Share

cover art for CORE 491: Goes Up & Down

CORE - Core Gaming for Core Gamers

CORE 491: Goes Up & Down

Straight into Hades II gameplay talk! Covering the “rat boss,” progress paths, end-game challenges, and tarot upgrades, all leading up to some admittedly broad comparisons to ARPGs and roguelites. Design depth, storytelling, and character reactions, Greg Street’s studio troubles, praise for Megabonk. Not to mention the mess that the gamepass changes continue to be. Sackbird Studios has our hopes. Make your own VR headset at home and WAY MORE STUFF!


SHARED PLAY THIS WEEK

Hades 2

Megabonk


SCOTT

It Has My Face

Soulstone Survivors

Deep Rock Survivors


JON

Final Fantasy Tactics Remastered Ultra HD Power Extra Edition


BEAU

Void Crew

More episodes

View all episodes

  • CORE 499: Primed

    03:16:09|
    🎉 500 EPISODE MUGS NOW AVAILABLE!Get yours reserved before we hit the limit!https://frogpants.shop ⚠️ SPOILER POLICY CLARIFICATIONGoing forward:1. We'll do our best not to offer major spoilers on narrative elements2. We'll give ample warning to pause, skip ahead, or come back later3. We'll front-load discussions with spoiler-free content- Scott will play BGM over spoiler sections for podcast listeners- Jon is doing YouTube chapters ASAP once the episode postsNOTE: This has never been a spoiler-free show, but we're making extra effort for those asking. You have personal responsibility to avoid spoilers if they matter to you.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━🎮 MAIN TOPICTHE FEW GAMES OF DECEMBER 2025Marvel Cosmic Invasion, Octopath Traveler 0, Metroid Prime 4, Yakuza 0 Director's Cut, Terminator 2D: No Fate, & More.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━📰 NEWS ROUNDUP🐴 Indie Game "Horses" Keeps Getting BannedBanned from Steam, Epic, and now Humble. Still available on Itch.io and GOG.🎬 Justin Lin to Direct Helldivers MovieThe Fast & Furious director takes on the video game adaptation.🐺 SO MUCH WITCHER- Witcher 4 NOT coming in 2026- Witcher 5 and 6 also in the works- Witcher Remastered on the way🔞 WickedWhims Has 300K Daily LoginsSims' biggest sex mod sees massive daily usage🧛 Paradox Takes Blame for Bloodlines 2Publisher says responsibility for poor sales lies fully with them, not developers━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━🎮 WHAT WE'VE BEEN PLAYINGSCOTT⚠️ Possible Spoilers: Did I finish Dispatch? Have to wait and see!Split Fiction - Incredible co-op game. Most FUN game this year!PowerWash Simulator 2 - Still the best CHORE CORE of 2025.JONCyberPunk 2077 - Done everything in base game, Phantom Liberty awaitsMarvel Cosmic Invasion - Started and finishedSHINOBI: Art of Vengeance - Sleeper hit! (Scott confirms)BEAUWitcher 3: The Wild Hunt continuesNoobs Are ComingJump SpaceRocksmith 2014 - We're backStar Citizen - I forgot about it... sorry
  • CORE 498: Law of Threes

    03:32:46|
    Scott dropped a Patreon vs Core.show support comparison video—check it at Core.show for the breakdown. Also posted an article about RAM prices going absolutely bonkers right now. The advice? Wait it out. Don't be the person overpaying because you can't control yourself. News Roundup: WoW: Midnight Gets RealJon brought the news: World of Warcraft's next expansion drops March 2nd, 2026. Mark your calendars, prepare your excuses for missing work.Half-Life 3 Copium IntensifiesPeople—including "insiders"—still think HL3 is getting announced this year. Spoiler: It's not. It never is. Stop doing this to yourselves.CD Projekt Reality CheckNo Witcher 4 or Cyberpunk 2 at the Game Awards. Shocking absolutely no one.Cyberpunk 2077 hit 35 million copies sold, outpacing The Witcher 3's trajectoryCyberpunk 2 is still years away. Hang in there, chooms.GAMES PLAYEDScott's GamesDispatchMoonlighter 2: The Endless VaultNo Way HomeGuild Wars 2 MilestoneJackbox Party Pack 11Jon's GamesCyberpunk 2077?Beau's GamesClair Obscur: Expedition 33 - FinishedWitcher 3Total ChaosAnd LOTS MORE!Contact: show@core.show | Text: tenhams.comLinks: Frogpants.com/core
  • CORE 497: Claire Obscured

