RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify  4u1468

Hey PC gamers, welcome back to the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast! We're officially on the other side of Summer Game Fest shenanigans, and the team is feeling pretty dang tired. Not only did we bring a ton of neat SGF coverage from the weekend, we've also been hard at work on the PC Gaming Show over the last few months, and it finally aired on Sunday! We hope you enjoyed what we had to show off.

While we take a bit of time to recover from announcement madness before we talk about it on the podcast (spoiler alert, that's next week's episode!) let's party up with Robin Valentine and talk all about gamer slang. He recently compiled a fantastic article that lists a whole bunch of gaming words and their meaning, which you should go and read before you listen!

If you're anything like me, you'll have found that bizarre little gaming terminology and acronyms have somehow found their way into your everyday vocabulary. Even if they haven't, you've no doubt typed some ridiculous words like "gank" or "nerf" at least once in your gaming career. Or maybe even a sentence like "Crosscut DP into FADC Plink combo." Words that certainly aren't in the bible and, to people who don't play games (or maybe even don't play a particular genre) sound like total gibberish.

We'll be talking all about them today, like which words have seeped into our vocabulary and which ones we think have fallen out of fashion. Make sure to pop over to the PC Gamer forums and share some of your own gaming slang favourites. We'll have a thread set up about this week's episode, and Lauren and I will be ing in on the discussion, too.

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• YouTube Music
• Pocket Casts
• Podcast Addict
• Castbox
• Amazon Music
• iHeartRadio

And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

Don't forget to check us out over on the PC Gamer forums, too! We'll be checking in every week to see what you lovely lot have to say about each week's episode, and ing in the discussion ourselves.

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify 

Hiya PC gamers, welcome to this week's episode of the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast!! The team's been real busy lately: Summer Game Fest approaches, as does our own PC Gaming Show. 'Tis the season for announcements, so everyone has been stuffing their noggins with brand new gaming goodness.

Don't worry, the podcast still soldiers on among the chaos, and this week we're bringing Tyler Colp along to talk all about videogame brand tie-ins. You know, like Monster Energy being in Death Stranding for whatever reason, or Barack Obama co-opting the Xbox version of Burnout Paradise to display billboards for his 2008 campaign. That kinda weird, sometimes fitting/immersive but quite often just very bizarre real-world additions that permeate our virtual worlds.

We also touch upon the brands that go all-out, like the fact that Burger King somehow has multiple real videogames under its belt. We even find a little bit of time to go off-topic into your standard crossover fare, like how they put 2B in everything these days and I also get the chance to talk about the Persona 5 curse,

We no doubt missed a ton of weird tie-ins, so pop over to the PC Gamer forums and share some of your personal faves. We'll have a thread set up about this week's episode, and Lauren and I will be ing in on the discussion, too.

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• YouTube Music
• Pocket Casts
• Podcast Addict
• Castbox
• Amazon Music
• iHeartRadio

And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

Don't forget to check us out over on the PC Gamer forums, too! We'll be checking in every week to see what you lovely lot have to say about each week's episode, and ing in the discussion ourselves.

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify 

Hi there PC gamers, welcome back to the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast! Wow, feels like it's been a while since I wrote one of these, huh? Lauren and I have been on a little break while we showcased some of the fantastic GDC roundtables conducted by of the PC Gamer team.

Those are all done and dusted now though, so we're back! This week we're looking at games that have been in the throes of development for many years: the dreaded Development Hell. The games that got announced when you were still in school and now you're married with three kids, and have yet to see anything beyond a 90-second CGI trailer. The games that have bounced between developers more than I bounce between pubs on a Friday night. Well, maybe not quite that much, but close enough.

We've brought our favourite opiniated Brit Robin Valentine along for the ride, where we'll be looking at games that are currently in development hell, famously hellish games that made it out and some that never did. Apologies, we do talk about Duke Nukem Forever eventually... right at the end. We'll get there, trust me.

While we take (Duke Nukem) forever to get to one of the most iconic examples of development hell, why don't you pop over to the PC Gamer forums and share some examples of your own? We'll have a thread set up about this week's episode, and Lauren and I will be ing in on the discussion, too.

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• YouTube Music
• Pocket Casts
• Podcast Addict
• Castbox
• Amazon Music
• iHeartRadio

And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

Don't forget to check us out over on the PC Gamer forums, too! We'll be checking in every week to see what you lovely lot have to say about each week's episode, and ing in the discussion ourselves.

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify 

For our third and final roundtable from the 2024 Game Developers Conference, we put together a special —a quartet of developers who have all been making games since at least the year 1990, and are still active today. ing us for this conversation: 

• Charles Cecil - Broken Sword, Beneath a Steel Sky
• Khris Brown - Voice director & editor for LucasArts, Double Fine, Ubisoft
• Jordan Mechner - Karateka, Prince of Persia, The Last Express
• Warren Spector - Ultima Underworld, System Shock, Deus Ex

Over the course of an hour our guests talk about how they got into games (and how unlikely their paths would be to replicate today), the challenges of making games with the technology of the '80s and '90s, run-ins with celebrity voice actors like Mark Hamill, and a ion for history. That fascination was key to the stories Jordan Mechner and Charles Cecil told in their beloved adventure games The Last Express and Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars (and also led to a particularly memorable encounter for Cecil with Hollywood director Ron Howard).

All four developers have seen the games they've worked on be remade, remastered or followed up by sequels over the years, and they discuss the feeling of leaving behind a legacy.

"System Shock getting remade recently, people still care about a game I worked on 30 years ago—that's cool," says Warren Spector. "Making things that last—when you get to my age, I'm 68 and proud of it, the word legacy comes to mind probably more than it should. I want to leave something behind that's bigger than me. Deus Ex in particular is that for me… later on, when Eidos was acquired by Square Enix and a new series of games set in that universe came out, people would ask me 'how do you feel about that? Does it bother you that someone else is making them">PC Gamer forums, too! We'll be checking in every week to see what you lovely lot have to say about each week's episode, and ing in the discussion ourselves. 

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify 

For this week's special roundtable episode of the PC Gamer Chat Log, recorded at the 2024 Game Developers Conference, we gathered a party of adventurers and ventured forth into our second annual deep dive into making RPGs. Here's who you'll hear talking about wizards, lovable and hateable companions, and, yeah, a little game called Baldur's Gate 3: 

• Swen Vincke, founder and director at Larian (Baldur's Gate 3)
• Carrie Patel, game director and senior narrative designer at Obsidian (Avowed)
• Sarah Gruemmer, acting lead quest designer at CD Projekt Red (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)
• Adrienne Bazir, founder and sole developer at insertdisc5 (In Stars and Time)
• Ted Peterson, co-founder Once Lost Games and former writer and designer at Bethesda (The Elder Scrolls 1-4)

Across an hour and 20 minutes, our RPG discussion includes a dissection of Baldur's Gate 3's approach to romance, as well as the immense challenges of deg intro quests for lengthy RPGs and finding the balance between linear and nonlinear. 

On the romance front, Larian's Swen Vincke talked through their approach to making a mature-rated game and taking that responsibility seriously: "We try to be as true to life as we could," he said. "Internally in the studio there were some people who felt uncomfortable, and we said, it's a mature game, right? We're going to treat it like what you would see on TV. A series I refer to often was American Gods, which I thought was really well done [in how] it treated mature themes and fantasy settings. You can do really crazy stuff and still relate to it. It was always tastefully done. I mean, the famous bear scene—it was really a squirrel that was not looking. The rest was the theater of your mind. You filled that in, we didn't do that!"

Later, Ted Peterson, who served as a primary writer and designer on the original two Elder Scrolls games, talked about how the first game, Arena, was a linear story inside a large open game world—and how trying to make the sequel more ambitious posed some problems.

"[The Elder Scrolls: Arena] was not even meant to be a roleplaying game," he said. "Because it was turned into a roleplaying game it became super linear. The original idea was that you'd go around to a bunch of fighting arenas, build your characters up, and eventually go to the Imperial arena and fight the evil wizard at the end. But as the arena combat didn't work out, we changed it into a roleplaying game where you had to fight through these arenas in a distinct order… so linear was our easy choice."

Peterson ed that when Arena came out, the reaction was positive—except for players who said "the story kind of sucked."

"I overcompensated by making Arena super nonlinear, and nobody understands the story to this day." 

Thanks to the revival of The Elder Scrolls 2 in fan remaster Daggerfall Unity, Peterson said he's actually been working on a series of books to "explain the background of this story that I wrote 25 years ago and try to patch it all together." 

If you haven't heard of indie RPG In Stars and Time, you're in for a treat: solo writer/developer Adrienne Bazir dives into the unique way the game deploys a time loop mechanic to consider the meta storytelling layers that come from a player and character reliving the final moments of a quest over and over again. And make sure you stick through to the end—I promise you won't want to miss Carrie Patel's story about a moment from The Outer Worlds that didn't make it into the final game for reasons that become more and more clear as the tale unfolds.

And if you're hungry for more after this conversation is over, you're in luck: our 2023 RPG roundtable is also a great listen with a whole different crew of experienced designers.

You can find the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. YouTube Music
4. Pocket Casts
5. Podcast Addict
6. Castbox
7. Amazon Music
8. iHeartRadio

And more!

You can also check out PC Gamer Chat Log on YouTube: 

Don't forget to check us out over on the PC Gamer forums, too! We'll be checking in every week to see what you lovely lot have to say about each week's episode, and ing in the discussion ourselves. 

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify 

In this special episode of our podcast, recorded at the 2024 Game Developers Conference, PC Gamer Global Editor-in-Chief Evan Lahti sat down with a special group of guests to talk about where PC gaming is at right now. Here's who we brought together to talk about what's going on in PC gaming: 

• Michael Douse - Director of Publishing, Larian (Baldur's Gate 3)
• Rebecca Ford - Creative Director, Warframe
• Eyrún Jónsdóttir - VP of Publishing at C (EVE Online)
• Casey Yano - Co-founder, Mega Crit (Slay the Spire)

Across an 80 minute conversation, our of game developers talked about making "hyper-engaging" games that defy the traditional advice of appealing to as broad an audience of players as possible; the innovation in game development only happening on PC; Steam as a "democratic" platform; industry layoffs and the emerging use of AI in development; and what we should take away from the standout successes of 2024, like Helldivers 2 and Balatro, which is one of many games to follow in the footsteps of the roguelike deckbuilder space that Slay the Spire popularized.

"[Slay the Spire] wasn't intended to be a new genre-creating thing," Mega Crit's Casey Yano says. "The expectation for a card game was that it has to be PvP, and I didn't think that was true. The only way to prove anything on the internet is to do it yourself, so we just made a game." 

Larian's Michael Douse pointed out that Slay the Spire, Balatro and Baldur's Gate 3 are all "completely unbothered by any notions of casualization or trying to create something for an audience beyond your own audience. Balatro's unbothered by any notion of what it 'should' be, and focused on what [the developer] wants to make. We're definitely going to see more of that in the PC space." 

"We've found that the best people to draw in new players are the players themselves," said EVE Online's Eyrún Jónsdóttir. "When current players draw other players into the game, that [helps] combat the complexity. You need a bit of social to get into it. Then players really, really enjoy it when they have that kind of onboarding."

Later in the conversation, Warframe's Rebecca Ford highlighted that PC gaming offers a kind of community access you can't find anywhere else.

"I'm a very optimistic futurist for PC as the primary platform," Ford said. "I think it's the most important for people in our age cohort, and has the greatest potential for border-crossing community building. I've connected with more people than I ever thought possible in my entire life, all because I sat in front of a PC, installed Steam, and installed Discord and played games with them. These two things together as forces are so supremely positive, even in isolation. It's a shame you can have very difficult times online, they're not sanitary by any means—but I cannot imagine a better opportunity to be a good online citizen with people connected through something like what we do.

"There's just nothing like it, and I doubt there will ever be anything like it again."

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. YouTube Music
4. Pocket Casts
5. Podcast Addict
6. Castbox
7. Amazon Music
8. iHeartRadio

And more!

You can also check out PC Gamer Chat Log on YouTube:

Don't forget to check us out over on the PC Gamer forums, too! We'll be checking in every week to see what you lovely lot have to say about each week's episode, and ing in the discussion ourselves. 

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify 

Happy Thursday PC gamers, welcome back to the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast! How are we all this week? If y'all watch the video version of this pod, you'll know that I've discarded the beloved split dye hairdo I've been donning since before my time at PCG (and I've been here for over three years!!) It's quite strange getting rid of something I've spent so long associating as a huge part of my identity, but anyone who's bleached their hair for an extended period of time will know that it does an absolute number on your locks.

Now my hair may change, but you know what doesn't change? War. War never changes. No, I am not sorry for that terrible segue. The Fallout TV series graced our screens last week and you know what? It's actually pretty dang good!

