Not a Game podcast

In a sadly rather downbeat episode Jordan and Tom are joined by prolific freelancer Chris Schilling. Chris has been playing The Flame and the Flood and Far Cry Primal and goes back and forth on the pluses and minuses of both. Meanwhile Tom explain’s why Superhot’s shooting is Super Good and it’s story is Super […]

This week we’re joined by the bouffant Alice Bell of VideoGamer to tell us all about the beautiful grit of The Division, while Jordan is torn between farm life and industrialisation in Stardew Valley. Meanwhile we take a non-video game break to discuss the allure of plastic spaceships in the X-Wing Miniatures Game and Jordan’s […]

This week we’re joined by PC Gamer’s Andy Kelly, who tries his level best to persuade us of the joys of driving through rainy motorway stations in American Truck Simulator. Also he talks a lot about Virtual Reality which is obviously far less cool and interesting than trucks. We know our listeners love trucks. Meanwhile […]

This week we’re joined by our old friend Josh Matthews, who managed to get his hands on an early demo of Firewatch and tells us what he thinks. Meanwhile Tom is finally playing XCOM 2, and regales us with the comedy of errors that ensued on his first VIP extraction mission. Finally Jordan explains the […]

With last week’s Season Two pilot out of the way we get back to your regularly scheduled programming. This week we’re joined by Maki Yamazaki, fresh from Global Game Jam to tell us about all about the jam experience. Plus more talk of the Witness, Oxenfree, Undertale and Rebel Galaxy. We also pine for XCOM […]

Hi! We’re back! After a long hiatus, Jordan and Tom are recording again, and take the opportunity to recap their favourite games of 2015, along with a few they’re looking forward to in 2016. Plus Jordan gives us the scoop on The Witness, which was only released today! We’re so current! Jordan recaps her year […]

This week we’re joined by freelance journalist Holly Nielson and Xbox On (Xbon) presenter Kate Gray of the Toku podcast. We chat about The Sims, Monster Hunter, I am Bread and Pillars of Eternity before seguing into a game related round of “Would you rather”. Also discussed: fashion in Deus Ex, what Captain America is […]

Step right up for the debate of the century! Jordan attempts to start a fight moderates as Tom and guest Ed Smith debate the term ‘cinematic’ and whether games can or should emulate film and television. But first off, Ed lets us know what he thinks of Battlefield: Hardline (not much), Tom explains why Homeworld […]

Tom and Jordan were at Rezzed recently, so today they’re joined by Ed Fenning to run down the long list of their favourite games from the show. Tom is partial to Aviary Attorney and Her Story, Jordan likes Line Wobbler and Hue, Ed enjoys Screencheat and Cloudbuilt and everyone loves Salt. The game, not the […]

This week Tom and Jordan are joined by Helen Gould, fresh from talking at Videobrains. Together we talk about The Order 1886, Republique, Dragon Age, Minecraft, Evolve, Darkest Dungeon and A Good Snowman is hard to build. Plus dogs, David Bowie and dongs. The medieval poc tumblr Austin Walker on Darkest Dungeon and mental health […]

This week we’re joined by Jack De Quidt for our most phallic episode yet! Jack has been playing Besiege, which is about constructing comedy siege engines that may or may not have gigantic robo-boners. Meanwhile Jordan has been growing huge shafts of… vegetation in Grow Home, and Tom has been chatting up pidgeons in Hatoful […]

This week we’re joined by Jenni Goodchild, fresh from talking at Videobrains on ethical systems in gaming. We spoke about her talk, which included lots of references to Dragon Age, much to Jordan’s dismay. Meanwhile Tom has been playing minimalist mysterious survival/exploration game Eidolon, Wolfenstein (again) and cyberpunk Twine game A(s)century while Jordan has been […]

This week we’re joined by Gemma Thomson fresh from Global Game Jam. Like really fresh, she joined us immediately after wrapping up work organising the Stockholm jam site. We chat with her about how this year’s event went, plus talk about Wolfenstein, Tengami, Contrast, Euro Truck Simulator, GIRP and Little Big Planet. Finally we round […]

This week we’re joined by George Osborn (no not that one) for a post Pocket Gamer connect podcast. Erica sells us on Kalimba and Progress, Tom complains that Wolfenstein just isn’t silly enough for him and the boys talk about Football for a while, much to Jordan’s chagrin. Also included are chats about celebrity voice […]

We’re back with the first podcast of 2015! We’re joined by Rock Paper Shotgun’s Adam Smith, who has played basically every PC game released in the last year. We muse on some of the most memorable games of 2014, including Sunless Sea, Dragon Age, 80 Days, Shadowrun, Broken Age, Shadow of Mordor, Wolfenstein, The Sims […]

Welcome one and all to the final podcast of the year. But while 2014 still lives we’ve invited the Queen of Infinite Podcasts Laura Kate Dale to join us for a festive chat. Games discussed include Pokemon, The Fall, The Price of Fame, Desert Golfing, Deadnaut, Oddworld: Strangers Wrath and more. Plus bonus Christmas related […]

