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The Back Page: A Video Games Podcast
The Top Emotional Moments in Games (with Lucy Blundell)
This episode is all about the games that hit players with emotional gut punches. You get 50 minutes of nice preamble with returning guest, indie developer Lucy Blundell, then 1 hour+ of our combined 15 top emotional moments in games.
After the 50-minute mark, this episode features spoilers (some light, some heavy) for these games: Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Final Fantasy X, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Final Fantasy VII (and the remakes), Botany Manor, Ori and the Blind Forest (just the intro), The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Fable 2, What Remains of Edith Finch, Halo: Reach, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy.
But...most of it is pretty topline, and it's well worth a listen. Find Lucy's latest game VIDEOVERSE on PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch.
This week's music is from the Final Fantasy X soundtrack by Nobuo Uematsu, Masashi Hamauzu and Junya Nakano.
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Our 10 Most Anticipated Games from Summer Games Fest 2026
02:00:56|We all survived another week-plus of marketing livestreams! These were our picks of the best upcoming games, including our thoughts on the PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo showcases.Mina the Hollower, Onimusha: Way of the Sword, Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight + Mailbag
01:43:46|Bond is done! Now for some other great games that landed in May, plus the new Onimusha demo.Two Giant Men Play 007 First Light
01:49:19|It's here – the James Bond game we've been waiting almost six years for! How much Hitman is in First Light? And how successfully does IO borrow from Naughty Dog? We discuss these subjects and many more across almost two hours.We've done our best to keep this episode free of spoilers. You'll hear about none of the major story beats in this one.Forza Horizon 6, Mixtape, Titanium Court + Mailbag
02:10:41|A What We've Been Playing and Mailbag combo episode, also featuring our own personal versions of a Mixtape-style music compilation. And a profane joke about chimneys.The N64 + GameCube Mega Draft
02:36:19|The four-person draft is back! Returning guests Ashley Day and Dave Scarborough fight Samuel and Matthew for the best picks across two beloved Nintendo consoles. And this time, Dave is on the booze (but for your sanity, we cut 30 minutes of drunken monologues out). Vote for the winner in the Discord's Announcements channel.This week's music is from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time soundtrack by Koji Kondo.What We've Been Playing (007 First Light, Pragmata, Vampire Crawlers, Tides of Tomorrow, Titanium Court, Replaced)
01:32:53|Matthew played IO's Bond game! Some other games are discussed, too.The Xbox Live Arcade, PSN and WiiWare Draft
01:58:27|Our first two-person draft in ages! Listen to the picks, then vote for the winner in the announcements channel of the Back Page Discord.This week's music is from the Sonic 4 soundtrack by Jun Senoue.Game Design Crimes (with Jamie Smith)
02:04:28|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.What We've Been Playing (Crimson Desert, PS5 Pro, Tomodachi Life, Raccoin, Returnal, The Ratline)
01:33:05|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