We've brought Chris Livingston on board to chat all things Lucy, Maximus and the Ghoul, as he was fortunate enough to be able to watch the show ahead of its release. Lauren somehow managed to devour the entire thing in a single Sunday, whereas I only got three episodes in by the time we rocked around to recording. I know, I'm slow! The good news is I've finished the whole thing now, which means I'm primed and ready to talk about all the episodes with you lovely folk over on the PC Gamer forums. Go over there to peep our thread about the latest episode and chat with myself and Lauren.

Be warned there are some light spoilers for the show, but Lauren and Chris were lovely enough to not divulge any major story beats for my sake.

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• YouTube Music
• Pocket Casts
• Podcast Addict
• Castbox
• Amazon Music
• iHeartRadio

And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

Don't forget to check us out over on the PC Gamer forums, too! We'll be checking in every week to see what you lovely lot have to say about each week's episode, and ing in the discussion ourselves.

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify 

Hey PC gamers, welcome back to the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast! Good week so far, I hope? I'm currently sick for the, uh, third time this year. Yeah, I don't know why, the beginning of the year is always a real illness magnet for me. Come May I'll be flying flu-free until 2025, when it'll start all over again. 

I usually try and do a neat clever segue into this week's topic, but my flued-up brain is defeating the teeny tiny part of my brain that's still sorta smart. So this week we're talking all about our white whale games. The games in your genre that are must-plays, touted as the blueprint for which all your favourite games were moulded from, the games that no matter how hard you try you just can't get your head around. 

Maybe you've had That One Game on your backlog for years now. You know the one, the game that you always go "I'm gonna play that today/tomorrow/this weekend/next week" over and over again until it's inevitably been 10 years and you've still barely clocked an hour of playtime. Maybe it's a game you've forced yourself to try and like to no avail.

Whatever your white whale situation is, come myself and Lauren alongside this week's guest Tyler Colp. We'll be sharing our own white whale gaming stories, and you should totally share yours too. Head over to the PC Gamer forums! We'll have a thread set up for this week's episode. I would love to know which games you're still relentlessly pursuing to this day. Lauren and I will be lurking around in the post too, ready to the discussion.

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. Google Podcasts
4. Stitcher
5. Castbox
6. Amazon Music
7. iHeartRadio
8. Podcast Addict
9. And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

Don't forget to check us out over on the PC Gamer forums, too! We'll be checking in every week to see what you lovely lot have to say about each week's episode, and ing in the discussion ourselves.

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify 

Hiya PC gamers, welcome back to the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast! Hope everyone's week is going well. I've been doing a lot of decluttering lately, which means I've been doing an awful lot of staring at nostalgic possessions. Old teddy bears, school books and photographs have had me doing a lot of reminiscing recently, which make's this week's episode perfectly on-theme.

We're taking a trip down memory lane this week, talking about our childhood as mini-gamers. We're both fortunate enough to have been around games for as long as we can , playing both PC and console games since we were wee babies. We'll be talking about our favourite games as a kid, how those tastes have carried over into adulthood and how the way we game now differs. 

We'll be chatting a bit about stuff like edutainment and browser games as well, and while Lauren and I are fairly similar in age our geographical differences make for some interesting discrepancies in how we gamed growing up!

Maybe you've been gaming since the ZX Spectrum, maybe you didn't embrace gaming as a hobby until you were an adult. Whatever your experience with gaming was growing up (or not!) we would love to hear about your own memories. Head over to the PC Gamer forums, we'll have a thread set up for this week's episode. I'm really looking forward to hearing about all of your experiences! Lauren and I will be lurking around in the post too, ready to the discussion.

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. Google Podcasts
4. Stitcher
5. Castbox
6. Amazon Music
7. iHeartRadio
8. Podcast Addict
9. And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

Don't forget to check us out over on the PC Gamer forums, too! We'll be checking in every week to see what you lovely lot have to say about each week's episode, and ing in the discussion ourselves.

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify 

Hey there PC gamers, welcome to this week's episode of the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast! I hope you've all had a fantastic week so far, whether you've been climbing up a cyclops in Dragon's Dogma 2, or having your pawn go around telling everyone you're shagging people in Dragon's Dogma 2, or throwing people off a cliff in Dragon's Dogma 2...

Okay, so it's been a pretty Dragon's Dogma-heavy week for us here at PC Gamer. The sequel to Capcom's 2012 RPG is finally here, and a lot of folk on the team have been playing it. Hopefully you have too, because that's what we're talking about on the podcast this week.

Our Online Editor Fraser Brown was kind enough to sink a ton of hours into it for our Dragon's Dogma 2 review, which makes him the perfect guest to come on and chat about the game with us. We'll be talking about the classes we've been playing, what we like and don't like, and getting way too mad about one specific side quest.

It's a pretty spoiler-free one too, so if you're not too far into the game right now don't fret! You can still listen along to our thoughts as we've all put varying amounts of hours in. Don't forget to pop over to the PC Gamer forums too, where we'll have a thread set up for this week's episode for you all. We'll be popping in there ourselves to the discussion!

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. Google Podcasts
4. Stitcher
5. Castbox
6. Amazon Music
7. iHeartRadio
8. Podcast Addict
9. And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

Don't forget to check us out over on the PC Gamer forums, too! We'll be checking in every week to see what you lovely lot have to say about each week's episode, and ing in the discussion ourselves.

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify 

Greetings goobers, goblins and gamers, welcome back to the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast! How's your week been so far? I am writing this from ~the past~ as I'm actually out of the office this week, enjoying some much-needed time off. Will I currently be doing all my errands I've been putting off, or sitting on my arse playing games? Only future Mollie knows.

If future Mollie is sat on her butt ignoring her responsibilities in favour of videogame pixel people, she's probably doing it from her Steam library. It's just one of the many game launchers vying for our attentions, yet it continues to dominate as most people's preferred choice. But what about the Epics of the world? The Ubisoft Connects, the EA Apps, and won't someone please think of the Amazon Games?

We'll be talking all about PC game launchers, and who better to talk about it with than the man who ranked a whole bunch of 'em earlier this year? Robin Valentine heroically stuffed his PC full of launchers and gave them all a whirl, slapping a percentage on each one. You should absolutely go and read his fantastic launcher ranking ASAP, but don't forget to come back and listen to us talk about it afterwards.

Are you a loyal, diehard Steam ? Perhaps all of the Epic freebies lured you in and now you don't dare use anything else, or you're one of the few who reliably and regularly resyncs their libraries to GOG for the ultimate centralised platform. Whatever you do, we'd love to hear about it. Make sure to head over to the PC Gamer forums, where we'll have a thread set up about this week's episode.

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. Google Podcasts
4. Stitcher
5. Castbox
6. Amazon Music
7. iHeartRadio
8. Podcast Addict
9. And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

Don't forget to check us out over on the PC Gamer forums, too! We'll be checking in every week to see what you lovely lot have to say about each week's episode, and ing in the discussion ourselves.

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify 

Happy Thursday PC gamers, welcome back to the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast! Dang, we're officially at episode 52 which means it's been an entire year of the podcast. Well, we actually took a two-week break over December so our anniversary was on March 2, but you know. We won't tell anyone if you won't.

It's been a fantastic year of getting to host this podcast with Lauren. She really is the brains behind this whole operation, and there's no way we could get an episode out to all you lovely folk every week if it wasn't for her. Make sure to drop her a thanks over on the PC Gamer forums on this week's episode thread! Here's to many more episodes in the future, and the two of us cooking up plenty more PC podcasting shenanigans.

With those little celebrations out of the way, it's time for us to put on our wellies and wade into the discourse swamp. The whole "yellow paint on ledges" topic has come back into the spotlight in the last few weeks, so we've brought paint-hater Tyler Wilde along to discuss how we feel about its increasing inclusion in games.

Crate can be broken? Pop some yellow paint on it. Rocks on a cliff can be clambered up? Better throw some paint on there so people know. It's become a frequently-used form of communication in games, but not everyone is a huge fan of it. Just who is going around all these worlds with a paintbrush and a dream? Are there better ways to tackle visual communication in our beloved games? Would we all crumble without a bit of colour telling us where to go and what to do?

A lot of people have opinions about the yellow paint, and I'm sure you do too. After you're done thanking Lauren for all her lovely hard work, don't forget to drop your own thoughts on the debate on the forums. We love to reply to you all and see you ing the discussion!

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. Google Podcasts
4. Stitcher
5. Castbox
6. Amazon Music
7. iHeartRadio
8. Podcast Addict
9. And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

Don't forget to check us out over on the PC Gamer forums, too! We'll be checking in every week to see what you lovely lot have to say about each week's episode, and ing in the discussion ourselves.

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify 

Wassup PC gamers, welcome back to the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast. I hope your week has been good so far. It's well and truly flu season for me, and I'm sick for the second time in a month which has cut my gaming time pretty drastically. How am I ever going to ascend past scrub status and git gud?

Well, do I even want to git gud? Is the art of mastering a videogame all it's cracked up to be? That's what we'll be talking about on the podcast this week, and we're ed by competitive shooter aficionado Morgan Park. He once wrote about his experience with getting good at Hunt: Showdown, and how it actually kind of killed the fun for him, making him the perfect guest for this episode.

We'll be talking about the games we've tried to take seriously, what we thought of that process and ultimately, whether we think getting good at a videogame is as fun as it sounds.

Whether you're sweating away in every ranked mode you come across or happily stick to the casual side of your favourite games, we'd love to hear what you think. Pop over to the PC Gamer forums, where we'll have a thread up about this week's episode. You can share your own experiences and thoughts about "gitting gud," and feel free to tell us if we're actually all a bunch of scrubs. I promise I'll only cry a little bit.

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. Google Podcasts
4. Stitcher
5. Castbox
6. Amazon Music
7. iHeartRadio
8. Podcast Addict
9. And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

Don't forget to check us out over on the PC Gamer forums, too! We'll be checking in every week to see what you lovely lot have to say about each week's episode, and ing in the discussion ourselves.

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify 

Heya PC gamers, welcome back to the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast! Hope you've all had a great week so far. Please tell me I'm not the only one deep in a Balatro hole this week. That game is taking up every dang lunch break I have! Whenever I tell myself I will play something else, my mouse hovers over the play button for Balatro instead. I'm officially poker-deckbuilding-roguelike-pilled. Phew, try saying that ten times fast.

The triple-threat genre isn't even all that out there anymore. Genres in games have become A Whole Thing. Metroidvania. Soulslike. Survivors. 4X (which I finally found out stands for explore, expand, exploit and exterminate, thanks Google). Sometimes a game can even end up being four or five different things: Roguelite FPS co-op survival crafting anyone?

Myself and Lauren will be talking all things genres this week, bringing along Harvey Randall as our sacrifice to the genre gods. "But wait," I hear you attentive listeners/viewers ask. "Didn't Lauren specifically promise to not fight about genres as part of her New Year's resolution?" Yes, yes she did. Listen, when do any of us stick to those things anyway? It's almost March, we're long past trivial matters like a New Year's resolution. 

You can still definitely bully (affectionate) her about it on the PC Gamer forums though. We'll have a thread going up about this week's episode where you can pop in and share your thoughts with us. We'll be in there too having a chat with you! Feel free to tell us what you think about genres. Do you think they're dumb, cool? Are you a "Wish product page" kinda genre enjoyer, or do you yearn for the purity of a single-genre experience? Make sure to let us know!

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. Google Podcasts
4. Stitcher
5. Castbox
6. Amazon Music
7. iHeartRadio
8. Podcast Addict
9. And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

Don't forget to check us out over on the PC Gamer forums, too! We'll be checking in every week to see what you lovely lot have to say about each week's episode, and ing in the discussion ourselves.

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify 

What's up PC gamers? Welcome back to the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast! How has everyone's week been so far? I hope you've been finding plenty of time to play games and do the other things you love outside of general life stresses.

For the 10 or so years they've been around, Steam reviews have been a great source of entertainment to me. Occasionally they help make an informed decision on whether a game should be going into my cart, but most of the time they're a collection of inside jokes, goofy references to the game being reviews and can be genuinely rather funny.

With so many Steam reviews sounding downright silly out of context, they're the perfect fodder to pluck and challenge each other to guess which game is being talked about. So that's exactly what myself and Lauren are doing this week! We've each pulled a handful of Steam reviews for games that appeared in our PC Gamer Top 100 list last year—we had to try and narrow down all the games somehow—and we're making each other figure out where the review came from.

It's a nice chill episode so kick back and maybe try and suss out each one along with us. If you've got some Steam reviews that you still think about years after reading them, head over to the PC Gamer forums and tell us about them. We'll have a thread set up for this week's episode—let us know how many of our reviews you got right and share some of your own.

