Digital Suffering Podcast

[Episode recorded February 2020] Your hosts Phamtom Limb, Steven Something and James (once he remembers who he is) return again with a look at what's caught their collective eye. Project Awakening looks to be very similar to games like Monster Hunter or Shadow of the Colossus, but that's no bad thing as long as they can do the combat justice. We're a little more sceptical of Outriders, which was described as a "cover-based 3rd person shooter with RPG elements". It reminds us of something we've seen before... (REM-NANT!) Speed Limit is a hard-as-nails pixel art game that pays tribute to action movies of the 90's. Did I mention that it's hard?

Of all the phrases that might come up in our podcast, "murder pickle" would not be high on my list of guesses! But why would hosts Phantom Limb and Steven Something even be bringing that up? Well...In today's show we look at:- 'Fragile', a point and click puzzle-adventure game with some slightly disturbing themes.- 'Monster Hunter: Riders', a mobile RPG where the idea is "Monster Hunter, but if it was Pokémon".- 'Stoneshard', an 8-bit styled, turn-based action-RPG.- 'Iron Danger', an action-RPG where you can rewind time to undo mistakes or change strategies.- 'Torchlight 3, the game formally known as 'Torch Frontiers', another action-RPG (I'm sensing a pattern here...)- And finally 'Phantasy Star Online 2' which went into closed beta testing at the time of recording. Oh, and it's an action-adventure RPG... So slightly different!

It's time to suffer once more with your hosts Phantom Limb, Steven Something and Shell. On today's podcast, we check out 'Arknights' (which launched shortly before this episode was recorded), a tactical tower-defence mobile game. Yeah, I know, tower-defence, right?

Today's podcast is concentrated suffering! Your hosts Phantom Limb and Steven Something are back for the first recorded show of 2020 and they launch right into some forthcoming titles that caught our collective eye.'Babylon's Fall' is another action-adventure game like Bayonetta from Platinum Games (who made Bayonetta). Not much else known beyond that it's coming to PS4 and PC in Summer 2020. Granblue Fantasy: Relink is an action RPG that we touched upon in a previous show and more details have trickled out with new character reveals, but no word on a release date as of yet.The final game covered is Punishing: Gray Raven, a mobile action-RPG that was released in China recently. We have no footage of it for the YouTube version of the show because the publishers were forced to crack down on non-Chinese citizens playing it!There's all this and more!Timecodes:00:48 - Babylon's Fall09:57 - Granblue Fantasy: Relink23:42 - Punishing: Gray RavenAll rights for images & video used belong to the respective rights holders.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/digital-suffering-podcast/donations

The end of the year has arrived! In the past, when we recorded this episode!Your hosts Phantom Limb, Steven Something and Shell talk about the year that was.We cover our standouts for 2019 including Death Stranding, Seikiro, Control, Borderlands 3, Mortal Kombat 11 & The Outer Worlds. We also talk about games that were released in 2018 but they don't count!After that, we detour on the Street Fighter 6 rumours, Elden Ring gets a mention for some reason, and then we get back on track with our disappointments for the year and finally what we're looking forward to in 2020.What game impressed you most in 2019, and what are you most looking forward to in 2020? Let us know!Timecodes:00:10 - Endless talking.All rights for images & video used belong to the respective rights holders.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/digital-suffering-podcast/donations

Today's podcast is all about the new (and kinda new) games that are coming to us in 2020. Your hosts Phantom Limb, Steven Something and Shell (in her podcast debut) focus on the games that crossed our collective radar.First up is 'loot slasher' 'Godfall', the first game to be announced for Playstation 5. The video provided at the time was pretty much in-game cutscene, so we speculate to our hearts content.And did you know Amazon is making games now? Their first foray is a 'sandbox survival' MMO called 'New World'. But does the world need another survival game?Next, we discuss the forthcoming MMORPG 'Corepunk'. The game has a lot of influences but brings some originality to the table too. Hopefully, we'll get into the beta to report more on this one.Finally, we look at 'Ghost of Tsushima', an action game in the style of 'Seikiro' that was reveal just before the aforementioned title. Guess which of the two games has been released and which one is still in development...All this and I almost get ended by some chips mid-podcast! Suffering on!Timecodes:00:50 - Godfall14:25 - New World26:40 - Corepunk42:55 - Ghost of TsushimaAll rights for images & video used belong to the respective rights holders.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/digital-suffering-podcast/donations

Death Stranding was always going to be the kind of game that would take up an entire episode. Your hosts Phantom Limb and Steven Something perform an autopsy on a game that has been referred to as "Fetch Quest Simulator" more than once in the gaming press.Will we be any less harsh? Will we get sidetracked by Sam peeing on things?Will Sony ever send us a couple of free Playstations so we can play games on that platform? (Unlikely!)Tune in for a whole lot of suffering!Timecodes:00:32 - Death StrandingAll rights for images & video used belong to the respective rights holders.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/digital-suffering-podcast/donations

