GameEngineStart Podcast

If you notice a pep in Calum's voice this episode, it's cause he is just back from Disneyland and was immersed in Star Wars for a week, and has come back feeling 10 years old again. Meanwhile Euan is just getting older...We Played...Euan discusses the bizarre Control: Resonant and the (partly) disappointing Silent Hill TownfallCalum talks his journey to Batuu (Star Wars land), but also discusses the newest in the long linage of vampire killers with Castlevania: Belmont's CurseWe both think Star Wars: Zero Company is really good. Just a reminderTimestamps00:04:53 - Calum went to Disneyland00:35:46 - Star Wars: Zero Company00:37:56 - Control: Resonant00:45:24 - Silent Hill: Townfall00:56:15 - Unnamed Programming Game01:00:58 - Castlevania: Belmont's Curse01:11:36 - Belmont's Curse Spoilers01:12:53 - Belmont's Curse Spoilers End01:14:25 - News - People came into possession of some cool looking Pokemon Card misprints, expected to go for a fortune eventually01:16:36 - News - Sony decided, for some reason, to drop Kojima Productions Metal Gear-esque new game Physint, and promptly was then picked up by Xbox01:19:54 - News - Bungie announced another in a long series of direction changes, with Destiny 2 now being "core" again01:27:47 - News - GTA6 has a super expensive collectors edition that doesn't also contain the game.01:29:55 - News - Biddy Blas took over the internet for a while01:33:46 - News - EA has closed down Bioware. We are very unhappy about this01:42:24 - News - A lot of people have been decompiling various apps and games, and it creates some interesting legal issues going forward01:46:11 - Upcoming Games & Housekeeping Intro Music - There It Is - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Outro Music - Honey Bee - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)News Sting - News Intro - Maximilien (soundbible.com)All Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

We're here to talk about Star Wars before one of us goes on holiday to be IN Star Wars.We Played...Euan does cop simulations in Ready or Not and throws way way back to the best in the series with Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the PatriotsWe both continue to faun over Big Walk and discuss the many positives of tactics in a far off galaxy in Star Wars: Zero CompanyTimestamps00:04:45 - Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots00:10:52 - Ready or Not00:16:35 - Big Walk00:21:08 - Star Wars: Zero Company00:40:14 - Escape Simulator 2 VR00:40:57 - News - Just as we talk about how great Zero Company is, we find that 80% of the team were furloughed a few weeks before launch00:44:02 - News - Did you buy a PlayStation during the period where tariffs were active? Sorry your not getting that back00:49:01 - News - Sony are continuing to get blowback from their "no disc" policy that they will be rolling out eventually.00:55:34 - News - Turns out people are using slurs in Counter-Strike 2. Like a LOT01:03:05 - News - Watching non UK games writers discover that we actually do have pre-pay electricity units is very funny01:08:55 - Grand Theft Auto VI pre-release hype01:30:45 - Upcoming and Housekeeping Intro Music - There It Is - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Outro Music - Honey Bee - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)News Sting - News Intro - Maximilien (soundbible.com)All Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Life gets in the way, but we return to talk about what we've been up to with video games and the like! We Played... Euan deals with the result of microplastics with Tides of Tomorrow, and remembers the good days of the internet (incorrectly) with Broken Reality 2000 Calum goes on a journey in Big Walk and has an unstoppable grindfest with Grandblue Fantasy Relink: Endless Ragnarok Timestamps 00:09:26 - New Diablo 4 Season 00:12:25 - Tides of Tomorrow 00:23:06 - Broken Reality 2000 00:35:14 - Esoteric Ebb 00:36:21 - Big Walk 00:43:25 - Minor Big Walk Puzzle Spoilers 00:50:09 - Grandblue Fantasy Relink: Endless Ragnarok 01:03:58 - News - Marvel Tōkon seems to have had an extremely rocky launch on PC 01:12:47 - Sovereign Tower 01:14:35 - Upcoming & Housekeeping Intro Music - There It Is - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Outro Music - Honey Bee - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)News Sting - News Intro - Maximilien (soundbible.com)All Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