As always, catch us at the beginning of the episode to see what we've been up to in the last week. We always love getting to share the games we've been playing and other hobbies we've been dabbling in between each episode, so make sure you tune in.

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. Google Podcasts
4. Stitcher
5. Castbox
6. Amazon Music
7. iHeartRadio
8. Podcast Addict
9. And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

Don't forget to check us out over on the PC Gamer forums, too! We'll be checking in every week to see what you lovely lot have to say about each week's episode, and ing in the discussion ourselves.

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify 

Hey there PC gamers, welcome back to the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast! I hope everyone's been well this week and battling all the winter nasties going around right now. I've not been so fortunate—most of my week has been spent in bed feeling pretty dang sick. 

I when my parents would always say to me: "If you're too sick to go to school, you're too sick to play games!" While teenage me used to laugh at the thought of not being able to stare at a monitor for eight hours while fighting off a virus, adult me has been shriveling away under the covers, unable to stomach even looking at my Steam Deck. On the bright side, I'm several episodes deep into an Angel rewatch. Silver linings and all that.

Thankfully, my illness was kind enough to wait until after I had the opportunity to play a bunch of Steam Next Fest demos. It's a good job, since that's what myself, Lauren and Senior Editor Chris Livingston are chatting about on the pod this week. Steam Next Fests are great, giant dumps of videogame demos to gorge on for a week. An increasing amount seem to stick around once the Fest is over, but a lot of 'em are only live for its duration before disappearing.

With literal hundreds of demos to choose from, the three of us took some time to play the ones that caught our attention. We'll be sharing our faves we've played so far, which ones are releasing soon that you should keep your eye on, as well as ones we're super jazzed to play but haven't quite gotten around to yet. 

We're always down for some recommendations too. If you've been playing some Steam Next Fest demos yourself, head over to the PC Gamer forums and tell us about them. We'll have a thread set up for this week's episode where you can plug your favourite demos and let us know what you thought of the ones we've been enjoying.

Lauren and I have our usual pre-episode catchup too, letting each other know what we've been up to the previous week. Thankfully I had some relatively exciting things going on before I came down with The Plague (okay, it's a cold, but I feel rough!) and Lauren's been up to some neat stuff of her own.

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. Google Podcasts
4. Stitcher
5. Castbox
6. Amazon Music
7. iHeartRadio
8. Podcast Addict
9. And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

Don't forget to check us out over on the PC Gamer forums, too! We'll be checking in every week to see what you lovely lot have to say about each week's episode, and ing in the discussion ourselves.

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify 

What's up PC gamers? Welcome back to the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast! I hope you've all had a fine week so far and have managed to cram plenty of gaming time in. Maybe you've been sitting on your cushy gaming chair with your triple-monitor setup and your future-proofed desktop, or lounging around on your sofa holding a Steam Deck inches from your face. 

For myself, Lauren, and Tyler, we've been in the latter camp an awful lot lately. We're all officially Steam Deck owners—Tyler handled our Steam Deck OLED review and was an LCD owner before that, and Lauren and I became of the portable PC club over the winter break. 

Now we've all had a bit of time to take our backlog with us wherever we go, how are we feeling about things? We have a chat about how much use we've been getting out of our Decks, what games we think work best, and discuss whether something like this could ever truly replace our sprawling desktop setups. 

For all you ROG Ally s and MSI Claw anticipators out there, don't fret. We spend a little bit of time talking about the competition and the ever-growing portable PC market. If we somehow convince you to buy your own Steam Deck or other handheld device by the end of this episode, apologies to your bank balance.

Whether you're a day-one Steam Deck owner or someone who's been on the fence about purchasing one, we'd love to hear your thoughts. Pop over to the PC Gamer forums, we have a thread set up all about this week's episode where you can share your own experiences and chat with us about it.

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. Google Podcasts
4. Stitcher
5. Castbox
6. Amazon Music
7. iHeartRadio
8. Podcast Addict
9. And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

Don't forget to check us out over on the PC Gamer forums, too! We'll be checking in every week to see what you lovely lot have to say about each week's episode, and ing in the discussion ourselves.

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify 

HelloPCgamerswelcomebacktothePCGamerChatLogpodcast. Phew. Is that a new world record for introducing this week's episode? 

Sorry, that was a terrible bit. Let me start again: Hello PC gamers, welcome back to the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast! I hope you've all had a rad week so far. Did any of you check out Awesome Games Done Quick over the last week? We certainly did, and it's encouraged us to put our running shoes on and talk all about speedrunning.

We've brought back Associate Editor Ted Litchfield to talk about some of our favourite stuff in the speedrunning community. The games we enjoy watching, our favourite runners and video essayists who cover this sort of stuff, what makes the art of speedrunning just so dang cool and interesting. We go over a little bit of AGDQ too, including some of our favourite runs of the week and... a speedrunning dog? You go, Peanut Butter.

Lauren and I get together before the episode to do our usual pre-topic catchup, too. We're officially both Steam Deck Owners now, which means we've been broadening our horizons and playing a ton of new stuff! Lauren's keeping her New Years resolution going too, which you can hear more about this episode.

Whether you're a speedrunning savant or someone who likes to watch the odd video, we'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject. Pop over to the PC Gamer forums, we have a thread set up all about this week's episode where you can share your own experiences and chat with us about it.

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. Google Podcasts
4. Stitcher
5. Castbox
6. Amazon Music
7. iHeartRadio
8. Podcast Addict
9. And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

Don't forget to check us out over on the PC Gamer forums, too! We'll be checking in every week to see what you lovely lot have to say about each week's episode, and ing in the discussion ourselves.

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

Greetings PC gamers, welcome back to the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast! If you've never listened before: Hey! Welcome! This is a podcast where myself (Mollie Taylor) and my co-host Lauren Morton talk all things PC gaming, sometimes with other of our team. If you're a regular listener: Hey! Thanks for coming back, we appreciate ya always.

First of all, how the hell are we halfway through January? Time is a construct, etcetera etcetera. Secondly, how do y'all feel about tutorials? Do you love 'em, hate 'em, are you a textbox skipper or someone who diligently studies all of a game's systems before you dive in? That's the kind of stuff we'll be talking about this week, along with Staff Writer Harvey Randall.

We'll be finishing around in our brain for some of our favourite tutorials, and ones that almost made us stop playing the game altogether. We'll also be talking about some of the things we prefer in our tutorials, and why the platformer genre is usually the one with the coolest learning tools. 

As always, Lauren and I have our weekly pre-episode catchup. Check out what we've been playing, the games we're really jiving with at the moment and what's on our todo list for the coming weeks.

We'd love to hear your tutorial thoughts, too! If you head over to our PC Gamer forums we'll have a thread set up all about this week's episode where you can contribute the discussion and have a chat with us about the whole thing.

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. Google Podcasts
4. Stitcher
5. Castbox
6. Amazon Music
7. iHeartRadio
8. Podcast Addict
9. And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

Don't forget to check us out over on the PC Gamer forums, too! We'll be checking in every week to see what you lovely lot have to say about each week's episode, and ing in the discussion ourselves.

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

Hey there PC gamers, welcome to 2024! It's a new year and that means 12 entire months of new games for us to sink our teeth into. I hope your holiday season was full of good food and good gaming—I know mine sure was.

Before I get into what this week's episode is all about (though you can probably already guess), I actually have something pretty exciting to announce: The PC Gamer Chat Log is now on our forums! We have a dedicated PC Gamer Chat Log category where Lauren and I will be posting about the new episode every week. Since we're usually asking questions or chatting about pretty open topics, we wanted an opportunity for all of you who listen and watch to in on the discussion. 

You'll also be able to catch both me and Lauren lurking around each episode's post, getting involved in the conversation and answering any questions you might have about the topic we're covering that week. It's something both of us are really excited about, and I hope you are too! 

Now that's done and out of the way, here's what you can expect in this week's episode. With it being a new year and all, Lauren and I are looking to the months ahead and seeing what's what. The games we're most excited for, our very terrible and way-too-early Game of the Year predictions, as well as our gaming new year resolutions and what's in and out for us in 2024.

We'll also be doing a little bit of catching up and sharing what we played while we took a much-needed week away from the website and got to do some work-free gaming. It's a rarity, so we definitely made the most of it. 

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. Google Podcasts
4. Stitcher
5. Castbox
6. Amazon Music
7. iHeartRadio
8. Podcast Addict
9. And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

Don't forget to check us out over on the PC Gamer forums, too! We'll be checking in every week to see what you lovely lot have to say about each week's episode, and ing in the discussion ourselves.

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

Happy Thursday PC gamers, and welcome back to the PC Gamer Chat Log Podcast! Have you been up to much this week, or are you finally relaxing now that the pace of huge-hitting games has begun to slow down a bit?

I hope you're not relaxing too much though, because almost every single one of us has an ever-growing backlog that haunts us. ing to play and finish all of the games we have across every launcher can be a real pain, so some people like to try and tackle that with some handy spreadsheet managament.

Our Online Editor Fraser Brown is one such person, so we've dragged him along onto this week's episode to interrogate him about his spreadsheet. What is the actual purpose of it? What categories does he use to help keep things in check? How can we steal his spreadsheet to improve our own gaming lives?

Lauren and I share what organisation methods we also make use of... if some of us even get that far in the first place. We spend some time trying to figure out just how best we want to get the most out of our hobby, and also spend a little bit of time talking about organisation elsewhere in our gaming lives too.

As always, Lauren and I will be checking in with each other at the beginning of the episode to see what we got up to last week. It may have been a quieter week for both of us but worry not, we'll be back with a bang next week with plenty of cool stories to tell.

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. Google Podcasts
4. Stitcher
5. Castbox
6. Amazon Music
7. iHeartRadio
8. Podcast Addict
9. And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

Hey there gamers, welcome to this week's episode of the PC Gamer Chat Log Podcast! I hope you've all had a great week, whether you've been playing a ton of games or taking things a little easier right now.

This week we've got Staff Writer Morgan Park back on the pod to talk all about battle royales. As our resident shooter aficionado, Morgan's played his fair share of battle royales from the more traditional games like Fortnite to the increasingly popular extraction shooters like Hunt: Showdown. 

With Morgan's wealth of experience and mine and Lauren's sporadic encounters with the genre, we chat all about how battle royales got their start and how our own foray into playing them happened. We also talk about which games are hot right now, and where we think the genre is going in the future. Battle royales aren't all about the shooters though, and we take a little bit of time to delve into some of the more interesting takes across PC and other platforms.

Don't forget to check in with myself and Lauren at the beginning of the podcast too, where we share our weeks with you, letting you in on any fun stuff we've been up to since the last episode.

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. Google Podcasts
4. Stitcher
5. Castbox
6. Amazon Music
7. iHeartRadio
8. Podcast Addict
9. And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

Hey there gamers, welcome to this week's episode of the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast! Have you ever played a game and thought to yourself "Dang, I really wish they'd adapt this into a movie or TV show?" Don't lie and say you haven't, we've all done it. At least, Lauren and I have certainly done it, and that's what we're going to talk about this week.

We've both taken a game we'd like to see adapted into a TV show or movie and tried to cast it. Which actors would fulfil the role for our ragtag videogame protagonists to a T? Some of us thought far too hard about this (it's me, I thought way too hard about this), and some of us thought just hard enough. Turns out casting your dream adaptation is a lot tougher than either of us realised, and we'd love if you challenged yourself to try and cast your own videogame adaptation.

As always, Lauren and I have a quick catchup before the main meat of the episode to talk about what we've been playing this week and other fun stories to share about our lives. Even though we've been drowning in Starfields and Cyberpunks galore, we've still managed to find the time to sit down and chill out with some other cool games and do some fun things outside of work, too.

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. Google Podcasts
4. Stitcher
5. Castbox
6. Amazon Music
7. iHeartRadio
8. Podcast Addict
9. And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

Hey there everyone! Another week has come and ed, and with it a new episode of the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast. This week we have Wes Fenlon back on the pod to chat all about videogame HUDs, plus a little bit of talk about UIs in general, too.

Trust me, this is something you also deeply care about even if you don't realise. Ever wished you could turn a minimap off and explore without being shackled to it, or grumbled about a game picking a com as its choice of directional assistance? Ever played Dead Space and said to yourself "damn, that's a nice diegetic heads-up display"? Probably not, but you may have thought something similar.

That's the kind of stuff we're talking about this week: Your health bars, damage numbers, ammo counts, all that good stuff. What do we like in a videogame HUD, and what do we deeply detest? Which games do it best, and why don't more go down the diegetic route? Naturally, we touch on some UI stuff too, talking about some super-stylish interface designs.

You may already have some strong HUD opinions, or this podcast may make you realise you care more than you thought! Either way, feel free to share your own HUD thoughts with us in the comments. We'd love to hear 'em!

