Pixel Therapy Pod

In 2025, so many video games helped us laugh, helped us escape, and helped us connect. Join us for our annual discussion and celebration of the games that made our year.00:00:46 - Some bittersweet news00:09:56 - 2025 year of gaming overviews00:26:47 - Spencer and Jamie's Top 5 Games of the Year01:31:30 - Honorable Mentions01:43:52 - Favorite characters of the year01:47:36 - Favorite games journalists/content creators of the year01:52:15 - Most hype for in 2026Watch the live stream recording of this episode on YouTube here: https://youtube.com/live/SE2sNC_uE3QSide Questhttps://transasylumsupport.github.io/The Trans Asylum Seekers Support Network is an interdependent, solidarity-based network of queer and trans asylum seekers, loved ones, collective members, and volunteers dedicated to the abolition of all cages and borders, revolutionary compassion and trans liberation. Our goal is to free transgender asylum seekers languishing in detention centers and help them relocate to and create thriving lives in Western Massachusetts. Learn more by visiting their website or @transasylumsupport on Instagram!About Pixel TherapyWe're a podcast queering and transcending video games for all kinds of gamers and those who love them--get cozy with us! If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate us, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (or your listening app of choice) and subscribe! Want more? Join for free at patreon.com/pixeltherapypod

As the temperatures drop, the coziness factor turns up, and the impending arrival of a new year looms ominously on the horizon inviting us to dissociate from reality for just a little bit (just us?), it's just the perfect time to escape the stress and excitement of the holidays with a lengthy RPG you can sink your teeth into. At least, that's our tradition. Enter Demonschool (Necrosoft Games, published by Ysbryd Games), a campy, queer, isometric tactics RPG set at the cusp of Y2K with a delightful cast of college students banding together to save the world from monsters and gangsters while finding time for karaoke dates, fishing, petting dogs, and maybe kissing. WHAT ELSE COULD YOU WANT?00:07:34 - Plate Up!00:16:00 - s.p.l.i.t00:20:28 - DemonschoolWatch the live stream recording of this episode on YouTube here: https://youtube.com/live/vdzIo5MlaYUSide Questhttps://transasylumsupport.github.io/The Trans Asylum Seekers Support Network is an interdependent, solidarity-based network of queer and trans asylum seekers, loved ones, collective members, and volunteers dedicated to the abolition of all cages and borders, revolutionary compassion and trans liberation. Our goal is to free transgender asylum seekers languishing in detention centers and help them relocate to and create thriving lives in Western Massachusetts. Learn more by visiting their website or @transasylumsupport on Instagram!About Pixel TherapyWe're a podcast queering and transcending video games for all kinds of gamers and those who love them--get cozy with us! If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate us, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (or your listening app of choice) and subscribe! Want more? Join for free at patreon.com/pixeltherapypod

This week we're chatting about Hades II, the long-in-early-access follow up to 2020's Hades from Supergiant Games. Like its predecessor, Hades II is an action RPG roguelike chock full of eye-popping art, callous-forming combat, and a steady supply of sexual tension set in the deep lore of Greek myth while telling the all-too-relatable story of confronting toxic family dynamics and breaking intergenerational cycles of trauma. So grab a bottle of ambrosia and activate God Mode with us as we unpack all our thoughts and feelings about this game of the year contender.1:57 - Dispatch final thoughts11:29 - Hades II53:30 - **SPOILERS for Hades II**1:32:32 - OutroWatch the live stream recording of this episode on YouTube here: https://youtube.com/live/XZ-HrL-XNNQSide Questhttps://transasylumsupport.github.io/The Trans Asylum Seekers Support Network is an interdependent, solidarity-based network of queer and trans asylum seekers, loved ones, collective members, and volunteers dedicated to the abolition of all cages and borders, revolutionary compassion and trans liberation. Our goal is to free transgender asylum seekers languishing in detention centers and help them relocate to and create thriving lives in Western Massachusetts. Learn more by visiting their website or @transasylumsupport on Instagram!About Pixel TherapyWe're a podcast queering and transcending video games for all kinds of gamers and those who love them--get cozy with us! If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate us, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (or your listening app of choice) and subscribe! Want more? Join for free at patreon.com/pixeltherapypod

