Spawn On Me with Kahlief Adams: A Video Game Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Gaming's Most Delicate Story — And How He Got It Right | The Light in the Darkness Sep 22, 2026

Show notes

Luc Bernard has been trying to make The Light in the Darkness for nearly 20 years. It's a graphic novel-style narrative game set in occupied France during World War II — where you play as a Jewish family, experiencing the Holocaust not through combat, but through helplessness, fear, and the slow erosion of safety. It's the first game of its kind. And on Episode 591 of Spawn On Me, I sat down with Luke to find out how it got made, what it cost him emotionally, and why the Director's Cut is the version the world actually needs to see right now.

We talk Wolverine with Insomniac's Head of Technology. Sep 14, 2026

Show notes

Go behind the scenes of Marvel's Wolverine with Insomniac's Head of Technology, Mike Fitzgerald. Learn how the team tackles complex development challenges. In this episode of Spawn on Me, we sit down with Mike Fitzgerald to discuss the realities of game development at Insomniac Games. We explore the technical constraints of bringing a major title to market, the intricate process of building character deformation tech, and what it takes to create high-end visuals in modern gaming. This conversation offers a unique look at the engineering hurdles faced by one of the industry's most prominent studios.

Insomniac Games Wolverine – Is This The Best Superhero Game Ever? Sep 10, 2026

Show notes

I've waited on a Wolverine game like this my whole life as an X-Men fan, and after 20+ hours with Insomniac's take, I'm breaking down whether it earns a place next to Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 as one of their best.This is a spoiler-free review, but I get into the big-picture stuff: how Insomniac reimagines Logan's origin through Team X and gives him a more grounded, human throughline than we usually get from this character; how the combat carves out its own identity — close-quarters and brutal rather than the aerial mobility Spider-Man built its reputation on — and where that comparison helps the game and where it works against it; the DNA augment system and suit customization, and how deep that rabbit hole goes; and what might be Insomniac's most technically impressive work yet, a photo mode and deformation system that shows real-time damage across the entire model.I also talk about where the game stumbles — specifically the Nightmare gauntlet challenges — and where I think this universe goes from here if Insomniac gets a second shot at it, or expands it into something bigger.If you're deciding whether this is worth your time, or you've already played it and want to see if we landed in the same place, this is the conversation. Let me know in the comments what you think — is this the best superhero game we've gotten, or does something else still hold that title for you?

They Raised their Arms To The Wind As A Kid. Now They Command It As Storm. Aug 06, 2026

Show notes

I've been wanting to have this conversation for a long time, and it did not disappoint. This week on Spawn On Me, I sat down with Mara Junot — the voice of Ikora Rey in Destiny, Storm across multiple Marvel games, and Queen Sindel in Mortal Kombat — and we went deep on everything from their origin story to what it actually takes to build a lasting career as a voice actor.

Mara gets real about starting out with zero voiceover resources in their area, teaching themselves through YouTube and podcasts, and spending nearly 8 years as a country radio DJ before discovering the world of voice acting. They break down what agents actually expect from you (hint: it's not 10%), why introverts can absolutely thrive in this industry, and why they ignored everyone who told them they couldn't do trailers.

We also talk about voicing Storm across Marvel Midnight Suns, Ultimate Alliance 3, and the new Marvel Tokon — and the deeply personal reason Storm means more to them than any other character they've played.

This is one of my favorite conversations of the year. Don't sleep on it.

We are the culture. 🎮✊

I Played Silent Hill: Townfall For 3 Hours & Here's Everything You Need To Know Jul 29, 2026

Show notes

I got a chance to go hands-on with Silent Hill: Townfall at a private preview event in LA, and I have to say — this one is something special. Three hours with the game, a decorated hotel setup themed around the Scottish town of Saint Amelia, and a live Q&A with writer/director Jon McLennan from ScreenBurn and series producer Akimoto-san from Konami. Yeah, it was that kind of event.

This episode is my full breakdown of what I saw, what surprised me, and why I think this might be one of the most important Silent Hill games ever made.

We talk the first-person perspective shift and why it works, the CRTV mechanic that replaces the classic radio in the freshest way possible, the gyroscopic DualSense puzzle design, the 2.35:1 cinemascope presentation, and the five endings — including some secret ones. We also get into the combat, which is brutal and deliberate in the best way, and the stealth system that puts you in genuine danger at every turn.