Before we get stuck into the main meat of the podcast, catch up with Lauren and I at the start and see what we've been getting up to this week. As always, we've been doing plenty of fun videogame-related things over the last seven days and we always love to share our weeks with each other and with you.

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. Google Podcasts
4. Stitcher
5. Castbox
6. Amazon Music
7. iHeartRadio
8. Podcast Addict
9. And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

Hey there gamers, welcome back to the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast! Did you think we were gonna leave you high and dry without a Starfield episode to dig into? Of course not! 

We’ve brought Chris Livingston back this week to talk all about Bethesda’s latest RPG. He wrote an excellent Starfield review for our website (which you should totally go and read!) and has amassed around 90 hours in the last couple of weeks, so he has tons to say. 

Lauren and I have been playing a bit too of course, though we’ve not come close to clocking the amount of time Chris has. We’re all going to share our thoughts and impressions with each other, though. What have we really liked so far, and what haven’t we been so keen on? Feel free to share your own thoughts on Starfield with us, too!

What's up gamers? Happy Thursday, and happy PC Gamer Chat Log episode day! I hope you're not too busy drowning in Starfield, Baldur's Gate 3—whatever game is hogging all your attention right now—and have a little bit of time to sit down and hang out with us while we chat.

We haven’t been solely dedicated to the Starfield grind this week though, so make sure to catch up with us at the beginning of the episode to see what other shenanigans we've been up to. It's been a pretty good week for both of us, and we're excited to share our stories with you!

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. Google Podcasts
4. Stitcher
5. Castbox
6. Amazon Music
7. iHeartRadio
8. Podcast Addict
9. And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

What's up gamers? Happy Thursday, and happy PC Gamer Chat Log episode day! I hope you're not too busy drowning in Starfield, Baldur's Gate 3—whatever game is hogging all your attention right now—and have a little bit of time to sit down and hang out with us while we chat.

This week, Lauren and I are talking about overhyped and underhyped games. First of all, what even constitutes as a game being hyped too much or not enough? It's a tough definition to nail, and we certainly discuss it before we dive into our personal opinions on games we don't quite understand the love for and the ones we wish had heaps more.

There's also the rare occurrence: A game received just as it should be. A game that receives just enough love or criticism that feels justifiable in our gamer brains. We kept our picks for each category a secret from each other before filming, and there are some surprise choices on both sides.

As always, tune in at the beginning of the pod to see what the two of us have been getting up to this week. As always, we sure are gaming, plus some other fun bits on the side. Surprisingly no arcade trips for me this week, though! All PC games all the way, baby.

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. Google Podcasts
4. Stitcher
5. Castbox
6. Amazon Music
7. iHeartRadio
8. Podcast Addict
9. And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

Heya gamers, welcome to this week's episode of the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast. I hope you've all had a great week so far. Who's still rolling the dice in Baldur's Gate 3, and who's in the Starfield waiting room?

There's been a lot of us who've been sinking our time into huge games recently, or preparing to lose our lives to one ASAP. There was a point where Lauren and I wondered if anyone actually liked long games anymore, and it turns out the answer is yes!

So this week, we'll be chatting all about huge, sprawling games. Was there a point where people were getting real exhausted with 80-hour stories, and why was that? Did the open world collectathon kill our enthusiasm for these experiences? What even constitutes as a long game? We'll be talking about all that, plus talking about some of the long games we've played ourselves as well as ones we're still yearning to finish.

us for our pre-episode catchup too, where we share our week in gaming with each other and all of you. Both of us actually went and did some gaming things outdoors for a change, and we have some great stories to tell you this week. If you feel like it, share your week in gaming with us too!

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. Google Podcasts
4. Stitcher
5. Castbox
6. Amazon Music
7. iHeartRadio
8. Podcast Addict
9. And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

Happy Thursday PC gamers! What better way to celebrate Friday eve than with a brand-new episode of the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast?

First of all, thank you all for your kind words on last week's episode with Baldur's Gate 3 lead writer Adam Smith. I'm glad you all enjoyed listening just as much as Lauren and I enjoyed recording the podcast. If you haven't had the chance to check it out yet, what are you doing?! Go, go, go! Then come back here to listen to this week's episode, obviously.

It's just Lauren and I this week, and we're gathering up our strongest videogame heroes to compile the ultimate RPG party. Every good party has a strong tank, dexterous ranged damage dealer, a powerful mage, and someone to keep them all alive along the way. 

We picked our parties in secret, coming together during this episode to reveal our choices and do our best to justify them. We both went for pretty different methods. By that, I mean I took on this challenge like an absolute goblin, while Lauren did the task properly. Sorry, Lauren. Make her feel better by dropping your own ultimate RPG party picks in the comments, would you? Also just so you know, we actually filmed this right before Baldur's Gate 3 came out, if you're wondering why there's a distinct lack of horny companions.

Don't forget to us at the start of the podcast for our weekly catchup, where we chat about what we've been playing over the last week. Is it a lot of Baldur's Gate 3 again? Perhaps. Give it a listen and find out!

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. Google Podcasts
4. Stitcher
5. Castbox
6. Amazon Music
7. iHeartRadio
8. Podcast Addict
9. And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

Hey there PC gamers and welcome back to this week's very special episode of the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast. 

Why is it special, I hear you asking? Well, if the headline at the top of the page didn't give it away, we've got a real special guest ing myself and Lauren on the podcast this week. Adam Smith, lead writer on Baldur's Gate 3, is with us this week to talk about everything to do with the game's narrative, characters, honouring the series' legacy and converting the rules of tabletop D&D to a videogame format. 

A former journalist over at Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Adam ed Larian right at Baldur's Gate 3's inception and has been along for the whole ride. Understandably, that means he's got a lot to say now he can finally share the game with the world.

It's the first time we've had a guest from outside of our PC Gamer team, so I sincerely hope you take the time to give this week's episode a watch or a listen. Adam had a wealth of super interesting things to say about Baldur's Gate 3, and I'm sure you'll enjoy hearing him talk about the game as much as Lauren and I did.

It wouldn't be a Chat Log episode without a pre-podcast catchup though, and Lauren and I still found a bit of time to share our weeks with each other before we spoke to Adam. Spoiler alert: It's a lot of Baldur's Gate 3 all round. Who has the time for anything else right now?

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. Google Podcasts
4. Stitcher
5. Castbox
6. Amazon Music
7. iHeartRadio
8. Podcast Addict
9. And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

Happy Thursday gamers, welcome back to the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast! How have you been this week? Did you watch any EVO shenanigans, did you go out and touch grass? Or, if you're like all of us here at PC Gamer, did you spend your entire weekend holed up inside your room playing Baldur's Gate 3?

If you did, you're in the perfect place because this week's episode is all about Larian's latest grand RPG. We've got Associate Editor Ted Litchfield returning as a guest this week to talk about our first 10 to 20 hours in Baldur's Gate 3 and how we're feeling about the game so far. 

We chat a bit about our chosen Tavs and perhaps spend far too long on our egregiously horny companions—you can blame our BioWare romance brain rot for that one—but take enough time to talk about creative combat solutions and using unique class rizz to talk your way out of combat situations, too. There are some spoilers for Act 1 of course, so if you're not too far yet then maybe come back to this episode once you're a little further in!

It's probably already obvious what we've been up to this week, but Lauren and I still take a little bit of time before the main meat of the podcast to do our weekly catch-up. After all, we've somehow managed to find the time to play some stuff that isn't Baldur's Gate 3. Wild, I know. Don't forget to also let us know what you've been doing this week, whether that's endless dice rolls or playing something else entirely.

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. Google Podcasts
4. Stitcher
5. Castbox
6. Amazon Music
7. iHeartRadio
8. Podcast Addict
9. And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

Hey gamers, welcome to this week's episode of the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast! We've been doing this for almost six months now, can you believe it? Whether you've been listening since the first episode or tuning in for the first time, thanks for sticking around!

This week, we've brought back Chris Livingston, PC Gamer's connoisseur of gaming's more bizarre ongoings. We're talking to him all about Skyrim mods, from the oddly specific fixes to the down-right horny. 

Skyrim is easily one of the most malleable, moddable games in recent history. It's become somewhat of a medieval, dragon-filled dollhouse for gamers to install a shocking number of mods and completely change the entire look and feel of the game. There are some genuinely excellent quality-of-life fixes out there, some mods that could only be described as "minor fault that annoyed one guy so much they fixed it," and some rather weird additions of both SFW and NSFW variety.

Chris even put together a fun quiz on which Skyrim mods are real and which ones he made up. Turns out it's quite hard to make up ridiculous Skyrim mods because the chances are it already exists. Who'd have thought?

As always, Lauren and I have our pre-podcast check-in, too. us as we share which games we've been playing this week, and talk a little bit about Palia, an cozy MMO we both had the opportunity to play back in July. Don't forget to let us know what you've been playing this week, too!

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. Google Podcasts
4. Stitcher
5. Castbox
6. Amazon Music
7. iHeartRadio
8. Podcast Addict
9. And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

What's up gamers? Welcome to this week's episode of the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast! Did you video podcast watchers notice our brand-new look in last week's episode? We've gone a little colourful, I hope you like it! Anyway, grab your headphones and put together your ultimate videogame music playlist. But don't play it yet! First, listen to our episode all about our own love for all things videogame music.

This week, we've brought along Weekend Editor Jody Macgregor. He may be a games journalist now, but Jody actually started out writing for music magazines. It makes him the perfect podcast guest this week, bringing the knowledge from both sides with some real neat facts about the evolution of music in games.

We all have a chat about some of our all-time favourite soundtracks, from JRPGs to games that have done some utterly rad stuff with adaptive tracks. Jody and I talk about how much racing games in the 2000s continue to influence our music taste today and spend way too long talking about all the cool radio stations in games like Grand Theft Auto and Saints Row. Everyone has a favourite station they'll fiercely defend, even if it's a station that usually plays music we hate. Drop your own favourite videogame radio station so I can judge if for some bizarre reason it isn't K-Rose in GTA San Andreas.

As always, check in with me and Lauren at the beginning of the podcast for our weekly catchup. After a sleepy few gaming weeks for both of us, we've been busy bees this week! I played more than one game! Lauren sort of played games! It's truly been a period of growth for both of us.

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. Google Podcasts
4. Stitcher
5. Castbox
6. Amazon Music
7. iHeartRadio
8. Podcast Addict
9. And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

Greetings gamers, welcome back to the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast! How are y'all this week? I hope it's been a good one. This week Lauren and I have brought Online Editor Fraser Brown along to talk all about MMOs—where they've been, where they're at now and where we think they're going in the future.

All three of us have sunk unspeakable hours into MMOs, from Guild Wars 2, to Final Fantasy 14, to Star Wars: The Old Republic. We offer a brief history on the MMOs we've played over the years—and I share more than a few bizarro ones I found in the depths of the internet as a child—and which ones have held our attention for thousands of hours.

Is it time for theme park MMOs to step aside? Which genres deserve to be MMOfied in the next decade? Which MMOs on the horizon are we looking forward to and will we ever see one that manages to thrive alongside juggernauts of Blizzard and Square Enix design? We also make Fraser relive his 300 hours with New World. Sorry, Fraser.

Don't forget to tune in at the beginning of the episode for mine and Lauren's weekly catchup. As always, we share with each other (and you!) some of the fun things we've been up to this week—games we've played, books we've read, events we've attended—and don't forget to share your week with us, too!

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. Google Podcasts
4. Stitcher
5. Castbox
6. Amazon Music
7. iHeartRadio
8. Podcast Addict
9. And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

Hey everyone, welcome to the latest episode of the PC Gamer Chat Log Podcast! I hope you're all having a great week so far. This week we've brought Morgan Park back on the podcast to talk about doing some good old-fashioned videogamin' with your significant other.

Some hobbies are made to be shared, and videogames can be the perfect way to spend time with your partner while getting to enjoy something you both love. There are so many multiplayer games to play together either as part of the same team or in a fierce head-to-head. There's even tons of fun to be found in backseating each other's singleplayer games, like ones with important story-swaying decisions or blood-pumping action games that are equally thrilling to watch as they are to play. Or maybe you're just the type of couple who loves to play their own stuff without anyone else's input, pushing those monitors together so you can game in a "together but separate" kinda way.

We chat about the different games both us and our partners like, and if we've ever managed to entice them over to a game we've been a huge fan of. Which genres are the best for gaming together, and which ones are best left to playing with your buds or random strangers on the internet? Do games play a big part in our relationship, and do we have any cute videogame couple stories? Are any of us a Discord household, and how do you manage to stop that damn echo when you're both in the same call? 

