Story Route Zero

Everyone is present and accounted for to cover Gamescom Opening Night Live. Then we go in a different direction with an announcement. No, Story Route Zero is not ending but we are taking a break. This will be the last (not final) episode as we go on hiatus. We hope you enjoy this show and all our shows and we will see everyone soon.

Jason was off this week but the rest of the group still gathered for a chat about video games and some news. Enjoy the episode!

Matt took the week off but Michaela, Moose and Jason are here to talk games and some news.

Road Squad is fully saturated this week as Michaela returns to regale with tales of Dragon Quest XIs and the child soldiers in Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Jason is playing Kingdom Hearts (still to Matthew's confusion), starting Salt and Sacrifice, and Monolith as well as releasing impressions of Tarnishing of Juxtia. He's also still dominating his Mario Kart weekends with the family. Matthew is STILL hunting Monsters in Sunbreak and loving it. Moose is still chilling in Night City as well as playing Outriders with Jason and friends and he prefers it that way over solo play. Moose also has walked around in the cat game (Stray). Moose also took a mini tour through the PS+ essential tier free games via Warhammer Chaosbane. We also dig into the Annapurna showcase that happened last week as well as some other news. As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you! We hope you have a wonderful week! Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President

We're at 75% capacity and somehow managed to release our shortest episode ever. Matthew is back after a 2-week absence to talk Monster Hunter Rise and he's still loving it. He's about to start the Sunbreak content and realizes how much he still has to learn. Moose is cruising toward the platinum in Cyberpunk 2077. He and Jason have both begun journeys into Live A Live. Jason is still here to deliver the weekly reminder that Vampire Survivors rules and is still enjoying Monolith. He reviewed Xel and it seems like it might be a meal that hadn't finished cooking. He also returned to Outriders, did a little more Kingdom Hearts, and regales us with stories of the Marshall family Mario Kart Sundays. As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you! We hope you have a wonderful week! Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President

We're back up to 3/4 of the group on this week's episode. Moose and Michaela were laser-focused on one game each while Jason finished off multiple cyberpunk games and tried to be diplomatic about a review that is not going so well.

It's only Moose and Jason this week but they still talk games and news and games and news.

Matt's playing fighting games, Moose is not playing Elden Ring, Jason is reviewing games and Michaela experienced game crashes because she's cursed. All that and a Nintendo Mini Direct on this week's episode. Enjoy!

Fun fact: most of the episode titles are either pre-show or during the show quotes. We hope you enjoy this week's hour of shenanigans.

It's a full car this week as everyone is back and games were played! Michaela is chugging through Dragon Quest XIs and loving it. Jason, Matthew and Moose passed the mic around talking 20 Minutes to Dawn, TMNT: Shredder's Revenge, and Neon White. Demos from Steamfest are also discussed, including Jason's preview on Lone Ruin. Matthew tried Mistover on Michaela's recommendation and immediately fell in love. Moose finally made the return to Horizon Forbidden West and is enjoying what he's been playing this second time around. Square news and Dragon's Dogma news are also discussed with Matt asking what is a Crisis Core. As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you! We hope you have a wonderful week! Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President

Both Michaela and Jason are off this week so who knows what happened. Enjoy the show!

It's a Moose-less show this week as he's on vacation. However, Matthew purchased Elden Ring on Steam, so there's more of that here. He also played a couple of other things. Michaela has been cleansed in the pun-filled waters of Dragon Quest XI. Jason beat Salt and Sanctuary, reviewed Card Shark, and continues to carry the torch by reminding everyone that Vampire Survivors is wonderful. Lots of news this week, as we try to tackle the beginning of Summer Games Fest and cover Sony's latest State of Play. As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you! We hope you have a wonderful week! Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President

It's a bit more of the same this week with some exceptions. Michaela had some computer issues, so she watched Spy X Family and immediately sells Matt on it. Moose is bouncing between characters in Elden Ring and stepping back into Division 2. Jason platinumed Elden Ring and then bit a bullet and beat Lords of the Fallen. Matt is attempting to not keep falling into Elden Ring by playing a lot of Circuit Superstars, which he absolutely loves. As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you! We hope you have a wonderful week! Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President

