Worth Reading: The World Is Now a Casino

Janet's at GDC and the crew is joined by games critic, let's player extraordinaire, former Waypoint contributor (and recent Remap contributor) and longtime friend of the show Dia Lacina to talk Project Helix, the wild and increasingly expensive world of Fortnite V-Bucks, the state of New York suing Valve, Star Trek, and more. We talk about seven video games this episode.. seven! That's a lot! Links: Project Helix, V-Bucks price increase to help pay the bills, New York sues Valve, Jeff Kaplan on his exit from Blizzard, Dia's Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown reviewDiscussed:1:19:30 - Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown (and general Star Trek discussion)1:52:44 - Pokémon Pokopia2:13:45 - Marathon2:14:55 - Slay the Spire II2:17:06 - Minishoot' Adventures2:18:14 - Super Battle Golf2:25:57 - 1348 Ex VotoSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Welcome back to Worth Reading, where Patrick has a 30-minute chat with people doing interesting writing, reporting, and criticism in the world of video games. This week, Patrick’s talking with investigate journalist Jack Ryan about his excellent (but distressing) piece in Aftermath about the way casinos, crypto, and AI are junking up your favorite web sites. Make sure to read Jack’s piece at Aftermath, entitled “The Secretive Company Filling Video Game Sites With Gambling And AI” https://aftermath.site/gameshub-clickout-media-seo-gambling-ai/Link to Jack's Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/continuemagazine/continue-a-defiant-new-videogames-magazineSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Join Patrick, Janet, Chia, and Danika for Remap Radio, where it’s time for another upsetting trip into the world of “Hey, why did this live service game fail?” with Highguard and “Hey, it really feels like AI is rotting things?” with the news that a video game website was caught publishing an AI-written Resident Evil 9: Requiem review. We’ve also been playing video games, of course, with Janet and Patrick having finished Resident Evil 9, almost everyone dipping their toes into Marathon, and Patrick doing all the grind work in Pokémon Pokopia for his nine-year-old child. Links: Highguard is shutting down this month, Metacritic Removes Resident Evil 9 Review From Fake AI WriterDiscussed:8:13 - Highguard shutting down34:28 - Metacritic removes AI review of RE91:03:18 - Marathon1:36:17 - Resident Evil 92:07:16 - Pokémon Pokopia2:22:53 - Question BucketSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When Adam Stjärnljus and Klas Eriksson met in middle school, little did they know they’d become close friends and decades later decide to chase a wild dream of making a video game together. They were not video game developers, but for years, they toiled away at what would eventually become the cinematic platformer Planet of Lana. A few years later, the sequel is here, and Patrick recently spoke with Stjärnljus and Eriksson about their journey to this moment.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

With Rob’s power out, it’s time for the rest of Remap Radio to come together and…well, do some really questionable Mario impressions, for starters. Join Patrick, Chia, Danika, and Janet as they react to the ongoing leadership saga at Xbox, Discord punting on scanning your face, and more. Plus, we’ve got a long segment on the excellent Resident Evil 9: Requiem, thoughts on where Yapyap sits against other friendslop games, and ponder what Janet’s 20 hours with Sons of Sparta says about how she spends her time. Oh, and we answer a few questions, too.Links: Easy Mode Mod for Love EternalDiscussed:6:22 - Bluepoint Shuts Down, XBOX Leadership change 36:24 - Discord Postpones Age Verification53:09 - Resident Evil 9 Requiem 1:27:28 - Structural Spoiler for RE 91:36:50 - Marathon1:42:35 - YapYap1:53:00 - God of War: Sons of Sparta2:03:26 - Question BucketSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

One of 2026’s early standouts is Cairn, a moving and challenging game about slowly scaling a towering mountain, about the sacrifices one makes along the way and in pursuit of even attempting such a journey. Patrick’s been especially taken by Cairn, prompting him to chat with The Game Bakers co-founder and CEO Audrey Leprince about the studio’s three-year journey to develop Cairn and what it makes for a game to have, as the French put it, supplément d’âme.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Patrick has decided to reinvent his old column celebrating good writing about video games, this time in podcast form! Worth Reading is a new reoccurring segment at Remap with a simple pitch: 30 minutes of conversation using a piece of interesting games writing as a launching point. This week, Patrick is happily joined by writer and editor Nicole Clark to discuss her piece for the new publication Mothership, entitled “Hornet’s compassion is the heart of Silksong."Make sure to read "Hornet’s compassion is the heart of Silksong" at Mothership: https://www.mothership.blog/hollow-knight-silksong-hornet-compassion/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Last Friday, news broke that much of the senior leadership that’s been steering Xbox for the past decade and more have departed the company. Phil Spencer? Retired. Sarah Bond? Gone. Instead, one of the members of that group, Matt Booty, has ascended alongside a new Xbox CEO that comes from Microsoft’s—wait for it—AI division. Rob and Patrick spent a few minutes (okay, an hour!) trying to untangle what this all means.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It’s time to take The Warden’s Oath and listen to a new episode of Remap Radio, as Patrick, Janet, Chia, Rob, and Danika break down the wild ups and downs of the latest confused live service game, Highguard. We also sigh in the direction of a video game publication pivoting to AI, then sigh in the direction of Mewgenics, a game that Patrick quite liked before its designer decided to publicly step in it over and over. Elsewhere, we chat about a few other games, including Love Eternal and the mysterious Titanium Court, and then answer several of your questions.Discussed:0:54 - Highguard Dev Lays Off Large Percentage of Staff36:45 - The Escapist Pivots to AI50:26 - AI is Causing a Ram Shortage1:08:20 - Mewgenics1:41:57 - Titanium Court1:53:29 - God of War: Sons of Sparta1:56:55 - Love Eternal2:15:12 - The Question BucketSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Platformers are not a genre exactly known for their storytelling prowess, but Love Eternal, described as a “psychological horror platformer,” is trying to be different. It’s also one of the hardest platformers in a minute. Why is Love Eternal putting so much effort into a story many players might not experience? Patrick talked with Love Eternal designer Toby Alden to find out.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.