The Xbox Reset, PS Disc Death & Why Gaming Is At A Crossroads Jul 20, 2026

Show notes

3,200 Xbox jobs. Studios sold, studios cut loose, studios just gone. And PlayStation is telling us physical discs will be done by 2028. I sat down this week and gave you my honest, unfiltered take on all of it — not just the business moves, but what this means for the actual human beings living through this. As somebody who is currently laid off himself, this one hits close to home, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise.This episode covers:- 📌 The Xbox Reset — Asha Sharma's "most significant restructure in Xbox history," the 3,200 jobs being cut, and the real-world chaos that's followed- 📌 What going independent actually means for studios like Double Fine, Compulsion, Ninja Theory, and Undead Labs when runway and budgets are uncertain- 📌 The future of big IP — how do you make Elder Scrolls 6 or Fallout 5 when you just gutted the studios building them?- 📌 PlayStation ending physical disc production in January 2028 — and my take that's a little different from the hot takes flooding your timeline

The Best Of Summer Game Fest with Cam Hawkins Jul 01, 2026

Show notes

It's Day 3 of Summer Game Fest 2026, and I sat down with content creator Cam Hawkins to break down the best games of the show.

We get into Cam's game of the show — Phantom Blade Zero and its razor-sharp parry combat — a stunning hands-off Onimusha demo (and how the two release just a month apart), the absolutely stacked fall release calendar around GTA VI, the Resident Evil Code Veronica remake, and Forever Ago, an emotional Annapurna indie about an old man grieving his wife on a road trip. Plus the games we missed (Clutch, Bub), the show's big horror lineup (Saw: Genesis, Silent Hill: Townfall, Alien: Isolation 2), the methodical combat of Stranger in Heaven, and why there were almost no sports games at SGF this year.

Is Netflix Unhinged the Future of Storytelling? We Discuss Jun 30, 2026

Show notes

I got to sit down with Sean Krankel — GM of Narrative Games at Netflix and the co-founder of Night School Studio — to talk about *Unhinged*, the new immersive horror experience that drops June 30 and uses your actual phone as the controller. This one hit me hard as a horror fan, and after playing it, I had questions — and Sean had all the answers.We go deep on how Night School made the move to Netflix, why Unhinged was designed to feel more like living inside a thriller than playing a video game, and how they assembled one of the most stacked casts in gaming: Zoë Kravitz, Sadie Sink, and Troy Baker.In this episode:- The story of how Night School Studio became a Netflix studio — and what that call really sounded like- How Unhinged turns your phone into a flashlight, a receiver, and your only link to survival- Why the team called it an "immersive thriller" rather than a game — and what that creative decision unlocked- The dream cast: how Zoë Kravitz, Sadie Sink, and Troy Baker all came together- What it means to build experiences that anyone — gamer or not — can jump into— FIND US EVERYWHERE —YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/SPAWNONMETwitch (Live Wed 6PM PST):https://www.twitch.tv/SPAWNONMEX / Twitter:https://x.com/SpawnOnMeInstagram:https://www.instagram.com/spawnonmepodcastTikTok:https://www.tiktok.com/@SpawnOnMeSpotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/4q7gu7BteqvEnhZAP0MM2AApple Podcasts:https://apple.co/3wuJxYtMerch:https://spawnonme-1-shop.fourthwall.comBusiness / PR:spawnonmepodcast@gmail.comKahlief on X:https://x.com/KahliefAdamsKahlief on IG:https://www.instagram.com/itskahliefKahlief on Bluesky:itskahlief.bsky.social

Xbox's Week Got Messier & SGF games you missed Jun 22, 2026

Show notes

On episode 585 of the Spawn On Me podcast, Kahlief Adams is joined by content creator Cam Hawkins for a full post-Summer Game Fest 2026 debrief — the games that flew under the radar, and a candid conversation about where the industry is heading.

We dig into the overlooked games of the show — Erosion (an open-world roguelike with a wild mechanic where dyingages your kidnapped daughter), Valor Mortis (a first-person Souls-like from the Ghostrunner devs), Out of Words (a gorgeous stop-motion co-op game), and ProbablyMonsters' Crimson Moon and Nokomi: Nazi Hunter — then get into Xbox's rough week (layoffs, studio closures, the new leadership direction), whether Xbox should leave hardware, the industry's risk-aversion and the "death of the middle,' and the state of games journalism. Plus: the Knicks are champions.

Saw: Genesis Proves There's a Better Way to Do Multiplayer Killers | First Look Jun 14, 2026

Show notes

At Summer Game Fest 2026 I got a first look at Saw: Genesis — and it's Bloober Team's first-ever multiplayer game.

It's a 3v1 asymmetrical horror game set just after World War I: one Judge (a brand-new villain, not Jigsaw) traps three Accused players in escape-room-style torture chambers. There's a constant co-op push-and-pull, brutal sacrifice mechanics — lose an eyeball, a hand, or a foot, and it changes how you move and what you can do — a “vulnerable killer” players can actually take down, and a ping system forcommunication. It's Bloober rethinking both multiplayer and the Saw IP, and I'm hyped.

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