We talk about all that, plus Lauren and I get together at the beginning of the episode for a quick catch-up on what we've been playing this week. With the Steam sale about to end, we've both scooped up our final fresh deals and even had a bit of time to check them out in the process. I even managed to play something new for once. Imagine!

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. Google Podcasts
4. Stitcher
5. Castbox
6. Amazon Music
7. iHeartRadio
8. Podcast Addict
9. And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

Welcome back to the PC Gamer Chat Log Podcast! Or if it's your first episode, hey there, welcome! Hope you enjoy our little show. This week we're bringing in our resident Witcher expert Lauren Aitken to talk about the third season of the Netflix show. 

Lauren's read all the books, played the games, watched the TV show and has the tattoo sleeve to prove it, and she's here to give us the lowdown on some of the lore changes as well as offer her thoughts on how season three is shaping up and what we can expect in the future. With me being a total Witcher newbie and Lauren Morton falling somewhere in the middle, we've all got some thoughts on Henry Cavill's final escapade around the Continent before he es the sword onto Liam Hemsworth.

Which characters are we loving this season, and how are we feeling about Yen, Ciri and Geralt trying to play happy family? What did we think about the production: The wigs, the special effects, Yen's terrifying purple eyes? With politics, redemption arcs and magical teens going through their emo phase abound, we try and recap as much as we can about how the first volume has gone so far.

Don't forget to us at the beginning of the podcast too, where Lauren and I do our weekly catchup. Sit down with us to see what we've been playing (or not playing) over the last week, and other random anecdotes. Maybe you can share with us which games have been taking over your life in the past seven days, too.

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. Google Podcasts
4. Stitcher
5. Castbox
6. Amazon Music
7. iHeartRadio
8. Podcast Addict
9. And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

Welcome back to another episode of the PC Gamer Chat Log Podcast, gamers. It's time to put on our mourning outfits and visit our gaming graveyard of half-finished and barely-touched titles that linger in our Steam libraries, shaming us for our lack of commitment.

We've all done it, though. Excitedly booted up a game, put a handful of hours into it. Then, perhaps a game we were more excited for comes along. Or maybe life got in the way a bit, and we forget videogames exist for a while. By the time we try and come back to it, we've long lost any motivation to play it or any understanding of what the hell we were doing there in the first place. It's a real shame!

There are a ton of reasons for not finishing a game, and Lauren and I take a bit of time to talk about our own personal ones. Which games did we try super hard to finish, only to fall at the final hurdle more than a few times? Which games did we straight-up rage quit, never to boot them up again out of sheer frustration? Which series have we bought in bulk only to never even install a single game from it? We'll be confessing all our gaming sins in this episode. If you've got any unfinished games haunting your libraries too, let us know. Make us feel better about our transgressions.

As always, come and us before we get stuck into the main topic to see what we've been up to this week. Lauren and I share the games we've been playing—some of which may, uh, not be on PC—and other random snippets of our life in the last seven days. Hopefully, your week has been more interesting and less intensely hot than our own.

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. Google Podcasts
4. Stitcher
5. Castbox
6. Amazon Music
7. iHeartRadio
8. Podcast Addict
9. And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

Hey there, welcome to another episode of the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast! We're a couple weeks out from the summer showcase season and our brains are sufficiently saturated with all manner of announcements, gameplay trailers and odd spectacles that retain the weird spirit of E3.

It was certainly a big week for games, so Lauren and I have brought back senior editor Robin Valentine to try and cover all the neatest things we saw across the week. Which showcase "won," which trailer was our absolute favourite and were there any pleasant surprises for us?  What the hell was Nicolas Cage rattling on about to Geoff Keighley? We do our best to go over every showcase and pluck some highlights from each one.

If you were listening a few weeks ago, you'll have caught our pre-brief with Wes Fenlon, too. We look back on some of the predictions we made and copium-filled wishes we had and see if anything we said actually lined up with what the showcases had to offer. Plus, of course, we take a bit of time to talk about the unavoidable juggernaut that is Starfield. Some of us are a little more excited for Bethesda's space adventure than others, and we share our hopes and concerns for what's to come.

We've brought Robin along for our weekly catchup too, letting you all in on what we've been up to in our gaming lives and beyond. I continue to betray the very foundation of PC Gamer, while Lauren and Robin try to set aside their frazzled post-E3 brains to what they managed to get up to that didn't involve working their asses off to bring you excellent roundups of each showcase and the best bits of the week. Be sure to thank them for all their hard work!

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. Google Podcasts
4. Stitcher
5. Castbox
6. Amazon Music
7. iHeartRadio
8. Podcast Addict
9. And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

Welcome back to the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast! I hope you're sufficiently Summer Game Fested out, with a ton of hype for games to sit on top of your ever-growing backlog.

Sorry but not sorry, because this week Lauren and I are here to totally add to that backlog. We're halfway into the year and have seen some ace releases already. From Dead Space to Diablo, 2023 has already been packed full of huge games. But what about the little guy? The games that are really bloody good, but may not have had their moment to shine.

We'll be chatting about some of the hidden gems of 2023 that you may not have heard about. Or maybe you have heard about them and needed that tiiiny push to finally boot it up and play it. We go over some of our personal favourites, plus ones that have been on our radar and regretfully have had no time to play yet. We also go through some gems that our team have been loving and reviewing quite highly, hopefully sending you away with some new games to try out.

We'll be checking in with you at the start as always, sharing what we've been up to in the past week. Well, what we've been getting up to that doesn't involve being glued to a desk while working through all the summer showcase presentations, that is. Or if you're me, having the rare opportunity to ignore all of that and enjoy some nice live music in a field instead.

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

1. Apple Podcasts
2. Spotify
3. Google Podcasts
4. Stitcher
5. Castbox
6. Amazon Music
7. iHeartRadio
8. Podcast Addict
9. And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

Hey there, welcome back to PC Gamer's Chat Log podcast! Not-E3 week is upon us, and what better time to try and get everyone we know into PC games than a week that's full of cool PC game announcements?

Lauren tasked both of us with picking the perfect PC game for four people in our lives. What would get our Mom sitting at a desk with a full setup? Perhaps our roommate who only plays FIFA on their PlayStation, or someone we're currently chatting up on Tinder? What about the book-lover on TikTok who didn't realise how many games had fantastic, sprawling stories and now she's on the hunt for more?

We squirrelled ourselves away to secretly figure out the answer to each person, before getting together on this podcast to present our results. How alike were our thought patterns for each person? What was our logic behind each decision? Take a peek and find out, and maybe try and think of your own answers for each person and let us know what they are!

As always, we kick off the podcast with a look back at what each of us has been up to over the past week. With two huge game releases last weekend in the form of Street Fighter 6 and Diablo 4, we've been kept pretty damn busy in the gamingsphere. Some of us may have even been on some super-secret press trips lately, too. Shhh, don't tell anyone.

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Google Podcasts
• Stitcher
• Castbox
• Amazon Music
• iHeartRadio
• Podcast Addict
• And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

Welcome back to the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast! It's officially June and you know what that means: It's announcement season, baby. This week we have Wes Fenlon back on the pod to have a little pre-brief about the whole summer showcase bonanza.

Now, of course, the summer announcement season isn't quite the huge event it used to be. E3 is gone, possibly forever. Summer Game Fest has sort of taken its place, but a ton of developers and publishers have started doing their own thing instead, while also being considerate enough to do it all within some kind of schedule. 

Regardless, it's still an exciting time for our favourite games. With Wes heading off to sunny LA to peruse some cool games next week, we chat about some of our most anticipated showcases and huff a little bit of copium for announcements we're hoping for. We also discuss some total wildcards that we would like to see at the show, and of course we couldn't help but mention that funny little space game Bethesda's been working on. Not only that, but we chat a little bit about how we spend this season both behind the keyboard and simply enjoying the shows with our pals.

For once, we also have our guest ing us for our weekly introduction and catch-up. All three of us will be chatting about what we got up to in the last week. What have we been playing? Was it good? How many times did Wes kick my ass at Street Fighter 6? Is Lauren still deep in her Roots of Pacha hole? Probably.

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Google Podcasts
• Stitcher
• Castbox
• Amazon Music
• iHeartRadio
• Podcast Addict
• And more!

If you prefer some faces to go with your voices, you can also check out the podcast over on YouTube:

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

Another week, another episode of the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast! This week, we've brought in senior editor Robin Valentine to chat all about our favourite (and least favourite) level tropes.

You know the ones: The classic water level, the weird stealth level that doesn't belong in the ultra-violent action game, the bizarre segments that plonk you on a turret and force you to down hundreds of goons with infinite bullets. They're everywhere in games, and we've all slogged through our fair share of stereotypical game design. Why do games default to these often out-of-place levels? Why are tailing missions so goddamn boring? Why do we still kinda love them anyway?

We discuss some of the most common videogame level tropes, which ones we really love and the ones we really, really don't. We seem to generate a half-official tier list every time we do one of these, and this episode is no different. Which level tropes can we stomach for games to come, and which ones deserve to go straight in the bin? Does a good escort mission exist? Tune in to find out.

Like always, Lauren and I take a bit of time at the start of the podcast to chat about what we're up to. Has Lauren finally bought a train ticket to Honk(ai) on a Star Rail? Am I playing anything other than Tekken 7 right now? Don't kid yourself, everyone. I'm definitely playing Tekken 7.

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Google Podcasts
• Stitcher
• Castbox
• Amazon Music
• iHeartRadio
• Podcast Addict
• And more!

If disembodied voices aren't your thing, you can also peep the video version on YouTube below:

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

It's another episode of the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast! This week, we've roped in associate editor Ted Litchfield, the expert in all things virtual romance. We're chatting all about RPG love affairs and our favourite videogame squeezes.

At this point, it feels like RPG and romance go hand in hand. After all, what's a bit of world-saving without a few smooches along the way? We talk about a few of the major presiders over the RPG romance like BioWare and CD Projekt Red and how much we either love or hate their eligible bachelors and bachelorettes.

Were their romance systems actually good, though? What even is a good romance system? Why are so many videogame characters easily wooed by being repeatedly spammed with the same gift? We talk about so-called "vending machine romances" versus ones that actually test your memory and knowledge of characters' personalities and which one we actually prefer. 

Not all romances are intentional though, and we talk about which of our accidental love stories are our fave. We also confess that we may get a little too defensive over who we knock virtual boots with in these games, because nothing's more precious than a bundle of romantic polygons.

As always, Lauren and I kickstart the podcast by letting you all know what we've been up to this week. Surprise! I actually did something that wasn't playing Tekken 7 or hitting the arcade for once. Okay, I still did those things. But I added a little variety for once, okay?

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Google Podcasts
• Stitcher
• Castbox
• Amazon Music
• iHeartRadio
• Podcast Addict
• And more!

If disembodied voices aren't your thing, you can also peep the video version on YouTube below:

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

Hello and welcome to the ninth episode of the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast! This week, Lauren and I are ed by guides writer Sarah James to talk all about our precious MMO babies.

With Sarah coming from World of Warcraft, Lauren from Guild Wars and myself from Final Fantasy 14, we have a great variety of MMO characters to gush about. The beauty of MMOs is you can be anyone, really. Turns out the three of us all play our MMOs and their respective characters a little differently, which probably speaks a whole lot to our individual personalities.

We offer a bit of backstory on each of our mains and talk about characters from other MMOs we've dabbled in. Do we see our characters as an extension of ourselves, or more like an old-school MySpace page that serves no other purpose than being pretty? 

We also chat about lore accuracy and role-playing, and Lauren reminisces about a very special Elder Scrolls Online character. If you're also a fierce defender of your MMO toons—whether they be personified shitposts, replicas of pop culture characters, extensions of yourself or a totally original character—this is the podcast episode for you.

As always with Chat Log, Lauren and I start off the episode having a chinwag about what we got up to this week. I continue to be an awfully predictable gamer (albeit with the addition of the flu this week) and Lauren once again tempts me with the idea of brilliant-sounding Stardewlikes.

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Google Podcasts
• Stitcher
• Castbox
• Amazon Music
• iHeartRadio
• Podcast Addict
• And more!

If disembodied voices aren't your thing, you can also peep the video version on YouTube below:

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

Welcome to another week of the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast! We're 10 episodes in already, which is wild. Thanks for sticking around while we get this thing off the ground and figure out how the hell to talk to our webcams for an hour straight. This week we've got Wes Fenlon back on the pod to talk about TV and movie adaptations of videogames, both good and bad.

It feels like for a long time videogame TV shows and movies sucked. Like, they were so bad. But with juggernauts like Netflix stepping in and creating high-quality adaptations, we're starting to see a turnaround in opinion on these things. Don't get me wrong, some are still pretty tragic (looking at you, Resident Evil), but things are certainly starting to look up.