And we're back again. Jason has beaten Elden Ring and is playing Kirby Star Allies with his daughter. He's also reviewing something else because that is what he does.Michaela has finished another Fire Emblem: Three Houses playthrough and is quite excited for the upcoming Musou game. Moose got another platinum in Elden Ring and finally started Vampire Survivors. Matthew has started and is liking Dunk Lords, continuing Elden Ring, and has bounced on and off of Eiyuden Chronicle Rising. We discuss the premises of I, Inquisitor as well as PlayStation trying to help provide definitions for ‘gamer speak'. As always, enjoy the show and we hope you have a wonderful week! Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President

Lots of game announcements to go over in this week's episode.

No Michaela this episode but the guys still talk nonsense in a sub 1 hour episode.

Enjoy the show!

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Back again talking games! Matthew was stuck at work and unable to make the show, but there was no shortage of discussion. Michaela is doubling down on Xenoblade Chronicles and its many, many (MANY) side quests. Moose is dabbling in things other than Elden Ring (but is he though?) like Horizon Forbidden West and Tunic (which Matthew thinks is awesome!). Jason finished Dark Souls 2 and Horizon Forbidden West, took his first steps in Dark Souls 3 (Moose and Michaela are so happy for him) and continues playing Kirby with his daughter. He also stepped back into Lords of the Fallen and The Surge for some more Soulslike-lite(ish) action. As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you! We hope you have a wonderful week! Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President

Matthew has finished Elden Ring for his 187th platinum trophy, Michaela is doing side quests for days in Xenoblade and Jason reviewed Weird West and is slowly nearing the end of Dark Souls 2. We talk quite a bit about mean spiders in games and in life and discuss some news. Happy 28th anniversary, Final Fantasy VI. As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you! We hope you have a wonderful week! Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President

Michaela throws us all a curveball as she started and beat Ara Fell: Enhanced Edition on Switch. Moose has platinumed Elden Ring with Matthew close behind in the endgame (which means the weekly Elden Ring talk will begin to slow down, allegedly). The day of recording was Jason's birthday, so he finished Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition, returned to Returnal, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, and, of course, Vampire Survivors. It's also the anniversary of Kingdom Hearts, so we mention that too! As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you! We hope you have a wonderful week! Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President

Breaking news! Moose and Matthew spend a lot more time gushing about Elden Ring, specifically their experiences rather than going for spoilers. Michaela finished Triangle Strategy and reviewed it for Obilisk.co. She also dipped into Horizon again to just continue clearing the map and tasks. Then she started Stranger of Paradise, brought out notes and says it's a hot mess, but she might still like it. Jason is continuing his travels through Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition as well as the nebulous and weird world of Gran Turismo 7 and its microtransactions. As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you! We hope you have a wonderful week! Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President

Michaela has published a review of Horizon Forbidden West on obilisk.co. You should read it. She's know all about that Triangle Strategy. Matthew is out this week because he's a coward who's afraid to do homework. Moose is still playing Elden Ring hard, but somehow also Tom Clancy's The Division 2 for when he needs to shoot people in the face. Jason is making his own way through Horizon Forbidden West now and getting detoured all the way. He also took the advice of "What you should play next on steam," and started up Dark Souls: The Prepare to Die Edition and, like most, hates the great hollow. We also discuss the recent State of Play and other news in this dual holiday week. As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you! We hope you have a wonderful week! Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President

Michaela has finished and platinumed Horizon Forbidden West (Spoiler alert: she loves it) and began Triangle Strategy which is also giving her those good, good vibes. Jason has gotten all the achievements in Vampire Survivors and reviewed Shadow Warrior 3 and What Lies in the Multiverse. Check those out on www.obilisk.co. Moose and Matt are still face deep in Elden Ring and enjoying their time with it, but not really wanting to get too deep into spoiler territory. They also voice their own distaste for the discourse around the game. We also cover some news and will take this moment to tell anyone and everyone to get the Ender Lillies physical edition from Limited Run! As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you! We hope you have a wonderful week! Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President