Idk, but let us know in the comments! We continue our scattershot indie game revue reviews this week with Dispatch (AdHoc Studio, Critical Role), a superhero workplace comedy where choices matter, Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson), a WarioWare-esque slice-of-life RPG about that time when your parents, your friends, and society at large all conspired to make you feel ugly, lazy, stupid, and unloved despite the brilliant human spirit contained within you (aka high school), and BALLxPIT (Kenny Sun and Friends), a brick-breaking, ball-fusing, base-building survival roguelite!!!!11102:10 - Halloweens Past & Present12:16 - Adventures in Multiplayer with Phasmophobia and Power Wash Simulator 223:33 - Dispatch58:42 - BALLxPIT01:16:07 - Consume MeReferenced article: "Coming-of-age horrors cut deep in Consume Me", by Giovanni Colantonio, https://www.polygon.com/consume-me-review/Watch the live stream recording of this episode on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/live/VfDPY5IK1Hk?si=l6Ji_QAHVBftQo8USide Questtinyurl.com/opolivebranchOperation Olive Branch is a grassroots collective effort to amplify Palestinian voices and their GoFundMes – visit the link to learn more or visit their Instagram page at @operationolivebranch.About Pixel TherapyWe're a podcast queering and transcending video games for all kinds of gamers and those who love them--get cozy with us! If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate us, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (or your listening app of choice) and subscribe! Want more? Join for free at patreon.com/pixeltherapypod

Bricks and sticks, pixels and lines. This week we cover a crop of endearing and surprisingly emotional indie games that have carried us through some tumultuous past few weeks. Also, Spencer draws an unhinged connection between Zach Cregger's summer thriller Weapons and Okomotive's atmospheric alpine expedition game Herdling. I feel like you guys will get it. Games discussed this episode: 01:36 - Phasmophobia - Kinetic Games10:19 - Herdling - Okomotive 29:29 - Is This Seat Taken? - Poti Poti Studio36:05 - Time Flies - Playables, Raphaël Munoz46:56 - LEGO Voyagers - Light Brick StudiosWatch the live stream recording of this episode on YouTube here: https://youtube.com/live/m8Ijpui2RCYSide Questtinyurl.com/opolivebranchOperation Olive Branch is a grassroots collective effort to amplify Palestinian voices and their GoFundMes – visit the link to learn more or visit their Instagram page at @operationolivebranch.About Pixel TherapyWe're a podcast queering and transcending video games for all kinds of gamers and those who love them--get cozy with us! If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate us, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (or your listening app of choice) and subscribe! Want more? Join for free at patreon.com/pixeltherapypod

It's more common than you think. Join us this week as we load up our top-heavy backpacks, strap our tiny sentient dolls to our hips, and unpack DEATH STRANDING 2: On the Beach, Kojima Productions' and Sony Interactive Entertainment's much-anticipated sequel to 2019's polarizing Death Stranding. While we likely could have spent 6+ hours unpacking this genre-defying experience of a game, what we can promise is this: Opposing viewpoints! Can something be somehow super trans AND super not queer? Norman Reedus MPREG fantasies! Gender essentialism?! AND MORE!**Heads up! We unfortunately were having some significant internet connection issues while recording, some of which did carry through to the final podcast. Apologies!02:12 - Pixel Therapy is looking for a third09:55 - Twisted Metal Season 214:53 - Main Topic: Death Stranding 2: On the Beach01:14:04 - SPOILERS BEGIN for Death Stranding 201:57:59 - END OF SPOILERS, OutroReferenced article - "The Women of Death Stranding 2 Are Stuck in a Sad Cycle" by Maddy Myers, https://www.endlessmode.com/video-games/death-stranding-2/the-women-of-death-stranding-2-are-stuck-in-a-sad-cycleSide Questtinyurl.com/opolivebranchOperation Olive Branch is a grassroots collective effort to amplify Palestinian voices and their GoFundMes – visit the link to learn more or visit their Instagram page at @operationolivebranch.About Pixel TherapyWe're a podcast queering and transcending video games for all kinds of gamers and those who love them--get cozy with us! If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate us, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (or your listening app of choice) and subscribe! Want more? Join for free at patreon.com/pixeltherapypod

