The Back Page: A Video Games Podcast

New podcast format time! 10 of our listeners' biggest gripes with games get litigated in a Room 101-style format (except legally distinct), from tailing missions in open world games to mandatory stealth sections in non-stealth games.Joining us once again is designer Jamie Smith!The very last entry was provided by SAFC_Jack91, which Samuel forgot to write down in the original episode plan. 

Is Crimson Desert good? It's complicated, but not quite, according to Matthew Castle. Plus: Samuel apologises profusely for buying a PS5 Pro.Samuel's games: PS5 Pro (Spider-Man 2, Alan Wake 2, Rebirth), Returnal, RaccoinMatthew's games: Crimson Desert, Tomodachi Life, The Ratline

What Matthew thinks of Crimson Desert, new DLC for old games, how 360-era classics would score now in reviews, dream Helldivers 2 warbonds and more nonsense in the latest mailbag episode.This week's music is from the Deadly Premonition soundtrack by Riyou Kinugasa, Takuya Kobayashi and Hiromi Mizutani.This is the From Russia With Love PS2 clip mentioned in the episode. 

Former Eurogamer reporter Emma Kent is our guest this week! What's it like doing actual journalism, rather than just dropping hot takes about Uncharted and Mario? That's what we ask Emma about in this one. You can sign up for the (free) Eteo Archetypes newsletter discussed in the second half of this week's episode here. This week's music is from the Valheim soundtrack by Patrik Jarlestam. 

Two top 10 lists from an amazing year for video games.This week's music is from the Tetris Effect soundtrack by Hydelic. 

VGC's Andy Robinson is this week's guest. Andy discusses his days on PC Zone and CVG, and why he's made the effort to built relationships with Japanese game developers in the last few years. This week's music is from the Yooka-Laylee soundtrack by Grant Kirkhope, David Wise and Steve Burke.

What we've been playing lately that doesn't feature Leon S Kennedy. Games discussed: Reanimal, Dark Auction, Marathon, Yakuza Kiwami 3 + Dark Ties, Pokémon LeafGreen, Paranormasight: The Mermaid’s Curse, Dragon Quest VII: Reimagined, Romeo is a Dead Man, Wild Blue Skies, Denshattack!, Dusk Index Gion.The two Pokémon-themed media projects mentioned in this episode – Matt Reynolds' One More Catch and James Batchelor's history of the series.Music in this week's episode is from the Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen soundtrack by Go Ichinose, Junichi Masuda and Morikazu Aoki, and the Dark Auction soundtrack by Yuko Komiyama, Tsukasa Masuko and others.

A deep dive into the year's first big game (sorry, Mario Tennis). Section one is spoiler-free, and the much shorter section two has clearly marked spoilers. But, you still might want to listen to this after you've played the game if you want to experience everything fresh.Pretty much everything discussed in the first hour is in Capcom's marketing materials for the game. 

Judge Castle tackles listeners' moral dilemmas in the return of podcasting's worst format.