The Level

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Games & Hobbies
**The Level**

The Level is a podcast for people who love video games. It’s a weekly roundtable hosted by friends and industry outsiders Kole Ross, Ben Merkel, Dennis Furia, David Moneysmith, and Jala Prendes. Every Friday, we discuss video game news, the games we’ve been playing, and listener mail.

Latest Episodes:

Episode 535: Snakes on a Plain Mar 07, 2025

Show notes

Kole, Dennis, and Ben talk about Avowed, Beyond Hanwell, The Peaks of Yore, and much more!

The Grind:

Dennis: Avowed. Balatro.
Kole: Beyond Hanwell.
Ben: Heroes of Hammerwatch 2. Despelote (Demo). The Peaks of Yore.

The Multiplayer:

What multiplayer game would you choose as a test for who would be a good coworker or teammate?

The End Boss:

California Fire Relief bundle on Itch is a good way to get Tunic.
EA releases classic Command and Conquer source code.
Clone Hero streamer full combos “Through the Fire and the Flames” at 2x speed.

Episode 534: A Chowder-Based Economy Feb 28, 2025

Show notes

Kole, Ben, Dennis, and Moxie talk about Cryptmaster, the Monster Train 2 demo, Satisfactory, and much more!

The Grind:

Ben: Monster Train 2 (Demo). Moves of the Diamond Hand (Demo). Marvel Snap. Cryptmaster.
Kole: Worshippers of Cthluhu. Satisfactory.
Moxie: Fallen London.
Dennis: Trackmania. Slay the Spire: Downfall. Balatro.

The Multiplayer:

Let’s celebrate non-humanoid characters in games.

The End Boss:

Singapore leaks existence of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 and 4 remaster.
Balatro loses PEGI 18 rating for “gambling”.
Possible new Batman games amidst Warner Bros. games nightmare.

Episode 533: Brick Guy and His Twink Feb 22, 2025

Show notes

Kole, Dennis, Jala, and Moxie talk about Elden Ring: Nightreign, Psychroma, The Thing: Remastered, and much more!

The Grind:

Moxie: Psychroma.
Kole: Elden Ring: Nightreign. The Thing: Remastered.
Dennis: Slay the Spire: Downfall. Trackmania.
Jala: Fire Emblem Heroes. Nina Aquila: Legal Eagle, Season One.

The Multiplayer:

What’s your favorite romance in games?

The End Boss:

Sony’s February State of Play had release info for Metal Gear Solid Delta and the new Dark Pictures Anthology game.
Monaco 2 announced.
Wizardry remake wins the Video Game Music Grammy.
Valve releases Team Fortress 2 source code.

Episode 532: He's Really Good at Running Away from This Conversation Feb 14, 2025

Show notes

Kole, Ben, Dennis, and Jala talk about LOK Digital, Kiosk, MOTHERGUNSHIP, and much more!

The Grind:

Dennis: New racing gear. iRacing. Archero 2. MOTHERGUNSHIP.
Jala: Second Thoughts. Potato Survival. Nina Aquila: Legal Eagle, Season One.
Ben: Heroes of Hammerwatch II. LOK Digital.
Kole: Kiosk. Rimworld.

The Multiplayer:

What game mechanic or beat did you not discover until way too late?

The End Boss:

Punch Out record
Video Game History Foundation
PSN slop removal
PSN outage

Episode 531: The Mitchy Problem Feb 08, 2025

Show notes

Kole, Ben, and Jala talk about Heroes of Hammerwatch II, Citizen Sleeper 2, Rimworld: Anomaly, and much more!

The Grind:

Ben: Heroes of Hammerwatch II. Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector.
Jala: Be Like a Crow. Mad Father. El Hijo: A Wild West Tale.
Kole: Rimworld.

The Multiplayer:

What video game trope will you never get tired of?

The End Boss:

Treyarch cofounder pleads guilty to crashing a drone into an LA firefighting plane.
The Sims and The Sims 2 get anniversary re-release.
Dino Crisis and Dino Crisis 2 hit GoG.

Episode 530: Reverberating Smacks Feb 01, 2025

Show notes

Kole, Ben, Jala, and Moxie talk about Butcher’s Creek, If on a Winter’s Night, Four Travelers, Digseum, and much more!

The Grind:

Jala: Fire Emblem Heroes. Streets of Rage 4. The Complex. If On a Winter’s Night, Four Travelers.
Kole: Butcher’s Creek. My Summer Car.
Moxie: Dying Light 2.
Ben: SNKRX. Liar’s Bar. Digseum.

The Multiplayer:

What’s your favorite nonstandard health system in a game?

The End Boss:

Marvel Snap coming back, will compensate players for outage.
Someone at Activision Blizzard is feeding their coworkers to harassment networks.
Mario logo color scheme math.
80% of developers are making their games for PC.

Episode 529: QWOP for Existence Jan 25, 2025

Show notes

Kole, Ben, Dennis, and Moxie talk about X-COM 2: The Long War, My Summer Car, Dying Light 2, and much more!

The Grind:

Dennis: X-COM 2: The Long War.
Kole: My Summer Car.
Ben: Marvel Snap. Dice Kingdoms. Puzzling Pieces.
Moxie: Dying Light 2.

The Multiplayer:

What’s your favorite video game depiction of a real life location?

The End Boss:

Elon Musk confirmed to pay people to play games for him.
Nintendo reveals the Switch 2.
Havok reveals video for new engine.

Episode 528: They Scream if They’re Only Half There Jan 17, 2025

Show notes

Kole, Ben, Dennis, and Moxie talk about My Summer Car, Sorry We’re Closed, Dice Kingdoms, and much more!

The Grind:

Ben: Last Call BBS. Dice Kingdoms. Puzzling Places.
Kole: Sorry We’re Closed. My Summer Car.
Moxie: Dying Light 2.
Dennis: The Witness. Trackmania.

The Multiplayer:

Video game character New Years resolutions.

The End Boss:

Elon Musk pays people to play video games for him but wants you to think he’s cool for it.
Path of Exile 2 developers will re-tune the difficulty of the endgame.
Filming for Fallout season 2 delayed due to LA wildfires.
Someone made a horror game out of static that you can’t screenshot.