Things get surprising on the podcast as your hosts Phantom Limb and Steven Something reveal they actually played some games! Shocking, right?Phantom Limb got his hands on the Carrion alpha and had fun as only a mass of murderous tentacles can... In-game that is! Phantom Limb isn't a mass of murderous tentacles, I can assure you.We break up the game reviews with a short discussion of the Epic and Steam stores, and then Steven Something gives his impressions of the recent release of King of Fighters: All Star on mobile. The game isn't for everyone but certainly worth a try.Remember, keep calm and Carrion!Timecodes:00:40 - Carrion26:40 - Epic Store, Borderlands 3 and Steam33:00 - King of Fighters: All StarAll rights for images & video used belong to the respective rights holders.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/digital-suffering-podcast/donations

BlizzCon has come and gone and it's time to pick through the pieces with your hosts Phantom Limb, Steven Something and "Uh, Insert Name Here."For starters, we chew on some the announcements from the event. Like, is Overwatch 2 really necessary? Why not just update Overwatch (1)?After the quick hits, we feast on the main course that is the Diablo 4 announcement. We cover what we know so far and how it differs from Diablo 2/3.It's suffering time!Timecodes:00:39 - BlizzCon - Overwatch 202:05 - Heroes of the Storm03:35 - World of Warcraft: Shadowlands04:25 - Diablo IVAll rights for images & video used belong to the respective rights holders.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/digital-suffering-podcast/donations

Welcome to the podcast that doesn't require 32 GB of RAM! Your hosts Phantom Limb and Steven Something star by tucking into preview video of 'Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order', which continues a long tradition of Star Wars action-adventure games, where leaping around and slicing things up is your raison d'etre.After that, we touch upon the forthcoming 'Journey to the Savage Planet', an FPS where the emphasis was deliberately not on the shooting aspect. Meet strange, new alien life... And then punt it off the nearest edge!Finally, some news about the mobile game 'Pokemon Masters' where the devs hope to fix the (many) criticisms the game has acquired. Can they do it or is it already too late? Also mentioning the pop-up Pokemon Store that was due to appear in London at the time of recording. Spoiler alert: I didn't even get a chance to step foot inside the store. 6+ hour queues? Uh, no thanks.Timecodes:00:34 - Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order35:00 - Journey to the Savage Planet47:20 - Pokemon MastersAll rights for images & video used belong to the respective rights holders.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/digital-suffering-podcast/donations

More Terminator tie-ins? What a Joker! Phantom Limb and Steven Something aren't joking though. Following on from the last show's coverage of Terminator: Resistance, we take a look Mortal Komat 11's new DLC characters which include some surprising additions.We then jump back in time to 2014 to examine Teyon/Reef Entertainment's previous FPS game, Rambo: Machine of War. Hopefully not a harbinger of things to come!Finally, we wrap up with a trio of mobile games and the forthcoming BlizzCon.Let's get to suffering!Timecodes00:34 - Mortal Kombat 11 (franchise tie-in characters)17:20 - Spiderman (Tom Holland-era)22:40 - Rambo: Machine of War(!)31:00 - Mario Kart Tour36:15 - Witch Weapon38:55 - Diablo Immortal / BlizzConSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/digital-suffering-podcast/donations

The suffering starts now! Your hosts Phantom Limb and Steven Something go to war with the machines following the surprise announcement of 'Terminator: Resistance', an FPS based on the future foretold in 'The Terminator' and 'Terminator 2' movies. Coming this November to coincide with the release of the third movie in the franchise (because they only ever made two movies...

It's a packed show today so let's get started! Your hosts Phantom Limb and Steven Something kick things off with some first play impressions of new mobile releases 'Fist of the North Star: Legends Revive' and 'Second Galaxy' (which is also available on PC). One gets more thumbs up than the other... The second half of the show is more PC-centric, with the just-released Metroidvania-style 'Blasphemous', the been-out-for-a-while adventure-puzzler 'AI: The Somnium Files' and the not-even-close-to-being-released 'System Shock 3'. What do we think of those? Tune in to find out! Timecodes: 00:33 - Fist of the North Star: Legends Revive 06:00 - Second Galaxy 25:20 - Blasphemous 38:18 - AI: The Somnium Files 47:10 - System Shock 3 All your podcast are belong to us! All rights for images & video used belong to the respective rights holders.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/digital-suffering-podcast/donations