The pod is basically split this week with 2 of us playing Horizon Forbidden West and 2 of us playing Elden Ring. Both games are wonderful in our estimation and we really try to avoid spoilers (to decent success). Neither are without their problems and we get into that a little bit, but from our points of view, both are absolutely fantastic. Jason also played more Vampire Survivors and has had a bit of a downer time with Elex II. As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you! We hope you have a wonderful week! Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President

Horizon Forbidden West has been released and all of us have started it. You'll hear first impressions, a little talk about referencing the first game, and a couple of early-game spoilers. Michaela has tried the new demo and is excited about Triangle Strategy. Matthew and Jason are still in an arms race with Vampire Survivors and it's still fun. Jason is enjoying his time in Dark Souls 2 as he enters the Doors of Faros. Moose played the Cyberpunk 2077 demo and is digging it. Matthew enlisted 3 new Helldivers, started and finished Dishonored, and made a bunch of progress in Metroid Dread. As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you! We hope you have a wonderful week! Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President

Matt has the week off but we covered quite a bit. Michaela is still playing Horizon Zero Dawn as she anxiously awaits for Horizon Forbidden West. Jason finished up reviews for Rise of the Third Power and is near completion on OlliOlli World and Grapple Dog as he continues his adventure in Dark Souls 2. Moose played a bit of everything but finished off the Horizon Zero Dawn DLC just in time for Friday's launch. We also discuss the PlayStation Indie showcase and the latest Nintendo Direct. Enjoy the show and have a great week!

This week, EIC of The Outer Haven Keith Mitchell (aka @shadowhaxor) joins us for shenanigans, Souls talk, Sifu talk, discussing Sony's acquisition of Bungie, and the need for outlets to stop covering Elden Ring so he can go in as fresh as possible. It's a nonstop good time of an episode this week. As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you! We hope you have a wonderful week! Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President

Another week, another acquisition, but we're still talking about games we're playing. Jason is reviewing both Rise of the Third Power and Grapple Dog and spreading the addiction of Vampire Survivors (though Matthew has reported his exposure already - and he calls it an idle-mussougelite). He also played Beat Saber and Super Hot VR. Michaela's ass is numb and she's still doing Horizon Zero Dawn's photo mode as well as testing the waters with the Monark demo. Matthew has made massive progress in another backlog title, Scarlet Nexus. He's also gotten further in Deep Rock Galactic and briefly mentions Wordle. Moose is tying up loose ends in Breath of the Wild and kicking Biomutant to the curb because he's not enjoying it. He also began Plague Tale: Innocence and has a good first impression. We then dabble in some news of the week. As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you! We hope you have a wonderful week! Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President

We hit the Wilt Chamberlain number this week. While we didn't plan anything, we certainly came to talk about games. Michaela loves Horizon Zero Dawn for anyone who didn't know, Matthew is completely enraptured by his time in Yakuza 0, which he finished this week, Jason is tearing through the Mario series like it ain't no thang but left some time for another platformer as he finished up Sackboy, and Moose is doing Dark Souls mods. We mention the thing that Microsoft did and go through our PlayStation wrap ups for 2021. As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you! We hope you have a wonderful week! Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President

For our second episode of 2022, we have our first guest of the year. Lovingly called The Maestro, Lee Navarro is one of the 3 main folks behind The Phoenix Overdrive Extra Life Team who, for more than a decade now, has dedicated almost all of their off time to the one weekend in November where most of the gaming world comes together to raise money to help sick kids via the Children's Miracle Network of Hospitals. While they are just one team among many, they've continued to gain more donations every year since forming. In 2021, they raised over $25K which is no mean feat when you consider they do all the grassroots work locally in New York. But all that work has not stopped him from playing games and stopping by to tell a story or 2. Give him a follow @nisiar83 on Twitter or check out the wonderful Phoenix Overdrive Extra Life Team at https://www.phoenixoverdrive.com/ and find out how you can help this crew help those of us who might need it more than others through the Children's Miracle Network. Also, we talk about video games a bit and Matt was up for 27 hours. As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Love you! We hope you have a wonderful week! Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President