How much do we care about these adaptations being true to the game? Which TV shows and movies do we fearlessly defend even though we know they're absolute garbage? Why did every fighting game movie in the '90s suck so hard? Why did I cry when I watched the Mortal Kombat movie as a kid? No, it wasn't because of the super ultra-hardcore violence. 

With a ton of adaptations in the works, we talk about the ones we're excited to see and the ones we think may flop. We also share some love for our recent favourites and even pitch some adaptation ideas of our own.

But first, Lauren and I have a quick chat about what we've been up to this week. We're creatures of habit, and sure we may be predictable, but at least we have fun while doing it. I talk about my experience entering my first-ever fighting game tournament, and Lauren once again tempts me in with some great-sounding co-op experiences.

You can check out the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Google Podcasts
• Stitcher
• Castbox
• Amazon Music
• iHeartRadio
• Podcast Addict
• And more!

If disembodied voices aren't your thing, you can also peep the video version on YouTube below:

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

*Soothing voice* Hello and welcome back to the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast. Why am I talking like this today? Well, Lauren and I are getting our warm fuzzy blankets out and perfecting our mood lighting to talk about the cozy gaming trend, the most relaxing and calming of all videogame trends.

Is there a difference between wholesome games and cozy games? What are the wildest 'cozy' gaming recommendations we've seen on TikTok? We also continue our fascination with cooking in games by discussing whether cooking is cozy, and offer up our own recommendations on the ultimate comfort games to play on a rainy evening. Lauren attempts to convince me that cozy horror is a genre without offering any proof, so I'm looking to you wonderful listeners to drop your own recommendations for us!

It wouldn't be an episode of Chat Log without Lauren and I getting together at the start to talk about what we've been up to this week. We talk about how our brief Minecraft Legends coop session went, and some quick thoughts about how we enjoyed (or didn't) enjoy the game as Minecraft lovers. You can also check out Lauren's Minecraft Legends review, if you want some more concrete criticisms. 

You can find PC Gamer's Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Google Podcasts
• Stitcher
• Castbox
• Amazon Music
• iHeartRadio
• Podcast Addict
• And more!

If you'd prefer some faces to match to our voices, you can also check out the episode on YouTube below:

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

Welcome back to the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast! This week, Lauren and I are ed by Executive Editor Tyler Wilde to discuss E3's unfortunate demise. Well, maybe.

With the big gaming showcase of the year cancelled once again, it's not looking good for poor E3. Is this the end for a once-beloved games show, or is there any chance it can come back stronger than ever in 2024? Is Geoff Keighley waiting in the distance, ready to swoop in and make Summer Game Fest the new It Girl of the gaming world?

We mourn what we loved about E3—the drama, the shared cultural moments, the utterly cringeworthy technical problems—and share some memories of the shows from our time as both casual enjoyers and of the press. We also talk about the not-so-great and what it was like to be a writer rushing around appointments in years prior.

As always, Lauren and I get together before the podcast to talk about what we've been up to this week. What have we been playing, and why are we suddenly trying to convert everyone into book enjoyers? Blame Lauren, not me.

You can find PC Gamer's Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Google Podcasts
• Stitcher
• Castbox
• Amazon Music
• iHeartRadio
• Podcast Addict
• And more!

If you'd prefer some faces to match to our voices, you can also check out the episode on YouTube below:

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

It's another episode of the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast! This week, Lauren and I are diving into the dark depths of the internet to find the most egregious videogame merch possible.

Merchandise is one of the main ways we all express our love for videogames. How else is anybody going to know I mainline Final Fantasy 14 if it's not plastered all over my body and around my house? But not all videogame merch is made the same—some of it is well and truly cursed. Think Modern Warfare 2's Ghost plastered on a pencil skirt.

Lauren and I talk about some of the merch we own ourselves, the type of merch we hate, and what we'd love to see more of (anything but another crew neck, please). We also decide on the ultimate miniature videogame figure: Will Pop Vinyls, Nendroids, or Tubbz come out on top? If my terrible opinions are anything to go by, I think you already know.

As always, we take a bit of time at the start to talk about what we've been up to this week, too. Which games have taken over our lives this week? Am I once again foolishly trying to get good at a fighting game, and is Lauren knee-deep in some RPG or cosy sim? 

You can find PC Gamer's Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Google Podcasts
• Stitcher
• Castbox
• Amazon Music
• iHeartRadio
• Podcast Addict
• And more!

We love a disembodied voice every once in a while, but we think this podcast in particular is great in video form. Catch it over on YouTube or down below!

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

Sul Sul! Happy Chat Log day, PC Gamers! It's the fifth episode of the podcast, and this week we have Hardware Write Katie Wickens ing Lauren and me to talk all things The Sims.

With The Sims 5 (or Project Rene, as EA is calling it) on the horizon, there's no better time to look back at what's worked for the series so far and what we hope will be included in the next instalment. Do we want the next game to be free-to-play with a subscription model, or is that even worse than the way the games are monetised right now? What will multiplayer for The Sims 5 look like, and do we even want it in our game? We also look at expansions from previous Sims games and talk about which ones should finally be folded into the damn base game.

But first, we all have to figure out what kind of simmers we truly are. Do we spend hours meticulously crafting sims, some who may or may not resemble people we know in real life? Or are we huge interior decorators who create fake sims in their head to design a house for and then never play in it? 

You can find PC Gamer's Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Google Podcasts
• Stitcher
• Castbox
• Amazon Music
• iHeartRadio
• Podcast Addict
• And more!

If disembodied voices (English or Simlish) trickling through your earphones aren't your thing, you can see our faces in the podcast over on Youtube. Dag Dag!

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

Welcome back to the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast! This week, Lauren and I are ed by Associate Editor Tyler Colp to talk all about our time with the Diablo 4 closed beta.

With Lauren and myself entering Blizzard's dark and dreary ARPG series for the first time and Tyler Colp being our veteran player, we talk about the things we did and didn't like about our weekend running and dungeoning around the Fractured Peaks.

We talk about the classes we picked, the game's small but mighty customisation options, and one particularly terrifying side quest involving a horny skinless man. I also bully Lauren for playing everything like it's Guild Wars while simultaneously doing the whole thing like a rabid Final Fantasy 14 player hunting for the perfect glam. It's a great relationship.

With the open beta and more class options arriving right after this podcast releases, we delve into what we're excited to return to this weekend, and what we want to try out that we didn't have time to during the closed beta. No chat from me and Lauren this week on what we've been playing, because it's Diablo 4. That's what we've been playing. Perhaps too much.

You can find PC Gamer's Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Google Podcasts
• Stitcher
• Castbox
• Amazon Music
• iHeartRadio
• Podcast Addict
• And more!

If video is more your thing, we also release every episode on YouTube where you can peep our lovely faces, too!

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

Welcome to the third episode of the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast! This week, we've got Features Producer Chris Livingston ing myself and Lauren Morton.

We're talking all things crafting, baby. There's nothing quite like putting two twigs together and making a whole-ass furniture item in a videogame. But why the hell did every single game have a crafting system in it at some point? What separates the awful crafting systems from the great ones? Why do I still not know a single damn crafting recipe in Minecraft despite having played hundreds of hours of it? We also try and figure out if cooking is considered crafting, and discuss the things we reckon we could craft in real life.

As always, Lauren and I also sit down to talk about what we've been up to this week and the games we've been racking up the hours on.

You can find PC Gamer's Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Google Podcasts
• Stitcher
• Castbox
• Amazon Music
• iHeartRadio
• Podcast Addict
• And more!

If disembodied voices trickling through your earphones aren't your thing, you can see our faces in the podcast over on Youtube.

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

It's another episode of the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast! This time, Lauren Morton and I have roped in Senior Editor Wes Fenlon to talk about Pokémon-likes on PC. 

Monster capture games like Temtem and Ooblets have risen to prominence in recent years, but none seem to be able to captivate PC in the same way Nintendo's own flavour of creature capturing can. But with other cosy console genres like farm life sims finding a great foothold within PC gaming, will Pokémon-type games ever find the same success? Is Pikachu simply too big to top? Get your mind out of the gutter, we won't have a repeat of last time.

Also, check out what Lauren and I have been up to this past week. We try (rather poorly on my part) to make the other guess what games we've been playing in our spare time, from Tekken 7 to Sons of the Forest. 

You can find PC Gamer's Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Google Podcasts
• Stitcher
• Castbox
• Amazon Music
• iHeartRadio
• Podcast Addict
• And more!

If disembodied voices trickling through your earphones aren't your thing, you can see our faces in the podcast over on Youtube.

RSS Feed | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Direct

Well hey, today we're premiering the first episode of PC Gamer's brand-new podcast series, Chat Log! We've been without a podcast for a hot sec but now we're back. It's got a new name and some new lovely faces, but it'll still be stuffed with all our favourite PC gaming discussions, debates and deep dives.

Each week Chat Log will be hosted by Associate Editor Lauren Morton and me, Features Producer Mollie Taylor. We'll be talking about everything from FPSes, cosy sims, and our favourite virtual husbands and wives. Some weeks we'll be roping in other PC Gamer writers to lend their expertise or viciously defend their gaming beloveds, too. One week we might get our survival expert Chris Livingston in for his opinions, or maybe strategy buff Fraser Brown will pop along for a lengthy Scottish ramble on the genre.

Since this is the first episode, Lauren and I are introducing ourselves. Which genres do we like and dislike? What games are in permanent rotation in our Steam library? Why are we the way that we are? (Seriously, why?) These burning questions will be answered and more. Oh, and games too of course. With a stacked 2023 of game releases ahead of us, we're talking about what our most anticipated games are, predicted trends for the year and what 2023's Game of the Year could possibly be. It's probably gonna be Starfield, huh?

You can find PC Gamer's Chat Log podcast on a whole bunch of podcast platforms:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Google Podcasts
• Stitcher
• Castbox
• Amazon Music
• iHeartRadio
• Podcast Addict
• And more!

You can also peep the podcast on YouTube, if disembodied voices freak you out. I know they do for me. 

VIDEO: Is Outriders worth it? is also available on our YouTube channel. 

Is Outriders worth playing? It's a pretty odd mix of cover shooting and RPG looting that kinda turns inside out a few hours in. Morgan Park, who calls the FPS genre home, isn't in love with Outriders and explains why at length in his review. It's just not a good shooter, he says. Meanwhile, Steven Messner, or Mister MMO as he's known around these parts, is really digging Outriders. He thinks the RPG systems really prop up the action, and that the story isn't as bad as people think.

So if you're still on the fence, listen to these two duke it out for a while. By the end, you'll know whether Outriders is for you or not. 

For the full conversation and some thoughts on the great GPU shortage from our hardware team, check out this week's episode of The PC Gamer Show, our weekly podcast. 

• Outriders classes: Which path to choose
• Outriders Trickster: Powerful early setups
• Outriders Pyromancer: Fiery starter skills
• Outriders Devastator: Top tank setups
• Outriders Technomancer: your squad
• Outriders legendary list: Best weapons and armor

VIDEO: Where does Doom go next? is also available on YouTube. 

With Doom Eternal: The Ancient Gods Part 2 out, the Slayer Saga that began with Doom 2016 is finished. There's not much left to squeeze out of Doom in its current form, and game director Hugo Martin has said as much, so resident FPS expert and Doom enthusiast Morgan Park ed me to talk about where the series could and should go next. 

Doom without demons? Co-op Doom campaigns? We bash our heads together until ideas come out. 

For the full conversation and our thoughts on The Ancient Gods Part 2, check out this week's episode of The PC Gamer Show, our weekly podcast. 

VIDEO: Cyberpunk 2077 is more like The Witcher 3 than you'd think, also on YouTube.

Most of Cyberpunk 2077's seven years of marketing depict a wholly cynical world where everyone replaces every other word with some awkward future slang, and on-rails car chase shootouts take priority over the subtle stuff that makes for a truly good RPG.

We've been a bit worried at PC Gamer, crowding around every new demo and trailer hopeful that some of the excellent writing and oddball quests we loved in The Witcher 3 would somehow turn up in the marketing material for Cyberpunk 2077. Not so. It's cooled our anticipation for one of the most curious games of the decade over the years.

But with Andy Kelly's recent 15-hour hands-on session with Cyberpunk 2077, he's crawled out of Night City to report that all that edgy marketing? It's just marketing, baby. Cyberpunk has plenty of heart. 

On this week's episode of The PC Gamer Show, Andy tells me Cyberpunk 2077 has plenty of small touches and well considered characters that readily recall some of the best Witcher 3 quests—The Bloody Baron in particular. 

For the full conversation, check out the video up top. You're going to want to hear about Brendan, the sentient vending machine. And for even more on Cyberpunk 2077, listen to this week's episode of The PC Gamer Show. Andy and I go on for 45 minutes about future fashion, how nice the katanas feel, playing a nice guy in an awful world, and Keanu of course.