We're all about the (mutated zombie) orcs this time around with your hosts Phantom Limb and Steven Something. Our carefully curated list of topics goes out of the window as we spend the entire episode discussing Phantom Limb's playthrough of the demo for the recently released 'Din's Legacy'. Listen through to discover such gems as: * It's like 'Diablo' meets 'Rad'. * The Minstrel gets no minstrel weapons or abilities(!?). * You become a passive monster (trust me, it'll make sense later). * Juggling is exactly like using a two-handed sword. * It reminds us of lots other games. * Don't feed the Dire Pigeons! (this will make less sense) Timecode: 00:30 - Din's Legacy Tune in to find out just how much suffering is involved! All rights for images & video used belong to the respective rights holders.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/digital-suffering-podcast/donations

Standby for a metric tonne of Kung-foolery with your hosts Phantom Limb and Steven Something!We talk about two forthcoming games, the dream-like 'Waking' and action-comedy of 'Monkey King: Hero is Back' and mull over our thoughts of the recently released 'Oninaki' as experienced through the demo.Having burned through the big releases we spend the rest of the show making astute observations of Nintendo's love of the gold coin. You won't want to miss it!Timecodes:0:33 - Waking7:28 - Monkey King: Hero is Back12:28 - Oninaki 23:47 - Companions & summons in games30:43 - Mario Kart Tour32:28 - Monetisation the Nintendo way!37:17 - Pokemon Masters43:07 - Riot Games buys a fighting game studio (in 2016)52:37 - Fire Emblem: Three HousesAll rights for images & video used belong to the respective rights holders.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/digital-suffering-podcast/donations

It's podcast time! Your hosts Phantom Limb and Steven Something begin with the recent closed beta 2 test of 'Astellia Online' and what it revealed about how the game might turn out. The next game we cover is 'Lost Ember', an adventure game that graduated from Kickstarter about a wolf that eventually led to a conversation about a simulator of a goat! Our final topic is the 3rd-person action game 'Devil's Hunt', which is very much in the vein of 'Devil May Cry', but it looks to be a real mixed bag. We like the environments but the lead character... Not so much. Tune in to hear our thoughts. And remember, always run like someone who is awesome! All rights for images & video used belong to the respective rights holders.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/digital-suffering-podcast/donations

Welcome to another helping of Digital Suffering! Your hosts Phantom Limb and Steven Something get started on 'Greedfall', an action RPG set in a fantasy 17th century, that puts us in mind of... Dragon's Dogma? Following on from that, we look at 'Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey', a survival game that's a step above others in the genre. Need fire? Then you'll have to discover it! Want a weapon? Then you'll have to invent the pointy stick! Survive 8 million years to win! The delayed-but-now-coming-this-October 'Concrete Genie' garners our attention next. An action platformer where you rejuvenate a decaying town with a magic paintbrush, it practically screams 'Okami'. The visuals are lush but with a projected 5-6 hour playtime, we are rightfully concerned about replayability as well as longevity. With any luck, it will be priced accordingly. We wrap things up with a peek at 'Indivisible', a 2D platformer with RPG-styled battles and graphics that make my anime-sense tingle, which leads on to a lengthy discussion about gaming tropes and level transitioning. Suffer on! All rights for images & video used belong to the respective rights holders.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/digital-suffering-podcast/donations

Let's get this show on the road!Your hosts Steven Something, Pha-n-to-m Li-mb (Phantom Limb) and J-a-m-es (James) are in high spirits as we look at another batch of upcoming titles.First is 'Remnant: From the Ashes', an action-RPG with roguelike elements to the levels, with such a heavy emphasis on ranged-combat we wonder if that will greatly lessen the melee side of things.Next is 'Eastern Exorcist' (which was still titled 'Oriental Exorcist' at the time of recording), a gorgeous 2-D side-scrolling action game that has a lot of promise and we look forward to getting more details.In the mobile corner, we draw everyone's attention to Final Gear, a cute-girls-in-mechs hero collector game that went live in China recently. No sign of if/when it might go global but with involving shoot-'em-up combat, it's a step above a lot of the stuff out there now.Our final game is 'Bleak Faith: Forsaken' ("Why is everything always forsaken?"), an action game in a similar vein as the 'SoulsBourne' games that's currently kicking it on Kickstarter. The game looks very impressive so far, even more so when you consider that it's just a two-man studio producing it!We wrap up the show with a discussion on microtransactions and just how expensive 'free-to-play' can really get!Suffer on!All rights for images & video used belong to the respective rights holders.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/digital-suffering-podcast/donations

On today's show, your hosts Phantom Limb, Steven Something and James (who materialises out of thin air halfway through) discuss a number of topics. We check out the newly-released 'Teppen' and wonder why it's not Hearthstone, we talk about upcoming 'Carrion' and 'Blue Protocol' (which sets us off on a 'Gravity Rush' tangent) and touch upon Kurtzpel. Wrapping up we take a peek at the teaser trailer for 'The Witcher' TV series coming to Netflix, and the bits of Henry Cavill that will entail. We even squeeze in a 'FX: Murder by Illusion' reference, who here even remembers that movie? All this and much more. Suffer on! All rights for images & video used belong to the respective rights holders.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/digital-suffering-podcast/donations