After a brief break following our Game of the Year discussion, everyone is back in 2022. We start the year by finishing up the old backlog challenge before trying out a new way to tackle that endless list. Michaela played Atelier Ryza and enjoyed what she has played so far. It is not recommended for JRPG newbies though. Moose explored the Oldest House in Control and even went ahead and nabbed that platinum trophy. Matt finally experienced Ratchet & Clank: A Rift Apart and loved every minute of this Pixar-esque video game. Jason time-traveled back to ancient Egypt and completed Assassin's Creed Origins with thoughts of possibly playing Odyssey and Valhalla. With some time to spare, we briefly go over what we have played during the hiatus. As always, enjoy the show and we will see you next week. Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President

Game of the Year Discussion Part 5. The top 3 for all 4 hosts. Enjoy and see you in 2022.

Part 4 of 5. The top 10 lists! #10-#4.

Part 3 of 5. Categories Part 3.

Part 2 of 5. Categories Part 2

Part 1 of 5. Categories Part 1.

This week is just Michaela and Jason. Before jumping into games played, they share what Black Friday gaming purchases were made. If you have not played Inscryption, this is your spoiler warning. There were a few news items to discuss like the possible PS Plus leak (confirmed now), a Chrono Cross rumor, some news about Horizon: Forbidden West, and more. Enjoy the show and join us next week for our Game of the Year discussions.

This week, the group played some old games, some new games, and had some interesting thoughts about games. Jason had a ‘Trigger Witch moment' with Inscryption and has some mixed feelings towards Guardians of the Galaxy. Matt is Helldiving, F.I.S.T.-ing (PHRASING) and Halo (ing?). In a strange twist, Michaela is surprisingly not feeling Shin Megami Tensei V. Moose is back to Breakpoint as he dove into the new content. We also discuss some news including Hitman 3's 2022 roadmap, GTA's rough week (or two or three), and a few game delays. As always, enjoy the show and we will see you next week. Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President

Michaela took a week off so it's just Matt, Moose, and Jason. Surprisingly, there were little puns probably because it would not annoy anyone. We got a couple of platinum trophies to discuss and some news to go over. As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President

It's back to normal business this week with the road posse as Michaela defeats three games in a week, Jason tackles CoD on day one and Moose goes absolutely bananas playing all the games. Good thing too because Matthew had to basically be responsible all week and couldn't play anything new. Didn't stop us from having a bit of fun for one second. We also discuss news in brief (Elden Ring, drag Nintendo a bit despite loving them). As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President

It's game club time! We all played Curse of the Dead Gods, a roguelite developed by Passtech and published by Focus Home Interactive (or whatever their name is this week). Lots of thoughts, comparisons, and wonderful praise for this game with only a few minor gripes. We unanimously loved this game. We also discuss the Sony State of Okay and Matt gets excited for a PS1 Demake of Bloodborne. As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President

It's only down to three this week but we discuss what we're playing and the news for the week. Predictions are made for the PlayStation State of Play and video game movies are briefly discussed. As always, we hope you enjoy the show. Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President

A full complement of cohosts is here and games are discussed, wisecracks are made, Matt makes some dumb statements as usual and Moose spends time playing Borderlands 3 as just a shooter. Michaela discusses a bit of FIST as well as her shared experience of Life is Strange: True Colors. Each cohost hints at Curse of the Dead Gods and backlog games are decided for Moose and Jason as Matthew and Michaela will keep theirs (Ratchet and Clank and Atelier Ryza, respectively). News is also discussed and the cohosts go in on Nintendo for doing their thing the way they do. All this and so much more! As always, enjoy the show and have a wonderful week! Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President