It’s finally here! After weeks of anticipation, Jordan finally gets to introduce Episode 69. We’re joined by Holly Nielson, for a long chat about videogame boning in general and Bioware romances in particular. Learn about Tom’s long history with videogame bad girls, Holly’s secret lust for bald elves and which games are best played when […]

This week Laura Rich of the Recycle Bin podcast joins us for an in depth discussion of This War of Mine and how it can be really hard to get away with murder sometimes. Meanwhile Tom has been punching parrot men in the cavepunk world of Zeno Clash, Erica has been rearranging Framed and Laura […]

This week Tom and Jordan are joined by Josh Matthews of Gaming FTL. Josh has been working his way through the always innovative 7dayFPS game jam, leading us to have a big natter about low poly graphics. Meanwhile Tom promises not to talk about Dragon Age and instead tells us about Monument Valley and Jazzpunk, […]

This week we’re joined by PC Gamer’s Phil Savage who has spent the last few months playing pretty much all the Dragon Ages that are possible to play. We quiz him on Dragon Age Inquisition while Pip explains strange gambling/puzzle game Cordial Minuet. Meanwhile Tom returns to LA Cops and dabbles in The Yawhg. Plus […]

The regular gang is back this week, as is Pip’s famous cold voice. We’re still on a bit of a GameCity warm down, with Tom and Erica taking the chance to talk Titan Souls and Pushmi Pullyu from the final party. Meanwhile Pip has been playing Schein and Destiny and Erica has been trying her […]

Photo provided by GameCity under creative commons license. Welcome to episode 64, not episode 63 as Tom mistakenly says at the start of the episode. Tom is joined by GameCity veteran Esla Bartley and GameCity dilettante Paul Dean to bid a fond farewell to a weak of digital art and cool games. Discussed are Tap […]

This week Pip returns from Korea, bringing with her a huge discussion about the appeal of e-sports in comparison to ‘meatsports’. Meanwhile Jordan has been wielding the flaming compensator in Sunset Overdrive and Tom has been admiring puzzles and falling down pits in Legend of Grimrock 2. Plus a chat about terrible videogame movies. How […]

Tom and Erica are joined by Kate Gray and Joe Skrebels of the sadly now deceased Official Nintendo Magazine. We pour one out for our fallen dead tree comrade and chat a little about Spelunky on Vita, Chariot and the Sportsfriends games. We also cover Bayonetta 2 on the Wii U and answer some increasingly […]

This week’s podcast is mostly, but not entirely about Orcs. Pip has been playing Orcs Must Die: Unchained, a game in which Orcs must die while pushing lanes in a suspiciously Dotalike fashion. Tom tells us about his long running rivalry with Uskar the Humiliator in Shadows of Mordor(c). Finally Erica has been spinning gently […]

Pip, Tom and Erica return from a trip to Eurogamer Expo in London. We mostly hung around in the indie section, because we’re cool and alternative like that. We bring you news of our favourite games from the show. Tom has been exploring 30 flights of David Lynch in Virginia, popping pills in Big Pharma […]

We’re guestless for Episode 59, but Tom, Jordan and Pip are here to talk about Dota, Fashion Week and Videobrains, three topics that go together better than you’d think. Pip has been trying to play Destiny, but keeps being stopped by Impalas and Figs, while Tom has been dabbling in interactive fiction with Save the […]

This week Tom and Jordan are joined by 10 Second Ninja creator and head of the #Nindies campaign Dan Pearce. Dan tells us about Luftrausers and how a developer’s state of mind affects a game, and also why Dark Souls is like coding. Jordan tells us about match three roguelike child labour sim The Road […]

This week we’re joined by the smooth DJ tones of Alice O’Connor of Rock Paper Shotgun, who tells us about the shocking twist ending of Hypnospace Enforcer, and gives us her own peculiar take on the demo for Fifa 15. Meanwhile Pip has been betraying her native Dota 2 for the friendly embrace of League […]

After last week’s disastrous lost podcast Pip, Tom and Jordan unite for episode 56, take two. The Sims 4 is out and we’re all either playing it, watching it or starring in it, so we have a big long chat where Jordan tells us exactly what has changed since last game. Meanwhile Pip has ghost […]

It’s an exciting time for the Not a Game podcast as we induct a new(ish) member. Yes Jordan is now joining us full time (throws confetti in the air). This week she’s even brought Alan Williamson with her, who tells us how hard old Nintendo games are and plugs his charity booksale. Meanwhile Tom has […]

This week perennial guest Laura Kate Dale returns to talk us through the highs, lows and generic mediums of the Gamescom press conferences. We liked Wild, Shadow Realms and Sony’s streaming plans, we did not enjoy the continued abuse of the word ‘exclusive’. After that Laura tells us about windmilling furiously in Mount Your Friends, […]

For Episode 53 we’re live at Nine Worlds. Tom and Cara are joined by Dan Nye Griffiths and Louise James to talk about the convention and our panels. Cara has been talking about sex in videogames which gets us onto about 80 Days, ethical sex in Mass Effect and de-virginising Dragon Age’s Alistair. Louise has […]

This week Tom and Pip are joined by Richard Cobbett. Tom’s been playing LA Cops, which just released with a short but sweet early access build. This spurs us to talk about Sunless Sea and the two’s different approaches to story driven early access games. Pip has been having a survival horror week, building arm […]