Welcome! Your hosts Phantom Limb and Steven Something take a look at 'The Sinking City' and come away very hopeful for how the game handles madness. We reminisce about similar games in the past, how nostalgia affects people perception of old games and about just how terrible the camera was in Super Mario 64. That Lakitu definitely had it in for us!Next, we take a look at up-coming indie 'shmup' 'Freedom Finger' whose art style we find very delightful, almost Python-esque.We also touch upon the recent 'Summer Games Done Quick' (SGDQ) who hit a new milestone by passing the $3 million mark. If you wish to donate, head over to their website for links: https://gamesdonequick.com/To wrap things up, we talk about the forthcoming 'Fist of the North Star' game coming to mobile. Over-the-top martial arts action meets turn-based strategy... Surely a winning formula?

We're off to a flying start as hosts Phantom Limb and Steven Something try to get James up to speed on the Playdate before the episode even officially begins!Beginning proper, the three of us gently critique 'My Friend Pedro' and then we go on a merry tour of the AR-based Pokémon Go clones starting with 'Harry Potter Wizards Unite', 'Jurassic World Alive' & 'Ghostbusters World'. Niantic's 'Codename Neon' gets dredged up (how many of you remember that?) briefly before we move on to the whole Auto Chess genre and the concept of Battle Royale games in general.In the final stretch we debate passionately about streaming services like Google's Stadia, piracy and what's popular, and very nature of existence as it relates to the PlayStation 5 (which apparently doesn't exist).Game on!

Today's podcast brings you part two of our E3 coverage as your hosts Phantom Limb and Steven Something go through the news and details that have trickled out. We discuss 'Shenmue 3' being announced as an Epic Store exclusive and why it's a non-issue, we dissect 'The Outer Worlds' and its roots in the Fallout Franchise and we even attempt to count the forthcoming Final Fantasys (Final Fantasii?) announced at E3.After all that, we take deeper looks at the dreamy 'Sky: Children of Light', the cutesy 'Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening' and the... Er… Gib-tastic 'Doom Eternal'.All rights for images & video used belong to the respective rights holders.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/digital-suffering-podcast/donations

E3 is here! E3 is here!So begins part one of our E3 coverage where your hosts Phantom Limb & Steven Something pick out highlights and points of interest from the torrent of news and previews that poured out of the event.Games featured in this episode:Creature in the WellElden RingGhostwire: TokyoCyberpunk 2077DEATHLOOPAstral ChainGods & MonstersRadTune in soon for part two of our E3 coverage where we will cover more games that we are least 'meh' about!All rights for images & video used belong to the respective rights holders.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/digital-suffering-podcast/donations

Today, your hosts Phantom Limb and Steven Something make a play date with the Playdate handheld gaming system... And we do our best to be as un-negative as possible. Or at least, one of us tries to be un-negative...We talk about the device's place in the hardware pantheon which leads us to reminisce about its contemporaries such as the Nintendo Gameboy and the Nokia N-Gage.From there we touch upon the Sega Dreamcast and I get lost on Ragol as I get all misty-eyed about Phantasy Star Online. Of course, we talked about Phantasy Star Online 2 and then a couple of weeks later it gets announced for the west! We must have special powers or something!I fail to remember 'Kurtzpel' throughout the entire episode and we finish up with Theremins (someone send us a review unit!).*Cue constant Theremin music...*All rights for images & video used belong to the respective rights holders.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/digital-suffering-podcast/donations

Join your hosts Phantom Limb, Steven Something and James (the new-ish guy) as we go on a deep dive into upcoming title 'John Wick Hex', a shallow dive into 'Toki' and remakes in general, and finally we explore the paddling pools that are 'Children of Morta' and 'Raji: An Ancient Epic'.All rights for images & video used belong to the respective rights holders.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/digital-suffering-podcast/donations

Your hosts Phantom Limb and Steven Something take quite the tour this time around. We start with a look at the forthcoming game 'Control' before musing about the Final Fantasy VII remake and remakes in general. Should they remain faithful reproductions of the original, or is it acceptable that they get updated and improved upon to account for the modern player?Oh, and the bits where we say "Advent Children", perform a mental substitution and replace that with "The Spirits Within"!Finally we touch upon 'Last Idea' and mull over the release of 'Rage 2' and the games it reminds us of.All rights for images & video used belong to the respective rights holders.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/digital-suffering-podcast/donations

Join hosts Phantom Limb and Steven Something as they go on a gentle rollercoaster ride starting with the fantastic Sonic the Hedgehog movie and then meandering into ARPG territory with Diablo Immortal, Last Epoch as well as touching upon the state of mobile gaming too.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/digital-suffering-podcast/donations