The marketing problem a232r

Andy: The quest everyone talks about in The Witcher 3 is The Bloody Baron quest which is a great mix of horror, action, and really strong well-written moving pathos.

James: Amazing characters.

Andy: Yeah, great performances, and I got a real vibe of The Bloody Baron quest, where, there's a character called Judy Alvarez who's a braindance editor expert… you team up with her quite a lot in the story. So once you've ended your time with her in the story you can then pursue loads more sidequests to get to know the character, and she's actually one of the best characters. 

But a bunch of really bad stuff happens to Judy, and there are some really quite quiet, tender moments between V and her as a result of this stuff, and you can console her and be understanding. You can also be a dick and say 'Yeah, whatever, get over it', but I could never bring myself to do that, especially since I really liked the character.

...

CDPR aren't going to show a scene in the big E3 trailer of Judy and V sitting on a bed having a heart-to-heart, but all that stuff's in there which is really encouraging because I went in there with the same worries: is it just going to be future slang and people shouting motherfucker and gangsters and all these really loud, over-the-top characters? But there's humanity in there, and it feels like it plays out in similar ways to some of the Witcher quests. 

On being a nice V 36t22

Andy: I think in those trailers and gameplay clips, whoever's playing has chosen to be the edgelord douchebag V for the sake of the trailers, whereas my V was way nicer and way cooler, I thought.

James: You can be nice V?

Andy: Yeah, you can be really nice, which was quite surprising.

James: I like the idea of that. This horrible world, but you're chill and cool. 

Hey! It's The PC Gamer Show, our weekly podcast. 

This week, Steven convinces James Genshin Impact is the odd free-to-play game that isn't just good, but astounding. Then Chris talks about how running over a stranger ruined his life. In Watch Dogs Legion, of course.

How to listen 6n1k4p

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Google Play
• Anchor
• YouTube
• RSS feed

Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show, our weekly podcast.

On this week's show, Andy Kelly stops by to talk about his recent 4-hour hands-on session with Cyberpunk 2077. Read the full preview and then come back right away, because James asks Andy 20-something rapid fire questions about all the new footage and details coming out about CD Projekt Red's next big thing. 

Listen 1a1k2m

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Google Play
• Anchor
• YouTube
• RSS feed

Hosts j6k71

• James Davenport (Twitter, Twitch)
• Andy Kelly (Twitter)

Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show, our weekly podcast.

On this week's show, Wes stops by to talk about Terraria's journey from simple 2D crafting game to its final state as a massive, amorphous fantasy adventure. Then Tyler and James walk through some of the best GTA 5 mods for new players. (We also have a guide to GTA 5's cheats if you want to go nuts).

Listen 1a1k2m

• iTunes
• Spotify
• Google Play
• Anchor
• YouTube
• RSS feed

Hosts j6k71

• James Davenport (Twitter, Twitch)
• Tyler Wilde (Twitter)
• Wes Fenlon (Twitter)

Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show, our weekly podcast.

On this week's show, Rachel Watts makes her podcast debut by talking about five of her favorite Stardew Valley mods, then Wes and Jorge reminisce with James about Halo 2, which just hit PC. It's a feature-heavy port with a few too many bugs. 

Listen 1a1k2m

• iTunes
• Spotify
• Google Play
• Anchor
• YouTube
• RSS feed

Hosts j6k71

• James Davenport (Twitter, Twitch)
• Rachel Watts (Twitter)
• Jorge Jimenez (Twitter)
• Wes Fenlon (Twitter)

Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show, our weekly podcast.

On this week's show, Wes and James get into a heated debate over whether RE4 needs a remake or not, then they make up and gush about how rad XCOM: Chimera squad looks. There's also a little Final Fantasy 7 Remake talk at the beginning, impressions from someone that finished the game on PS4 and didn't play the original (no spoilers, don't worry).

Listen 1a1k2m

• iTunes
• Spotify
• Google Play
• Anchor
• YouTube
• RSS feed

Hosts j6k71

• James Davenport (Twitter, Twitch)
• Wes Fenlon (Twitter)

Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show, our weekly podcast.

This week, Morgan Park rolls into town and hops off his finely tuned FPS car (metaphor) to break down how he's been feeling about Valorant, Riot's Counter-Strike inspired shooter. Steven shows up on a massive spider made of wood to talk Last Oasis, an early access survival game that's actually worth playing. 

Listen 1a1k2m

• iTunes
• Spotify
• Google Play
• Anchor
• YouTube
• RSS feed

Hosts j6k71

• James Davenport (Twitter, Twitch)
• Steven Messner (Twitter)
• Morgan Park (Twitter)

Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show, our weekly podcast.

This week, Steven drops by to give us some early impressions of the long-awaited Mount & Blade sequel. This one's only in early access, but it's already shaping up to be one hell of a medieval life and warfare sim. Emma shows up in the back half to explain why she likes the Resident Evil 3 Remake, even if it didn't get the most favorable reviews. If you're on the fence, it's worth a listen.

Listen 1a1k2m

• iTunes
• Spotify
• Google Play
• Anchor
• YouTube
• RSS feed

Hosts j6k71

• James Davenport (Twitter, Twitch)
• Steven Messner (Twitter)
• Emma Matthews (Twitter)

Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show, our weekly podcast.

On this week's episode, James and Chris have a long, spoiler-free discussion about Half-Life: Alyx and the series' transition to VR. The back half of this 'sode is all about Gears Tactics. Wes talks with James about how the third-person cover shooter makes for a surprisingly good squad-based tactics game.

Listen: 1j3gz

• iTunes
• Spotify
• Google Play
• Anchor
• YouTube
• RSS feed

Hosts: 1i5z6n

James Davenport (Twitter, Twitch)

Wes Fenlon (Twitter)

Chris Livingston (Twitter)

Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show, our weekly podcast.

Tyler Wilde reviewed Ori and the Will of the Wisps this week, so he s James to get into the weeds of good Metroidvania design. Ori holds up pretty well and comes highly recommended, but for genre fans there are still a few nits to pick. 

Listen: 1j3gz

• iTunes
• Spotify
• Google Play
• Anchor
• YouTube
• RSS feed

Hosts: 1i5z6n

James Davenport (Twitter, Twitch)

Tyler Wilde (Twitter)

Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show, our weekly podcast. Catch us every Thursday, sometimes on Twitch, around 9 am PT. 

On the first episode of 2020, James, Chris, and Steven take some time to talk about all the big winners in PC Gamer's GOTY awards. For our complete list of awards and personal picks, check out our Game of the Year 2019 hub. There's a lot to chew on. 

• iTunes
• Spotify
• Google Play
• Anchor
• YouTube
• RSS feed

Hosts this week: 523z24

James Davenport (Twitter, Twitch)

Chris Livingston (Twitter)

Steven Messner (Twitter)

Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show, our weekly podcast. You can watch the show live on Thursdays at 9 am PDT on our Twitch channel, or after the fact through any of the links below.

This week's episode is a little different. I'm ed by Justin Vasquez, executive director at Elastic Games on Last Year, to talk about how the sudden closure of the Discord Store drastically altered the future of what was meant to be one of the shop's flagship titles. Last Year is a 5v1 teens versus monster horror game deeply rooted in B-movie aesthetics. It's a charming and unique take on asymmetrical competition that I personally prefer to the easy but not entirely accurate analogue Dead by Daylight. 

Last Year hasn't had the easiest time standing out. Shortly after launch on the Discord Store, the future of the game became unexpectedly precarious when the shop suddenly closed. The team went dark for months, much to the dismay of their busy Discord community, but Elastic Games has since found a new direction and road map for its debut. And more importantly, a new home on Steam. 

iTunes | Spotify | Google Play | Anchor | YouTube | RSS feed

Vasquez takes me through the moments the Discord Store shut down, the trouble of maintaining healthy communication with a fervent community, keeping up team morale in a difficult time, and the new shape and direction of Last Year. 

Here's an excerpt from the interview where Vasquez details the early days of g to Discord and first notice of the closure. For the whole story, listen to this week's episode of The PC Gamer Show.

PC Gamer: Talk to me about some of the early days of working on Last Year and this arc: Did g onto a new store feel like the right thing to do at the time and did you have assurances it was the right thing to do?

Justin Vasquez, executive director: Well, yeah, at the time, it really felt like the right move because before that, Elastic had really been just a handful of devs. It started off with just James [Wearing, CEO and director], the Kickstarter, and then James brought Alex [Halchuk] our technical director on, and it was just them for a long time. They'd bring on a couple of devs here and there to help them cobble together the demo, which eventually turned into the first playable level. 

When I came on to the operation it was right around the time of Discord, and it felt like the right move because Discord shared a lot of the same philosophies and same values when it came to community, when it came to growing and ing and communicating with the community. It was exciting to be part of something brand new. It's very rare that a new platform launches period, let alone a new platform on PC that's trying to go head to head with Steam, the major platform. And as you know, this was right before the Epic Games Store was even announced, and so for us, it felt like something exciting, something different, something innovative and pioneering. And the team at Discord was and continues to be very ive of us. 

It felt like the right fit both from a community standpoint, it felt like the right fit from a partnership standpoint and it felt like the right timing to get the first version of the game into players hands, because we had just basically polished up the second-to-second and the minute-to-minute experience, and we knew we had something visceral. But before we start building out hour-to-hour, to our experience, we really wanted to get the game into players' hands and know how they felt about it. Being a new platform, we knew that only the most hardcore of gamers would even be aware of it, and be attracted to it and be willing to try the game on a new platform. We felt, OK, that's going to be the perfect audience to give us that initial . 

In that sense, the launch was successful, because we did get a really engaged community who did really love the game and were very vocal about what they liked about it and what they wanted to see in its future and how it could evolve. But in all honesty, we did not see the drastic one-eighty that Discord would pull in shutting down the store only a few months into its lifespan. And so here we are.

PC Gamer: You say it was a drastic one-eighty—what kind of prep time or warning or did you get from Discord on that side of things regarding store closure?

JV: Discord is still a respected partner of ours and I want to stress that. They have always been good to us even in the decision that impacted us very harshly. So they did give us about a month and change of warning of 'Listen, we're not sure this is the right direction for the platform as a whole, we're thinking of migrating to this dedicated server model where people could still sell the games but only through their servers.' Then eventually they said, 'You know what, we're just going to stop adding new games and ing the store as a whole.' 

For us, it was sad. We new it was risky and we knew there was a chance—we weren't delusional or overly optimistic—we knew that there was a chance that this could happen. We did hope that they would try to stick it out a little longer because Rome wasn't built in a day. Steam wasn't built in a day. Steam, when it first launched, was very different from what it is now, and it's only because they kept at it and invested in that store that it grew to be what it is. 

For Discord, I guess they saw the future that having a store and maintaining and up-keeping it would entail, and I guess it didn't fit right with them. They gave us and the other developers fair warning, but we do know that there were some developers who had literally put all their eggs in this basket and were really thrown for a loop. I don't know where all of them have ended up, but we all were communicating at that time and sort of leaning on each other for advice on how to pivot and what could be done. 

These excerpts have been edited for length and clarity. 

Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show, our weekly podcast. You can watch the show live on Thursdays at 9 am PDT on our Twitch channel, or after the fact through any of the links below.

On this week's show, Tom talks about how much he loves the intense lightsaber combat of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Joanna breaks down everything Stadia, and we watch the Half-Life: Alyx trailer the minute it's released. 

Where to watch: 2z20x

• iTunes
• Spotify
• Google Play
• Anchor
• YouTube
• RSS feed

Hosts this week: 523z24

James Davenport (Twitter, Twitch)

Joanna Nelius (Twitter)

Tom Senior (Twitter)

Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show, our weekly podcast. You can watch the show live on Thursdays at 9 am PDT on our Twitch channel, or after the fact through any of the links below.

On this week's show, Tyler and Joanna report back from BlizzCon with plenty of Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2 impressions in tow. Meanwhile, James has been farting around in the old west, giving the PC version of Red Dead Redemption 2 a go.

Where to watch: 2z20x

• iTunes
• Spotify
• Google Play
• Anchor
• YouTube
• RSS feed

Hosts this week: 523z24

James Davenport (Twitter, Twitch)

Joanna Nelius (Twitter)

Tyler Wilde (Twitter)

Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show, our weekly podcast. You can typically watch the show live on Wednesdays at 1 pm PDT on our Twitch channel, but our host is between places and seeking decent internet service. For now, catch it at any of the links below. 

On this week's show, we say goodbye to Bo, but not before he gives us the rundown on all the Overwatch 2 leaks and rumors. Morgan Park s the cast to discuss his review of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Otherwise, it's just James rambling on about Disco Elysium for far too long. 

