DLC | The Good, The Bad and The Downloadable

If you want a short primer on Imperium, this is for you.Daniel wanted to replay the 1995 space 4X classic Ascendancy on his Mac. He didn’t know about DOSBox, so he built his own game: Imperium. He joins The Bloody B and Vaish to talk about reimagining Ascendancy’s population puzzle, ship power and alien species for 2026. We get into how the AI opponents were built through thousands of simulated games, and how Daniel used Claude for code and image AI for art, with hundreds of hours of hand-finishing in Photoshop. We also take on the AI slop debate head-on, and Daniel shares where Imperium is heading next.Imperium on SteamVideo version of this podcastThis podcast was edited by RP Productions - your one stop shop for audio and video work.This show wouldn't be possible without our amazing Patrons.eXplorminate is an independent games journalism and games loving website and community, but we cannot make things happen without your support. Please donate to the Patreon, visit our YouTube, listen to our podcast and join our Discord, if you want to support us.

Is Folk Emerging the first five turns of Civ, or the 100 turns before it? We sit down with solo developer Enkidu to dig into 2026’s most unusual strategy game. From a Python map generator to a Stone Age 4X(ish), Enkidu reveals why he ditched 3D, how a living food web replaces “+2 food” tiles, why Stone Age warfare means scaring rivals off rather than wiping them out, and how clan politics drive everything. Plus: did beer build civilisation? Is it a 4X (and do we even care)? What’s next?Could this be our Game of the Year? There is a Youtube version of this, for your viewing pleasure.

Hi all.We have had a bit of a break at eXplorminate, been enjoying the sweltering summer and the World Cup.But, now we are back, with a new episode.Listen to the whole team (and a special guest, who we hope to interview very soon :D ), based on 2 continents, talk about eXpansion and eXploitation, the 2nd (3rd?) in our holistic look at the 4X genre.For reasons that will become clear in the pod, these 2 phases are intertwined. After all, the empire must expand, to meet the needs of the expanding empire!(to paraphrase Oscar Wilde)This is a 2hr episode, so buckle up. Because of time differences, some of us were recording this is in the small hours of the morning, so apologies if we sound tired (mainly me!)---------------------This podcast wouldn’t be possible without our amazing Patrons.eXplorminate is an independent games journalism and games loving website and community, but we cannot make things happen without your support.Please donate to the Patreon, visit our YouTube, listen to our podcast and join our Discord, if you want to support us.

The beauty of the internet is that people half a world apart can connect over just about anything. In our case, it is having a lovely chat about games with the man, the myth, the legend that is DasTactic, about games in 2026.

Welcome Zeikko, from Null Vector Studios, the creator of Astro Protocol.Astro Protocol is an intense, short turn based game, set in space. It is very streamlined/distilled/refined, delivering short and intense matches.It is quite well balanced and the AI is above average for the genre. You can get the game here.There is a video version of this podcast available here.

Join the eXplorminate crew, and special guest Zeikko (Null Vector Studios, creators of Astro Protocol) as we kickstart our eXamination of the 4X genre.There is a companion video, and article.Astro Protocol is available on Steam.

Join the team along with special guest Al from Critical Moves as we jump into the deep and ever expanding world of DLC.This podcast has a companion article available here, as well as a companion video, available here.

Hello!In our last podcast, we discussed the games we have enjoyed playing in 2025. In this episode we look ahead to 2026, discussing the games we are looking forward to playing.Please note, that although most of these are getting an official release in 2026, some are already in early access, and we are NOT limiting ourselves just to games with an expected 2026 release date.

Merry 4Xmas! I hope the festive season has been thus far enjoyable, and your bellies have eXpanded due to all the good food.Maybe your game collection will too.Join the regular crew and the Baron of Beardness himself, Battlemode, as we talk about the games we have been playing in 2025.There is an accompanying article to the podcast, available here.Note, this is a long podcast. We had great fun talking about the game we have been playing, and our next podcast will be talking about the games we are looking forward to in 2026.

Join the gang as we discus the renaissance of the HoMM likes, with Olden Era's expansive demo in the vanguard. This podcast was edited by RP Productions - video and audio production made easy.Read our thoughts on Olden Era here.