Bastard Sword

Ep.23 – Blasphemous, Horizon: Zero Dawn Remake, Lies of P, TGA Nominees

It's Blaspheming time! This week, Drew finally convinces Josh to power through Blasphemous, a super unique and absolutely beautiful 2D action platformer. We both come away very positive on the game overall, although it does have some frustrating design choices that keep it from quite reaching the all-timer status. We also give a quick update on some of the games we've been playing lately, including Metaphor: ReFantazio, Lies of P, Horizon: Zero Dawn Remastered, and Case of the Golden Idol, along with spending a minute discussing the recent TGA nominees (let's gooooo Erdtree). Thanks for listening! Support Bastard Sword by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/bastard-sword [https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/bastard-sword]

Ep.22 – Splinter Cell: Blacklist & Intravenous 2: Stealth Games Double Feature

Much like making a podcast without being listened to, there's something innately satisfying about creeping through the shadows without being seen. The Last of Us Part 2 kicked us back into a stealth mode and reminded us of the simpler pleasures in life like going prone in tall grass and occasionally making people stop moving. Stealth games, it turns out, are pretty dope, but there actually just aren't that many of them these days. We talk about why we think that is, what happened to the genre, what makes for a good stealth system, whether or not we're on the cusp of a utopian sneaky-mans-eliminating genre revival, and a couple games we've been digging lately - Splinter Cell: Blacklist, and Intravenous 2 (a killer indie spiritual successor). Thanks for listening! Support Bastard Sword by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/bastard-sword [https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/bastard-sword]

Ep.21 – Metaphor: ReFantazio, Silent Hill 2, Disco Elysium Followups and More!

So we uhh punted on Resident Evil 6 - we'll come back to it, I promise! - but we did hop on a couple huge, critically-acclaimed and fairly awesome big recent releases that we had to talk about. Josh has been diving into Metaphor: Refantazio, the new sprawling JRPG epic from the Persona devs, while Drew has been creeping ever-so-slowly through the thick fog and thicker dread of the Silent Hill 2 remake. We also do a quick check-in on some of the big recent news stories, including the Disco Elysium fracture studios, the Halo Studios rebranding & engine switch, and the sad downfall of plucky, down-on-their-luck indie developer Ubisoft. Thanks for listening! Support Bastard Sword by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/bastard-sword [https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/bastard-sword]

Ep.20 – Resident Evil 5 (is good, actually?)

Spooky season continues with one of the least-beloved entries in one of the most-beloved survival horror series. Despite still being the best-selling game with the words "Resident" and "Evil" in the title, RE5 has a reputation as being not necessarily the nadir of the series, but the moment it began shamelessly trend-chasing and plummeting toward irrelevance. Despite the gleeful dive into full-on action schlock and the story's descent into dumb-even-by-Resident-Evil territory, we both found a lot to like about Resident Evil 5! Support Bastard Sword by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/bastard-sword [https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/bastard-sword]

Ep.19 – The Last Of Us: Part 2 (Is Pretty Great!)

I guess that's... the last of him 😎. This week, we tackle one of the more controversial major sequels in recent memory, The Last of Us: Part 2. Almost a half a decade (and a remaster) later, the internet is still very.... uhhh, divided on the story of this game. We spend some time talking about the choices it makes, how well they work for us, the upcoming season 2 of the HBO show, and the damn-near perfect combat design. Thanks for listening! Support Bastard Sword by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/bastard-sword [https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/bastard-sword]