    03:34:41|
    Main Topic: Game Awards Nominees. Megabonk dev withdraws "Best Debut Indie" nomination (made previous games). Claire Obscur: Expedition 33 breaks record with 12 nominations. Notable snubs: ARC Raiders, Dispatch, Sonic the Hedgehog 3.Other NewsXbox Partners Showcase (Tides of Annihilation, Vampire Crawlers, Total Chaos)Epic/Unity partnership for Fortnite integrationKrafton AI controversy re: Subnautica 2 bonusesDispatch skill requirements discussionFirst live-action Zelda movie set photosOur Week in GamingShared: Dispatch progress (Beau completed, Jon restarted, Scott finished Episode 1)Beau: Claire Obscur Act 3, Slay the Spire boardgame, No Man's Sky Normandy unlock, Vampire Survivors VRScott: Forestrike (standout), Shelldiver (incremental gem), Advance Wars binge, Moonlighter 2 purchased, Cleared Hot, Guild Wars 2 reinstalledJon: Cyberpunk 2077 continuesFallout 4 pricing clarification from NickLandry - Anniversary Edition upgrade options explained, Xbox Play Anywhere support added.Links: Patreon.com/coreshow | CORE.show | frogpants.com/coreNew article on CORE.show: Vegas conversation about AI threats + why GoldenEye is the GOAT.CORE.show vs Patreon (frogpants.com/core)Episode 500 commemorative mug dropping at frogpants.shop this weekend!
  • CORE 496: Open The Valve

    03:50:44|
    Valve has three new hardware options for you, and we talk about them in detail today. Plus all the news and stuff you can stand, as well as a visit from Bobby for a nice little WoW update! GAMES PLAYEDSCOTTTavern KeeperJONDispatchCyberPunk 2077BEAUFarthest FrontierJump SpaceREPOARC RaidersVampire Survivors VR
  • CORE 495: Laminate Your Stones

    03:19:30|
    All the details on CORE.show, and what you can get from it! WoW is not coming to consoles, says game lead at Blizz. Fortnite has all the cartoon dads now. Rockstar doing some devious firings. Your Steam Deck can now download while asleep! Warhammer Survivors is HAPPENING! Blizzcon tickets go up tomorrow. Playstation Portal finally does cloud. The return of Nexeopardy! All the games of the week and loads more.SCOTTHoop LandMech HavocUtopia Must FallJONThe Outer Worlds 2Cyberpunk 2077DispatchBEAUARC Raiders Aliens: Dark Descent Ball X PitDawn of War: Definitive EditionJump Space
  • CORE 494: Cross Me Again...

    04:09:18|
    Nintendo wants you to feel like those happy pandemic times again with a big update to Animal Crossing on Switch 2. Also, all the games of November, the Amazon Games layoffs and the apparent shutter of New World. Civ 7 trying to fix things. Claire and Cloud together at last. All the games we played plus all the usual stuff Enjoy!SHARED PLAY THIS WEEKSlots & DaggersSCOTTPowerwash Simulator 2WarsideJONThe Outer Worlds 2Mortal Kombat: Legacy KollectionDispatchBEAUAliens: Dark DescentFellowshipJump Space
  • CORE 493: Impossible Task

    03:04:44|
    How does anyone make a definitive list of the best games? It’s impossible, but we talk about the latest attempt anyway. Plus, Remedy losing their CEO after Firebreak did so poorly, and Vampire Survivors adds DLC to DLC. We also field a load of your questions this week, along with the usual dork-athon, and the games we played to boot! SHARED PLAY THIS WEEKBattlefield 6SCOTTSuperliminal (beat it!)Battle-Suit AcesYet Another Zombie SurvivorsGeometry SurvivorDungeon ClawlerSlots and DaggersJONDispatchThe Outer Worlds 2AbsolumIt Has My FaceBEAUFellowshipNo Man’s SkyBall X PitFarthest FrontierVoid Crew
  • CORE 492: Ex-Ally

    03:24:56|
    Early reviews for the Xbox handheld are out, and it is a mixed bag to say the least. Understanding Fearless Drafts. Glen Powell wants in on E33 movies. EA employees not happy about the sell out. Quantic Dream is making a….free to play MOBA? Yep. Also, all the games we played and loads more!GAMES PLAYEDSCOTTBall X PitThe Exit 8.Funguys SwarmSoulstone SurvivorsSilent Hill fJONMegabonkBEAUBattlefield 6Hades 2Pinball FXStar Trek Voyager Across The Unknown demoCosmic Invasion demoWhiskerwood demoSkate Story demo