Pixel Vision turns 50 with some earthshaking news, before Ben and Tao turn protector and carrier and take on the armies of Provence in A Plague Tale: Requiem, sequel to A Plague Tale: Innocence. The duo take opposing views as they discuss the contradiction between a didactic story and fun gameplay; why all in-game villains have caricature evil voices; how The Last Of Us sets the benchmark for effective storytelling in adventure games; if crafting, collectibles and upgrade elements are superfluous and interfere with a strong narrative; the influence of JK Rowling; force walk; and rats. Lots of ..read more

Ben and Tao dive into A Plague Ta - oh wait, no they don’t, what’s been going on?! Content Warning: PEGI 3. There’s literally no content. WTAF. Clarifications: * Yeah, to be clear, nothing to see here. Audio extracts: * Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? composed by Matthew Strachan Find us at www.pixelvision.netTwitter: @pixelvizEmail: pixelvisionpodcast@gmail.com Get full access to Pixel Vision at www.pixelvision.net/subscribe ..read more

Wake up, Citizen! Ben and Tao are in festive spirits as they dish out a Christmas feast of sci-fi turkey with roast story spoilers on the side and cranberry DLC toppings in dice rolling space adventure, Citizen Sleeper - to be clear, absolutely not a turkey, by any definition! Your boys riding the mic get lyrical, discussing the overlap between board games and video games, gaming achievements, romance and gender in RPGs, playing good and evil, characters you can root for, and, naturally, Pixel Vision’s Christmas tradition… There’s a multitude of story spoilers after our initial reactions and t ..read more

The big wheel keeps on turningOn a simple line, day by dayThe earth spins on its axisOne man struggle while another relaxes~ Massive Attack Ben and Tao are on a roll, fleeing the all flattening, deadening turn of the great wheel of time - or not time, just a massive, physics defying concrete cylinder crushing everything in its path for all eternity - aka The Eternal Cylinder. Your hosts try to make sense of the allegories therein, pondering metaphors and surrealism, story narration, procedurally generated landscapes, the perks of multiplayer gaming, and when an animal’s trunk is not a trunk bu ..read more

To explore what it means to be human, Ben and Tao play with a pussy - a personified cat with an AI drone sidekick - while befriending wannabe artistic bipedal robots in feline post-apocalyptic, post-Homo sapiens adventure tale, Stray. It’s not all highfalutin social commentary though, they do get to remote detonate mutant bacteria with a light gun strapped to their teeny weeny cat vests. Analysis includes discussion of dystopian storytelling and tropes, the role of animals in games, children’s storybooks, whether art is a uniquely human venture, Tom Hanks, prison escapes in games, plus Ben sha ..read more

Happy Halloween! Ben and Tao wallow in corporate servitude and debt until unionisation galvanises them to join the intergalactic picket line in zen, outer space deconstruction simulator, Hardspace Shipbreaker. In addition to the usual breakdown of the game’s story and gameplay mechanics, the duo get into gaming loops, micro objectives and puzzles, corporate megalomania and mandatory agreement to terms and conditions, the role of banter and companionship in games, dystopian retro futurism, and if gaming companies should use unsigned musicians for their soundtracks to foster more variety and cul ..read more

Ben and Tao tug and pull each other - not like that - as they swing from leaf to bough to frog to swan, in stringy suburban couch co-op pendulous puzzler, Unravel Two. The duo break down exactly what they’re looking for in a co-operative platformer and if this side scroller has all the right ingredients. Between comparisons to other co-op titles and nearly random film references, they talk friendship, fascism, faux urgency, the role of metaphors in story design, and of course their own interpretations of the Unravel Two plot. Plus, what makes a suitable audience, and why Ben’s sudden interest ..read more

In servitude to a higher power and with a mysterious brand to show for it, Ben and Tao dominate multiple characters (and creatures), fill their posse, and ride hard all over the weird west in Wild West twin stick shooter, action RPG, supernatural spin-off: Weird West. And that infantile summary is in no way representative of the content herein. Tumbleweed tumbles. Dust billows. High noon rings out from a nearby bell tower. “There ain’t enough room in this personality for the both of us!” calls a voice, and Ben and Tao face off, eyes narrowed, hands hovering at gun belts, ready to quickdraw. Th ..read more

Ben and Tao think therefore they are, getting mindfully and consciously philosophical, in 2015’s subaquatic survival horror existential crisis cultivator, SOMA. The conversation gets as deep as the abyss, with topics covering euthanasia; the nature of human existence, consciousness and digital transcendence; different forms of horror - the horrifying and the horrendous; artificial intelligence, super intelligence, digital taps and the Paperclip Maximizer hypothetical; and the concept of the ‘Human Black Box’ to document the last seconds of people’s lives. Plus, Tao becomes the second person to ..read more

Penal denizens Ben and Tao lower their visors and enter the airlock, ready to race against time and depleting oxygen, evade security cameras, turrets and warbots, and massacre all manner of space monsters in the droll and aptly titled looter-shooter, Void Bastards. Issues discussed include Roguelike game lengths and replayability; procedural generation, randomness and its impact on decision making; comedy in games versus TV or film; and if Void Bastards would work as a tabletop board game. No story spoilers. Content Warning: PEGI 13. The yobbish space monsters are full on Sweary McSwearface ..read more