars OutlawsTimestamps00:02:00 - Sony announced a £700 PlayStation Pro00:11:48 - Concord has been taken offline after less than a month00:20:39 - Former head of Sony Europe says industry layoffs aren't caused by greed, and people should "figure out how to get through it"00:23:51 - Deadlock00:45:17 - Star Wars Outlaws00:59:51 - Space Marine 201:01:40 - Upcoming & Housekeeping Intro Music - There It Is - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Outro Music - Honey Bee - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)News Sting - News Intro - Maximilien (soundbible.com)All Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

We saw some video games happen, some people are denying video games are happening, and some people appear to be doing whatever they can to ensure they don't make another video game happen again.We Played...Euan investigates some sci-fi murders with mixed results in No One Wants To DieCalum conquers his demons, namely the new Final Fantasy XIV Savage Raids, and experiences some retro Morrowind vibes in Dread DelusionWe both finally got to experience Thank Goodness You're Here, and it's every bit as good as we were hoping forTimestamps00:01:10 - Deathlock is being played by 20,000 people, but has never been officially announced or even acknowledged. Also we talk about that Verge article, and how people who don't understand what journalism is lost their minds.00:15:05 - No One Wants To Die00:26:25 - Thank Goodness You're Here00:35:46 - FFXIV Savage Raid00:44:38 - Dread Delusion00:54:03 - News - PSVR2 looks like it's in trouble, with not a lot of new games and now $200 off in a fire sale00:56:56 - News - Silent H

The games are sparse so we revert to type with RPGs and VR galoreWe Played...Calum plays hot new release Elden Ring. This is a lie but he hasn't heard anyone talk about this game, so it's worth a go. This was also a lie.Euan forgets reality for one of a virtual kind with Contractors Showdown and Ghosts of TaborWe both tried The First Decendant. It's alright. That's it, that's all we have to sayTimestamps00:02:08 - Elden Ring00:22:47 - Contractors Showdown00:39:30 - Ghosts of Tabor00:46:18 - The First Decendents00:49:35 - FFXIV Raid00:50:43 - Upcoming & Housekeeping Intro Music - There It Is - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Outro Music - Honey Bee - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)News Sting - News Intro - Maximilien (soundbible.com)All Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

We haven't heard from Calum in a while. He said he was exploring Tural? Don't know what that means but hopefully he's ok.We Played...Calum explores the latest Final Fantasy 14 expansion, DawntrailEuan does what every Scottish person has to consider at one point in their life, and decides to work on an oil rig in Still Wakes the DeepTimestamps00:02:02 - FFIVX: Dawntrail00:21:43 - Dragon Age: Inquisition00:22:51 - Still Wakes the Deep00:34:33 - Still Wakes the Deep - Spoiler Start00:41:41 - Still Wakes the Deep - Spoiler End00:41:50 - News - Cities Skylines 2 had to patch out landlords00:46:31 - Upcoming & Housekeeping Intro Music - There It Is - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Outro Music - Honey Bee - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)News Sting - News Intro - Maximilien (soundbible.com)All Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

A long one for everyone this week. Between the Summer Keighley Fest and a new Destiny expansion, it's a new season for games.We Played...We talk about the things we care about from Summer Games Fest, including the new Dragon Age, slow female vocal covers in trailers, and many other smaller items.Calum takes up his mantle of Destiny editor and goes in depth to Destiny 2: The Final Shape.Euan talks about Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, a much anticipated sequel for him.Timestamps00:02:22 - SGF: The Dragon Age: The Veilguard: The Trailer00:12:24 - SGF: Trailers and their Slow Music Covers00:23:06 - SGF: South of Midnight and Souls-likes00:27:23 - SGF: More From the Xbox Showcase00:30:00 - SGF: Euan's Sad Teen Hour00:35:42 - SGF: The Dragon Age Cinematic Universe00:42:15 - SGF: The Actual SGF Show00:58:51 - Euan bought a Quest 301:08:02 - Destiny 2: The Final Shape01:42:08 - Hellblade 201:56:39 - Upcoming & HousekeepingBreak Music -The Complex - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Intro Music - There It Is -&nbs

As summer approaches, one of us prepares for months of MMO gameplay and the other does what he always does. Plays weird indie games. NOTE - We talk about minor spoilers from Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, we are explicit when we are about to start, and there is a timestamp in the podcast description.We Played...We both played XDefiant, and had a surprisingly long conversation about the current state of the FPS genre.Euan plays a pile of puzzlers with The Excavation of Hobs Barrow and Lorelei and the Laser Eyes.Calum plays the latest Playstation PC port Ghosts of Tsushima. Timestamps00:02:44 - XDefiant00:25:45 - Onward Mercenaries00:28:01 - Hellblade00:30:41 - The Excavation of Hobs Barrow00:38:29 - Lorelei and the Laser Eyes00:46:24 - Lorelei Spoilers Start00:50:27 - Lorelei Spoilers End00:51:33 - Ghosts of Tsushima PC01:01:18 - News - Ubisoft have cancelled the F2P spin off of The Division. I hope the third instalment actually makes it out.01:02:17 - News - Jake Solomon, the game designer behind the XCOM reboot

We return with video games to talk about. Some of them are even current and relevant! We Played...Euan plays the unexplainable Indika and the very explainable cat sim Little Kitty, Big CityCalum substitutes his lack of raiding with raiding roguelike Rabbit and Steel and "anime Monster Hunter" Granblue Fantasy RelinkTimestamps00:02:00 - Little Kitty, Big City00:04:19 - Saints Row00:06:52 - Indika00:15:16 - Rabbit and Steel00:19:38 - Granblue Fantasy: Relink00:36:19 - News - In order to capitalize on the success of the Fallout series, Bethesda decided to catastrophically break Fallout 4.00:40:47 - News - Nintendo just tweeted it out, and have confirmed that the follow up to the Switch is coming this fiscal year.00:42:46 - News - Sony managed to destroy massive amount of goodwill behind Helldivers 2 by trying to enforce a PSN link on PC. They have now backed down from this idea.00:50:20 - News - The industry takes another massive hit, as Microsoft shutters more studios, including Tango Gameworks and Prey develop