It's been a while. I hope you are all ready for extensive chat of boys. We Played... Euan discusses several Steam Next Fest offerings with About Fishing and Iron Nest and has a chill time stacking shelves in inKombini Calum has very little to say on Esoteric Ebb. More to follow at a later date Timestamps 00:04:48 - About Fishing Demo 00:07:21 - Iron Nest Demo 00:12:07 - Vultures: Scavengers of Death 00:14:31 - inKombini 00:16:27 - Diablo 4 00:18:23 - Final Fantasy XVI 00:19:12 - Esoteric Ebb 00:21:15 - News - Summer Games Fest happened. 00:31:07 - News - Yakuza devs RGG new game Stranger than Fiction is bringing back Tupac for the cast, and people have feelings about that 00:32:40 - News - The community around hot boy gatcha Love and Deepspace have been fighting a holy war over the new hot werewolf boy 00:48:43 - News - Tim Sweeny is an idiot 00:50:20 - News - Sony have announced that from January 2028 they will no longer be putting out games on Bluray. 01:01:16 - News - Valve announced Steam Machine prices, and they are not great. 01:03:58 - Upcoming & Housekeeping Intro Music - There It Is - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Outro Music - Honey Bee - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)News Sting - News Intro - Maximilien (soundbible.com)All Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

I'm not going to take the easy joke and do a "the name's podcast, video game podcast" here. I'm not doing it. We Played... Euan continues running for loot in hell with Diablo 4 enters the Dark Pictures archives with Directive 8020 and begins Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight. More to come from that. Calum caved and bought into the early access of Heroes of Might and Magic: The Olden Era. We all knew he would. We both discuss 007: First Light and if IO Interactive can really pull off a more directed single player game. Spoilers, they absolutely can. Timestamps 00:10:12 - Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred 00:19:21 - Directive 8020 00:29:06 - Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight 00:32:55 - HOMAM 00:50:52 - 007: First Light 01:09:48 - Bungie is releasing the last content update for Destiny 2 on June 9th, so we talk about the long history of the series, and what could happen next with the studio. 01:31:54 - Localization team Hilltop works are releasing a patch for incredibly niche PS1 title Kowloon's Gate, and it sounds like it was a nightmare to work on. 01:33:28 - Steam Deck prices are rising substantially, because AI is screwing us all over. 01:36:33 - Upcoming and Housekeeping Intro Music - There It Is - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Outro Music - Honey Bee - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)News Sting - News Intro - Maximilien (soundbible.com)All Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Welcome back to the sad teen zone. We arrive here frequently, so enjoy your stay! We Played... Euan has a bumper stock of video game discussions. New demons to kill in Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred. Old school sad teens in the finale of Life is Strange: Reunion. New school sad teens (featuring music) in Mixtape, and a classic Zachtronics-like to round off the selection in UVS Nirmana Calum roots and/or toots his way through paranormal deserts with Far Far West and looks to the past with Final Fantasy 16 Timestamps 00:03:35 - Final Fantasy XVI 00:04:32 - Far Far West 00:12:56 - Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred 00:30:38 - Life is Strange: Reunion 00:36:17 - Mixtape 00:49:45 - UVS Nirmana 00:54:05 - Shapez 2 1.0 00:56:41 - News - Sony is not only seeing a drop in PS5 sales after the price hike, they haven't seen a return on investment with Bungie yet 01:02:28 - News - The CEO of Monument Valley developer UsTwo hates that their employees want things like "job security" and "pensions" 01:06:24 - Calum shares some genuinely exciting news from the Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest, in his continual effort to get Euan to play the game 01:30:01 - Upcoming & Housekeeping Intro Music - There It Is - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Outro Music - Honey Bee - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)News Sting - News Intro - Maximilien (soundbible.com)All Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