Episode fifty one sees Pip still in recovery from The International, so Tom is instead joined by Laura Dale, Lucy Morris and Hannah Bunce. Lucy tells us about playing DayZ with broken legs while Hannah tells us why Wolf Among Us is grittier than The Walking Dead. Laura has been exploring Itch.io and finding a […]

Welcome to the fiftieth episode of the Not a Game podcast! Which is also our one year anniversary! To celebrate this auspicious occasion we’ve got both Craig and Cara back, re-uniting all four original podders. This week Craig brings us the topical observation that Final Fantasy VII is pretty good, Cara tells us the secrets […]

For episode 49 we’re joined by Kate Gray of Official Nintendo Magazine, who tells us all about just how sweary Towerfall makes her, leading Tom to bring up the splendidly named Timmy Bibble’s Friendship Club. Meanwhile Tom has also been playing first person open world botany ‘em up Miasmata and Pip has been doing science […]

We’re back with a two person cast today, recording on a lazy Saturday afternoon. Tom has been going sailing mad, exploring the eloquent ocean of Sunless Sea, collecting tales of terror and Sly Navigators, while simultaneously singing sea shanties in Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag which has awesome boats and a bunch of bullshit. Meanwhile Pip […]

After a fortnight of crossovers and on location podcasts, normal service finally resumes this week, along with our regular guest Jordan Erica Webber. Pip tells us a little about esports and meatsports, while Tom catches us up on the last day of Radius, including his thoughts on LA Cops, Mimic and The Marvellous Miss Take. […]

Tom and Pip went to Radius Festival this weekend, where they’re joined by Keith “I work for the Guardian” Stuart, who helped organise the event, and Gemma Thompson, who was demoing her game Mimic. We talk about the excellent games on show including Mucho Party, Tap Happy Sabotage, In Space We Brawl, Timmy Bibble’s Friendship […]

This week’s Not a Game podcast is a little bit different, because it’s also last week’s Category Video Games. That’s right, we’re doing a crisis crossover as Pip and Tom join our perennial guest Laura Kate Dale along with Patrick Dane, Andre Miller and Jose San Mateo for a massive two and a half hour […]

Most of you won’t listen to this podcast because you’ll be making snarky comments about E3 instead, but just in case Tom, Pip and Jordan Erica Webber gathered together to bring you both our realistic E3 predictions and our wildest hopes and dreams. Also Pip has been enjoying her first big MMO launch with Wildstar […]

This week we’re joined by freelance writer, NPC simulator and webcomic author Chris Livingston. Chris tells us all about Watch Dogs, and how multiplayer hacking is brilliant, but the story is spoiled by dull grizzlyman Aiden Pearce, iconic twat. Then Tom talks about the fantastic narration of Bastion and introduces us to Dominions 4, a […]

This week Pip and Tom are manning the poddesk all by their lonesome but they soldier on regardless to bring you the topical observation that Knights of the Old Republic 2 is well written but kinda buggy, more news as it breaks. Also discussed is Pip’s valiant attempt to start a book club in DayZ […]

This week Tom and Pip are joined by freelance podcast guest extraordinaire Laura Rich. We’re talking about Laura’s co-op adventures in Dark Souls 2 and why playing Netrunner in person feels so different to playing Hearthstone online. Also discussed is Pip’s visit to a League of Legends tournament, the strange ambiguity of Cloud Chamber and […]

It’s the big Four Oh for the podcast, and we’re celebrating with a Eurovision edition! By which I mean one of our guests is joining us from Stockholm and everything else is pretty much the same. Pip and Craig can’t be here this week, so Tom’s holding the fort with the aid of Paul Dean […]

After taking the last week off to conquer the void of Dark Souls 2 Craig returns to us wracked and hollow, babbling about architecture and symbolism. What follows is a 45 minute discussion between Craig and Pip about the hidden meanings and mysterious appeal of the Dark Souls games, complete with convoluted conspiracies and missing […]

This week’s podcast is a bit of a lane pushing special. Pip and guest Richard Cobbett have both been playing Heroes of the Storm and have a long involved chat about it, Dotalikes and e-sports in general. Afterwards Tom tries and fails to explain exactly why he was running around London hacking things with his […]

We often deal with hard hitting questions here on the Not a Game podcast, but this week is special. This week, with the help of Emily Richardson, we bring you the answers to some of the biggest unanswered questions in gaming, questions like: “What is the best depiction of an egg in gaming?” “How is […]

This week we’re joined by Laura Kate Dale to chat about the charming let challenging A Good Snowman is Hard to Build, the malevolent yet disappointing Evilquest and the ever dependable Kerbal Space Program. Plus we talk about Luftrausers: both the recent controversy and why Tom feels strangely disappointed by it. Also we accidentally manage […]

Welcome to the not a game podcast, a podcast about games and not about dolls house furniture, despite what this episode might have you believe. We’re joined by new Kotaku UK editor Keza MacDonald to talk about a friendlier approach to Dark Souls and why we don’t want to listen to you when we’re playing […]