It's just Michaela, Moose and Jason this week as Matt was on vacation. We talked about the Battlefield 2042 beta, a new PS Plus freebie, Hell Let Loose, and Metroid Dread already being pirated. Moose enjoyed his time with the Battlefield 2042 beta and played the next game club, Curse of the Dead Gods. Michaela finished up Kena: Bridge of Spirits minutes before showtime. Jason is enjoying his time with Far Cry 6 and briefly started Metroid Dread. As always, we hope you enjoy the show and have a wonderful week! Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President

It's a two-man operation this week for the Backlog Challenge. Moose played Cave Story + and thoroughly enjoyed his time while Jason finally played Cat Quest II, the sequel to the wonderful Cat Quest. Fun fact: Moose and Jason, on their previous podcast had the opportunity to interview Desmond Wong of The Gentle Bros so they know that Cat Quest II is only the second game of a planned 9 (lives - cats, get it?) As always, we hope you enjoy the show and have a wonderful week! Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President

Everyone is here this week to discuss the latest Nintendo Direct which showed quite a few exciting things. What have we been playing? Matt is absolutely obsessed with Hades but had some times with a bit of co-op Demon's Souls Moose dove into the Death Stranding Director's Cut and Diablo 2 and he finished up Cave Story + Michaela stopped fishing long enough to complete Tales of Arise and was able to start up Kena Jason was a few kills away from breaking the loop in Deathloop but also had time to work on a review for Tails of Iron and, much to Michaela's delight, started up Final Fantasy X As always, we hope you enjoy the show and have a wonderful week! Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President

Everyone is present and accountable this week. We talk about RPGs and JRPGs and WRPGs, THQ revealing a few games/remakes of games, the PS5 system update that is more than just a stability patch, and Nintendo finally discovered Bluetooth technology. What are we playing? Michaela is tackling Tales of Arise and making progress despite the fishing causing some catfish PTSD. Matt finished up Art of Rally, tried some Deathloop, and had time for some co-op in Demon's Souls. Moose streamed some Tails of Iron and even got a visit from the game's art direction, and he played Deathloop, Demon's Souls, Curse of the Dead Gods, Control, and Cave Story +. Jason played Curse of the Dead Gods, jumped in the Call of Duty Vanguard beta (he now wants to buy the game on release), some more F.I.S.T., a bunch of Deathloop, started Eastward, is reviewing Tails of Iron, and put out his review for Golf Club Wasteland. https://www.obilisk.co/golf-club-wasteland-review/ As always, we hope you enjoy the show and have a wonderful week! Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President

Back to business this week as we discuss games we're playing and the PlayStation event. Moose beat Trigger Witch so of course, we discuss that hard left turn of a final act for a bit of therapy for Matthew. Golf Club Wasteland was given high praise around the room. Michaela briefly played F.I.S.T. (Jason is as well) and loves what she has experience but spent most of her time with Tales of Arise. Matthew made his return to Hades while still plugging away at Demon's Souls. As always, we hope you enjoy the show and have a wonderful week! Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President

It's a Game Club episode this week and we go for a deep dive into Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights from Aglobe, Inc. and Live Wire, published by Binary Haze Interactive. Be ready for spoilers and a bunch of gamers just gushing about how much they love this game. 8 thumbs up and 4 glowing recommendations for this wonderful Metroidvania. We also do some talk about what else we've played. Matthew briefly touches on Trigger Witch and that absurd left turn in the story. He is very confused right now. No spoilers though because Moose is only at the start of the game. As always, we hope you enjoy the show and have a wonderful week! Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President

This week, Jason left us, so we're unsupervised but surprisingly well-behaved adults. Matthew and Moose managed to co-op half of Dark Souls Remastered, Michaela blitzed through Game Club (patent pending) game in preparation for next week, and Moose jumped back into Division 2 again but claims he's going to delete it. We also discussed Gamescom and Opening Night Live for a bit. As always, we hope you enjoy the show and we will see you next week! Intro Music: “All Time High” by Colin Fraser Outro Music: “Brightest Hour” by Young President