In the midst of an ongoing apocalyptic meteor shower that has forced the world's population of adorable pixelated animals underground, a kitten named Shell awakens to discover her mother missing. Join us as we dig into Nautilus Games' Everdeep Aurora, published by Ysbryd Games, which we had the pleasure of demo-ing at PAX West 2024! 01:38 - Death Stranding 2 impressions08:24 - Quick film/TV talk (The Bear S4, Superman, Yuri on Ice)16:06 - Everdeep Aurora discussionReferenced in this episode: "Everdeep Aurora review: Searching for a home at the end of the world", Will Borger, Shacknews - https://www.shacknews.com/article/145053/everdeep-aurora-review-searching-for-a-home-at-the-end-of-the-worldWatch the live recording of this episode on YouTube at https://youtube.com/live/qjH3LH3kMS4Side Questtinyurl.com/opolivebranchOperation Olive Branch is a grassroots collective effort to amplify Palestinian voices and their GoFundMes – visit the link to learn more or visit their Instagram page at @operationolivebranch.About Pixel TherapyWe're a podcast queering and transcending video games for all kinds of gamers and those who love them--get cozy with us! If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate us, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (or your listening app of choice) and subscribe! Want more? Join for free at patreon.com/pixeltherapypod

This Pride Month, we played three iconic LGBTQ+ visual novels that are each a little spooky, a little spicy, and have a whole lot of heart: Midnight Scenes: From the Woods (White Blanket Games), Mediterranea Inferno (Lorenzo Redaelli, Santa Ragione), and We Know the Devil (pillowfight)! Plus: Is the Babdook a queer icon? Are trans people actual biblically accurate angels on earth? Does kink belong at Pride? (yes) All this and more await you!! 05:18 - Why does the horror genre pair so well with stories that explore LGBTQ+ themes?12:59 - Midnight Scenes: From the Woods discussion30:03 - We Know the Devil discussion45:35 - Mediterranea Inferno discussion01:16:00 - Some final thoughtsWatch the live recording of this episode at https://youtube.com/live/RWv4zXg0YIESide Questtinyurl.com/opolivebranchOperation Olive Branch is a grassroots collective effort to amplify Palestinian voices and their GoFundMes – visit the link to learn more or visit their Instagram page at @operationolivebranch.About Pixel TherapyWe're a podcast queering and transcending video games for all kinds of gamers and those who love them--get cozy with us! If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate us, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (or your listening app of choice) and subscribe! Want more? Join for free at patreon.com/pixeltherapypod

Could it really be a contender for Game of the Year 2025? Join us as we break down Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, a turn-based RPG...or maybe...J'RPG (with MANY a twist) from French studio Sandfall Interactive and published by Kepler Interactive. This episode includes a heated debate on the game's endings if you wanna stick around for our spoiler discussion (and don't worry, we'll warn you when it's coming!). 00:58 - Patreon shoutouts03:10 - Game Informer's back!05:25 - Summer Game Fest25:34- Herdling preview33:36 - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 discussion01:44:28 - SPOILERS for Clair Obscur: Expedition 3302:19:51 - END OF SPOILERS & Episode OutroCheck out the articles referenced in this episode:"We're Really Just Going Through With All This, Aren't We," Luke Plunkett, Aftermath - https://aftermath.site/summer-game-fest-2025-switch-2-launch-geoff-keighley"The 'deprofessionalization of video games' was on full display at PAX East," Bryant Francis, Game Developer - https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/-deprofessionalization-is-bad-for-video-games"No, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 wasn't made by 30 people," Nic Reuben, Rock Paper Shotgun - https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/no-clair-obscur-expedition-33-wasnt-made-by-30-peopleWatch the live recording of this episode on YouTube here: https://youtube.com/live/TmpmX1_VfakSide Questtinyurl.com/opolivebranchOperation Olive Branch is a grassroots collective effort to amplify Palestinian voices and their GoFundMes – visit the link to learn more or visit their Instagram page at @operationolivebranch.About Pixel TherapyWe're a podcast queering and transcending video games for all kinds of gamers and those who love them--get cozy with us! If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate us, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (or your listening app of choice) and subscribe! Want more? Join for free at patreon.com/pixeltherapypod

We didn't mean to record a 2 hour, 42 min podcast, but sometimes these things just happen. Join us as we dissect the second season of the show the internet loves to hate: HBO's The Last of Us. Episode contains full spoilers for both the games and the show.No time stamps for this one because we pretty much jump right in!Watch the live recording of this episode on YouTube here: https://youtube.com/live/tCfOAWyECX0Side Questhttps://gazafunds.com/Gaza Funds is a project that connects people to crowdfunding campaigns for individuals and families from Gaza, surfacing different campaigns each time the page is reloaded. Please visit, share, and donate if you can.About Pixel TherapyWe're a podcast queering and transcending video games for all kinds of gamers and those who love them--get cozy with us! If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate us, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (or your listening app of choice) and subscribe! Want more? Join for free at patreon.com/pixeltherapypod