One of us stayed up till 3am before recording this. See if you can figure out which! We Played... Euan talks programming but Starcraft in Desynced, a gumshoe animated hero for new ages with Mouse: PI for Hire and the much anticipated cyberpunk sidescroller Replaced Calum talks Pokémon Champions, and explains the basics of professional Pokémon. Timestamps 00:07:37 - Life is Strange: Reunion 00:09:00 - Desynced Demo 00:13:12 - Replaced 00:16:18 - Mouse: PI For Hire 00:18:34 - Arknights: Endfield 00:22:47 - Contact Protocol Demo 00:26:15 - Diablo 4's Next Expansion 00:27:44 - Pokémon Champions 00:44:36 - Marathon 00:48:14 - News - Developer of Web3/NFT/Crypto nightmare Off the Grid is being accused of not paying it's developers, and the CEO had a wild response 00:54:50 - News - Capcom have "patched" the Alex storyline in Street Fighter 6, which has "fixed" nothing. 00:57:25 - News- Capcom has sent a request for a YouTube channel to pull down their videos showing NSFW Mods for various Capcom games. 01:00:00 - News - Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 Director still hates "woke" games, but is pleased they are nominated for a LGBTQ+ character award because they did it "right". 01:03:06 - Upcoming & Housekeeping 01:07:25 - The Next FFXIV Expansion Intro Music - There It Is - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Outro Music - Honey Bee - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)News Sting - News Intro - Maximilien (soundbible.com)All Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

I swear to go I'll get Euan to stop talking about his base building game for perverts one day. I promise. We Played... Euan played yet more Arknights: Endfield, and moving quickly on talks about the return to teen based drama in a university setting with Life is Strange: Reunion Calum talks about late game Marathon. It's all terrifying and stress inducing and awesome. Timestamps 00:03:45 - The Last Caretaker 00:06:20 - Endfield 00:10:54 - Life is Strange 00:28:45 - Marathon The review we quoted - https://www.gamerguides.com/marathon/reviews/punching-below-its-weight 01:00:00 - News - DLSS 5 is awful, but the memes are good. 01:09:07 - News - Epic Games laid off 1000 people, because of a "Fortnite downturn" 01:12:18 - News - Street Fighter 6's Alex has an... interesting... conclusion to his story mode. 01:23:04 - Upcoming & Housekeeping Intro Music - There It Is - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Outro Music - Honey Bee - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)News Sting - News Intro - Maximilien (soundbible.com)All Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Just like the undying Shells of Tau Ceti IV, this podcast will keep coming back. We Played... Calum talks "Pokémon Crossing" in Pokopia, and discusses the arrival of a legend to Team Rainbow with Solid Snake in Rainbow 6: Siege Euan talks best in class of the genre in Resident Evil: Requiem and solves murder most foul in The Séance of Blake Manor The ins and outs of the new extraction shooter Marathon are discussed, and it's larger impact on the genre. Timestamps 00:06:29 - Pokopia 00:20:47 - Solid Snake in Rainbow 6: Siege 00:32:49 - Marathon 01:01:25 - Resident Evil: Requiem 01:05:29 - The Séance at Blake Manor 01:12:58 - News - We talk Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond leaving XBox, what it means for the platform, and the rough shape of the next Xbox hardware. 01:20:40 - News - Calum shares what happened during the Pokemon announcement stream. 01:22:48 - Upcoming & Housekeeping Intro Music - There It Is - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Outro Music - Honey Bee - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)News Sting - News Intro - Maximilien (soundbible.com)All Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

It's the first post of 2026 and so as is customary, we recount everything we were doing while not on the air.We Played...Euan talks surviving an apocalypse in The Last Caretaker and yet more conveyer belts (now featuring anime women) in Arknights: EndfieldCalum takes to the streets of Seattle's cursed underground with Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines 2 and enjoys the Yokai infested mountains of Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the GoddessTimestamps00:05:28 - The Last Caretaker00:11:20 - Arknights: Endfield00:39:31 - FFXIV Raids00:41:30 - Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines 200:49:17 - Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess00:57:05 - News - Wolfenstein 3 is happening, something we kinda knew but it's worth confirming00:57:41 - News - Blizzard announced a bunch of things throughout their IPs01:01:38 - News - Ever noticed that people playing violent games in Nintendo trailers are really bad at it? There might be a reason.01:03:15 - News - Sony had their first State of Play of 202601:22:22 - Upcoming & Housekeeping Intro Music - There It Is - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Outro Music - Honey Bee - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)News Sting - News Intro - Maximilien (soundbible.com)All Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0