Open World

Everything is True. Nothing is Permitted.

HIGH Swimming around a pier, climbing a ship, and using a rope dart to hang a target from a yardarm.

LOW As I walk past two men on a bench, I get notified that I have my first pursuer. The whisper noise starts just as one of them gets up and stabs me for 700 points.

WTF Approaching a fort, I found I could no longer hide in shrubs even though I wasn't observed. When I reached the captain, I found only an indicator hanging in the air, without a body to stab beneath it.

Home is Where the Hearth is… Right?

HIGH Hiring a steward to handle the busywork.

LOW Needing a steward to handle the busywork.

WTF The steward I hired refusing to stay on the estate!

Extra Credits has an interesting two-part discussion about the hero's journey, a concept explored by Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Thatgamecompany's Journey is the game example featured here (along with The Legend of Zelda) but this seems to be a concept exploited in all entertainment genres.

Have you ever bought a system for one game? That's the question we discuss this episode. We also hear about Brad's trip to the Retro Games Expo, and talk about Torchlight 2, Kid Icarus: Uprising, Tokyo Jungle and more. Also, Richard contemplates putting on water skiis. With Chi Kong Lui, Brad Gallaway, Mike Bracken, Richard "Shark Man" Naik, and Dylan Collins

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Solid but Brings Nothing New to the Table

HIGH Wei Shen's impeccably rendered muscular torso.

LOW Karaoke.

WTF Lucy Liu and Emma Stone's characters have only minutes of screen time.

In this episode, Brad is freshly back from PAX Prime and gives us the low-down on what he saw there. We then go into a huge, spoiler-ridden discussion of The Walking Dead Episode Three. Don't worry, we tell you before we start talking about it. Stop being paranoid. With Chi Kong "Mr. C" Lui, Brad "Richie" Gallaway, Mike "Potsie" Bracken, Richard "The Fonz" Naik and Dylan "Arnold" Collins.

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Woken Up

HIGH Dominating the street races with my Velocita.

LOW Flipping a mission-critical van when I was two feet away from the destination.

WTF Why did Activision cancel this game again?

Tonight, we talk games. Lots of games. Sleeping Dogs, Risen 2, Darksiders 2, Papo & Yo, Spec Ops, Way of the Samurai 4 and so many more! We're back and in full force, ladies and gentleman! With Chi Kong Lui, Brad Gallaway, Richard "Children must be taught to draw from birth" Naik, special guest Jeffrey Matulef and Dylan Collins.

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Please send feedback and mailbag questions to podcast (at) gamecritics (dot) com.

Before PAX Prime opened its doors, there were a few events happening in Seattle. One such event was a preview for an upcoming XBLA/PC game called State of Decay. The developers, Undead Labs, were kind enough to extend an invitation to see the Alpha build, and I was glad to accept.

I just wrapped up The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim—Dawnguard DLC last week, and as someone who's not a Skyrim fan at all, it… wasn't too bad.