Stay ConnectedWhat’s good, Internet? Join Waypoint’s Rob Zacny, Patrick Klepek, Renata Price, Natalie Watson, and Ricardo Contreras two times a week, as they break down the biggest stories in video games, talk about their favorite media, and unfairly compare everything to Dark Souls.
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CW: Discussion of Self Harm, Homophobia, and Transphobia during discussion of "The Missing" at 57-58 minutes in, to around 1:18:00 (time varies with ads, When you hear Patrick start talking about staying home instead of going out bowling you can skip 22 minutes and you will skip this entire section)
It was a long weekend in the US, so the Waypoint Crew has come back with plenty of games to chew on. Patrick has the less-than-thrilling Darksiders III, FromSoft's new VR game Déraciné, and Swery's queer-themed platformer The Missing to discuss, as does Austin. Austin finally beat Battletech, but he's certainly not done with the game. And Danielle has a delightful Frog Detective game and some hands-on time in Hitman 2 to bring to the table.
Plus, there's a lot of chatter regarding "sticky" games and smooth ones you won't want to miss, unless you're about to hit your lunch break.
Discussed: Darksiders III, Déraciné, The Haunted Island: A Frog Detective Game, Battletech, The Missing, Hitman 2, Golf Peaks
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This week's Waypoints has us returning to horror from a new angle. First, we consider the domestic horror of Channel Zero: The Dream Door and what it has to say about the baggage we all carry, and how the past's survival tactics can become deadly as they follow us through life. Then we take a look at The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle, which reimagines a famously bigoted Lovecraft story through the eyes of a young black man. How do the horrors that tormented Lovecraft—the vast indifference of creation, the limits of science and reason—change when they're juxtaposed against the daily life of a Harlem hustler and the pervasive cruelty of the society he inhabits?
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In this bonus episode Austin Walker interviews Ben Makuch, host of Motherboard's new podcast "Cyber", about cyber security, why we always seem caught off guard by each new cyber threat, and what responsibilities large companies like Facebook have in keeping people safe on the internet, followed by the first full episode of "Cyber."
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What, if anything, does a sequel owe its predecessors? While didn't realize it at the time, that's the question we chewed on during this nearly two-hour long episode of Waypoint Radio. Some games, like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, try to satisfy long time fan and newcomer alike. Others, like Fallout 76, eject much of what made the series what it was in favor of new experimentation. Which one of these tactics is right? Or is the truth... somewhere in the middle?
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This week's Waypoint Radio is about the anxieties surrounding commercial art and the way they can often overshadow art's cultural value, and how the latter often has more to do with personal meaning and artistic goals than performance in "the marketplace". Our first point of entry to this topic comes via an article by Liz Ryerson, over at the New and Improved Deorbital, called "There Are Not 'Too Many Games': What The Indiepocalypse Panic Ignores". Then we look at a gorgeous personal essay over at Unwinnable by Amanda Hudgins, "The Kentucky State Fair", which ends up providing a way of considering one way of practicing what Ryerson is alluding to. More importantly, it's a story about the place you come from, and the ways you work and experiences can be a gulf between you and the people that you care about.
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For this week, we have an unusually music-centered episode as the gang welcomes Noisey's Colin Joyce to talk about Lil Peep's posthumous Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 2. What does it imply about the what Peep's creative direction might have been, and do the circumstances, assumptions, and compromises around its production complicate its place in Peep's body of work? And then Rob has been listening to Let England Shake as the world observes the centennial of the end of World War I. What does PJ Harvey's Great War-themed album tell us about the nature of the war's remembrance, and how it ties into the self-conception of the British Empire and Commonwealth? And if Harvey's album suggests the insularity and self-deception that was shaken by the horrors and scope of the First World War, is she entirely in on the joke?
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Most horror franchises don’t survive the transition to a sequel, let alone a third movie. We were pleasantly surprised by the action-y, Punisher-esque turn of The Purge: Anarchy, but there were enough red flags to have us deeply concerned about where The Purge would go with its third entry, Election Year, a movie centered around protecting a bizarre Hillary Clinton stand-in, who promises to save the country, from her political opponents. Austin, Patrick, Danielle, Natalie, and Rob dive gathered around to dive into Election Year, and hope for better things from the final entry, The First Purge. (Spoiler: That one’s a much better movie.)
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The holidays are upon us, which means new video games are dropping fast and furious. That makes it the perfect time to spend a long time talking about...Vampyr? Rob spent the weekend with one of Patrick's favorites from earlier this year, much to his delight. In an episode that was supposed to be "short," Rob and Patrick join Austin to spend nearly two hours also discussing Tetris Effect, how every human being is actually connected, The Gardens Between, the many ways to creatively kill in Hitman 2, and what it's like to cheer for a good football team after years of despair. Oh, and we react to the absolutely wild Detective Pikachu trailer in real-time.
Discussed: Vampyr, Tetris Effect, Skin Deep, Hitman 2, Detective Pikachu, Syndicate, Payday 2
(I left in the team's entire live reaction to the Detective Pikachu trailer so if you'd like to watch along just hit play on the trailer when Patrick does his countdown! - Cado)
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With the 200th episode of Waypoint Radio behind us, we turn back to our roots: The Question Bucket. Join Austin, Rob, Natalie, and Patrick as they answer your questions about all of the most important topics: Being disappointed by your favorite series. How to grit your teeth and send your creative work into the uncaring void of the internet. Peanut Butter.
We promised you that Sim City article from Ian Bogost, but we couldn't find it.
Discussed: Peanut Butter, Europa Universalis IV, Victoria II, Sim City, Real Lives 2019, Spent, Red Dead Redemption 2, Bridge, Dance Dance Revolution, Picross, Solitaire, Spelunky, Binding of Issac, Dark Souls, Hearthstone, Netrunner, Legend of the Five Rings, Magic: The Gathering, Slay the Spire, XCOM 2, Subterfuge, Battlefield, F.E.A.R, Destiny, Diablo Immortal, Paper Mario Franchise, Deus Ex: Invisible War, Galak-Z Variant S, Fantasy Life, The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind, The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, The Heir to the Empire Trilogy, Total War: Medieval, Harry Potter series
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This week, Rob has convinced Austin to watch one of his favorite screwball comedies, My Man Godfrey. This may been a poor choice! (Or the best choice - Cado)
But the main focus in this episode is politics! You want election takes? We got 'em! But first, we need to explore some of the context and history of this political moment by taking a look at McKay Coppins' profile of Newt Gingrich and the brand of politics and the anxieties he represents.
Discussed: The Man Who Broke Politics (article at The Atlantic), 2018 election results, My Man Godfrey (Criterion Collection)
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