• iTunes
• Spotify
• Google Play
• Anchor
• YouTube
• RSS feed

Hosts this week: 523z24

James Davenport (Twitter, Twitch)

Morgan Park (Twitter)

Bo Moore (Twitter)

Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show, our weekly podcast. You can typically watch the show live on Wednesdays at 1 pm PDT on our Twitch channel, but our host is between places and seeking decent internet service. For now, catch it at any of the links below. 

On this week's episode, Chris has finished The Outer Worlds and has worlds of thoughts to get out on the subject. Steven details Riot's new slate of games and thinks about how Blizzard might respond with some BlizzCon announcements. James confounds his guests with a news quiz and his confused, ionate thoughts on Disco Elysium. 

How to listen: 5q5a6j

• iTunes
• Spotify
• Google Play
• Anchor
• YouTube
• RSS feed

Hosts this week: 523z24

James Davenport (Twitter, Twitch)

Chris Livingston (Twitter)

Steven Messner (Twitter)

Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show, our weekly podcast. You can typically watch the show live on Wednesdays at 1 pm PDT on our Twitch channel, but our host is between places and seeking decent internet service. For now, catch it at any of the links below. 

On this week's show, Andy Kelly and Fraser Brown from the UK PCG faction James to talk about the Red Dead 2 PC announcement along with their collective impressions of the game from playing it months ago on a PlayStation 4 (shhh...).

Fraser's also back into Destiny 2 and finding it a bit difficult to navigate, so he and James elaborate and break down how unfriendly Destiny 2 is to new players. The twist: it's somehow still worth the pain.

How to listen: 5q5a6j

• iTunes
• Spotify
• Google Play
• Anchor
• YouTube
• RSS feed

Hosts this week: 523z24

James Davenport (Twitter, Twitch)

Andy Kelly (Twitter)

Fraser Brown (Twitter)

Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show, our weekly livestreamed podcast. You can catch the show live on Wednesdays at 1 pm PDT on our Twitch channel, or after the fact at any of the links below. 

On this week's episode, James breaks down his review of Borderlands 3, everyone gives their take on Steam's library redesign, and Chris fires monkeys out of cannons, the monster. 

How to listen: 5q5a6j

• iTunes (We're back on iTunes!)
• Spotify
• Google Play
• Anchor
• YouTube
• RSS feed

Hosts this week: 523z24

James Davenport (Twitter, Twitch)

Evan Lahti (Twitter)

Chris Livingston (Twitter)

Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show, our weekly livestreamed podcast. You can catch the show live on Wednesdays at 1 pm PDT on our Twitch channel, or after the fact at any of the links below. 

On this week's show, the crew talks about moonshine, sauna culture, and getting nude with spaceship nerds on a remote island in Finland. Videogames feature, too, with plenty of talk about Control, Man of Medan, and Steven's international EVE excursion.

How to listen: 5q5a6j

• iTunes (We're back on iTunes!)
• Spotify
• Google Play
• Anchor
• YouTube
• RSS feed

Hosts this week: 523z24

James Davenport (Twitter, Twitch)

Joanna Nelius (Twitter)

Steven Messner (Twitter)

Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show, our weekly livestreamed podcast. You can catch the show live on Wednesdays at 1 pm PDT on our Twitch channel, or after the fact at any of the links below.  

On this week's show, Chris takes us through his 90-minutes of playtime with The Outer Worlds, Tim talks cards again and details his day with Hearthstone: Saviors of Uldum, and James kicks off a discussion about the future of videogame streaming services after Ninja made the jump from Twitch to Mixer. We close with listener questions. 

How to listen: 5q5a6j

• iTunes (We're back on iTunes!)
• Spotify
• Google Play
• Anchor
• YouTube
• RSS feed

Hosts this week: 523z24

James Davenport (Twitter, Twitch)

Chris Livingston (Twitter)

Tim Clark (Twitter)

Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show, our weekly livestreamed podcast. You can catch the show live on Wednesdays at 1 pm PDT on our Twitch channel, or after the fact at any of the links below.  

On this week’s show, we give our thoughts on the debut trailer for Netflix’s take on The Witcher, Tim tells us everything about the next Hearthstone expansion, and Jody Macgregor s the cast for the first time to talk about how an old Warhammer MMO found a second life.  

How to listen: 5q5a6j

• iTunes (We're back on iTunes!)
• Spotify
• Google Play
• Anchor
• YouTube
• RSS feed

Hosts this week: 523z24

James Davenport (Twitter, Twitch)

Jody Macgregor (Twitter)

Tim Clark (Twitter)

Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show, our weekly livestreamed podcast. You can catch the show live on Wednesdays at 1 pm PDT on our Twitch channel, or after the fact at any of the links below.  

On this week’s show, James talks about the first 30 hours of Final Fantasy 14 while Steven talks about the last moments of Shadowbringers (spoiler-free, of course). Jarred walks us through AMD’s new hardware lineup, and the show closes while the crew tools around with Steam’s new recommendation system.  

How to listen: 5q5a6j

• iTunes (We're back on iTunes!)
• Spotify
• Google Play
• Anchor
• YouTube
• RSS feed

Hosts this week: 523z24

James Davenport (Twitter, Twitch)

Jarred Walton (Twitter)

Steven Messner (Twitter)

Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show, our weekly livestreamed podcast. You can catch the show live on Wednesdays at 1 pm PDT on our Twitch channel, or after the fact at any of the links below.  

On this week’s show, James shares his wealth of Hollow Knight nudes, Tyler breaks down the controversy around G2A and key-resellers, and Steven recaps his time at Tennocon. We end with listener questions. 

How to listen: 5q5a6j

• iTunes (We're back on iTunes!)
• Spotify
• Google Play
• Anchor
• YouTube
• RSS feed

Hosts this week:  4d4ka

James Davenport (Twitter, Twitch)

Tyler Wilde (Twitter)

Steven Messner (Twitter)

Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show, our weekly livestreamed podcast. You can catch the show live on Wednesdays at 1 pm PDT on our Twitch channel, or after the fact at any of the links below.  

On this week’s show, Steven breaks down the latest intergalactic EVE drama and every reflects on the best and worst games of the year so far before trying to figure out what the hell auto chess is.

How to listen: 5q5a6j

• iTunes (We're back on iTunes!)
• Spotify
• Google Play
• Anchor
• YouTube
• RSS feed

Hosts this week: 523z24

James Davenport (Twitter, Twitch)

Wes Fenlon (Twitter)

Steven Messner (Twitter)

Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show, our weekly livestreamed podcast. You can catch the show live on Wednesdays at 1 pm PDT on our Twitch channel, or after the fact at any of the links below.   

On this week’s show, James, Steven, and Wes revisit all the big game news and reveals from E3, including Elden Ring, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Watch Dogs Legion, Doom Eternal, Cyberpunk 2077, and more.   

How to listen:  5v6c3p

• iTunes (We're back on iTunes!) 
• Spotify
• Google Play
• Anchor
• YouTube
• RSS feed

Hosts this week:  4d4ka

James Davenport (Twitter, Twitch)

Wes Fenlon (Twitter)

Steven Messner (Twitter)

Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show, our weekly livestreamed podcast. You can catch the show live on Wednesdays at 1 pm PDT on our Twitch channel, or after the fact at any of the links below.  

On this week’s show, Steven expresses his deep love for the cold vacuum of space, then we all make predictions for E3’s big publisher shows and dig into all the rumors and leaks orbiting the electronic three so far.

How to listen: 5q5a6j

• Spotify
• Google Play
• Anchor
• YouTube
• RSS feed

Hosts this week: 523z24

James Davenport (Twitter, Twitch)

Tyler Wilde (Twitter)

Steven Messner (Twitter)

Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show, our weekly livestreamed podcast. You can catch the show live on Wednesdays at 1 pm PDT on our Twitch channel, or after the fact at any of the links below.      

This week, Jarred and James break down their whiplash relationship with Rage 2, Jarred foretells the future of hardware, and everyone s in to predict what they think is going down at this year's E3. 

How to listen: 5q5a6j

• Spotify
• Google Play
• Anchor
• YouTube
• RSS feed

Hosts this week: 523z24

James Davenport (Twitter, Twitch)

Wes Fenlon (Twitter)

Jarred Walton (Twitter)

Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show, our weekly livestreamed podcast. You can catch the show live on Wednesdays at 1 pm PDT on our Twitch channel, or after the fact at any of the links below.     

On this week’s show, James shares his thoughts on Borderlands 3 after three hours of play, Chris walks us through Sea of Thieves’ massive Anniversary Update, and Wes breaks down how the constant need to update games is putting too much pressure on the industry. We close with listener questions.  

How to listen: 5q5a6j

• Spotify
• Google Play
• Anchor
• YouTube
• RSS feed

Note: New episodes might take a few hours to show up on every service.   

Hosts this week:    302g5d

James Davenport (Twitter, Twitch)

Wes Fenlon (Twitter)

Chris Livingston (Twitter)

Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show, our weekly livestreamed podcast. You can catch the show live on Wednesdays at 1 pm PDT on our Twitch channel, or after the fact at any of the links below.     

On this week's show, we talk about all the indie games we’re catching up on, the report detailing harsh working conditions on Fortnite at Epic Games, the update cadence and longevity of Apex Legends, and the state of Anthem after its latest patch. 

How to listen:  5v6c3p

• Spotify
• Google Play
• Anchor
• YouTube
• RSS feed

Note: New episodes might take a few hours to show up on every service.   

Hosts this week:   5v5436

James Davenport (Twitter, Twitch)

Steven Messner (Twitter)

Bo Moore (Twitter)

Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show, our weekly livestreamed podcast. You can catch the show live on Wednesdays at 1 pm PDT on our Twitch channel, or after the fact at any of the links below.    

On this week's show, Wes breaks down the cinematic debut trailer for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Tim takes us on a journey into card hell (or heaven, depending) with his take on Hearthstone's Rise of Shadows expansion. James wraps by talking about sorry state of competitive Fortnite and the early stages of the $100 million Fortnite World Cup. 

How to listen: 5q5a6j

• Spotify
• Google Play
• Anchor
• YouTube
• RSS feed

Note: New episodes might take a few hours to show up on every service.   

Hosts this week:  4d4ka

James Davenport (Twitter, Twitch)

Wes Fenlon (Twitter)

Tim Clark (Twitter)

Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show, our weekly livestreamed podcast. You can catch the show live on Wednesdays at 1 pm PDT on our Twitch channel, or after the fact at any of the links below.    

This week, Wes explains how Risk of Rain 2 is a near perfect adaptation of its 2D prequel, Chris walks us through surviving the grounded magical world of Outward, and everyone gives their hottest Borderlands 3 take. The show closes with listener questions, as always. 

How to listen: 5q5a6j

• Spotify
• Google Play
• Anchor
• YouTube
• RSS feed

Note: New episodes might take a few hours to show up on every service.   

Hosts this week:  4d4ka

James Davenport (Twitter, Twitch)

Wes Fenlon (Twitter)

Chris Livingston (Twitter)

Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show, our weekly livestreamed podcast. You can catch the show live on Wednesdays at 1 pm PDT on our Twitch channel, or after the fact at any of the links below.   

This week Steven and James talk about their roller coaster relationship with Sekiro and how they ended up falling in love (with Sekiro), Bo walks us through Google's Stadia game streaming service announcement, and everyone picks out the biggest news and favorite games of GDC.  

How to listen: 5q5a6j

• Spotify
• Google Play
• Anchor
• YouTube
• RSS feed

Note: New episodes might take a few hours to show up on every service.   

Hosts this week: 523z24

James Davenport (Twitter, Twitch)

Bo Moore (Twitter)

Steven Messner (Twitter)

Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show, our weekly livestreamed podcast. You can catch the show live on Wednesdays at 1 pm PDT on our Twitch channel, or after the fact at any of the links below.  

On this week's episode, James, Bo, and Steven gush over the Halo series' impending PC release and praise everything The Division 2 gets right that other looter-shooters don't.  

How to listen:  5v6c3p

• Spotify
• Google Play
• Anchor
• YouTube
• RSS feed

Note: New episodes might take a few hours to show up on every service.   

Hosts this week:  4d4ka

James Davenport (Twitter, Twitch)

Bo Moore (Twitter)

Steven Messner (Twitter)

Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show, our weekly livestreamed podcast. You can catch the show live on Wednesdays at 1 pm PDT on our Twitch channel, or after the fact at any of the links below. 

On this week's show, Chris tells about his 12 hours in The Division 2 open beta, Wes and James wax on about their love for Devil May Cry 5, and the whole gang talks about their favorite podcast games.

How to listen:  5v6c3p

• Spotify
• Google Play
• Anchor
• YouTube
• RSS feed

Note: New episodes might take a few hours to show up on every service.  

Hosts this week: 523z24

James Davenport (Twitter, Twitch)

Chris Livingston (Twitter)

Wes Fenlon (Twitter)