Tales from the Backlog

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Join Dave and special guest AJ Fillari as they discuss Pyre (Supergiant Games, 2017). As your crew makes their way through their underworld hellprison, you take part in competitive rites with the goal of earning your freedom. The game explores the rhythms of sport and competition, win or lose, as wel...

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Join Dave and special guest IdolismJ as they tackle Drakengard (Cavia, Square Enix, 2003). Drakengard has a reputation for being bad, unplayable, interesting and edgelordy to a certain extent, and we can confirm that some, but not all of those, are correct. Drakengard challenges the player in ways th...

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Join Dave and special guest Claire as they deep dive Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Intelligent Systems, Kou Shibusawa, Nintendo, 2019). They discuss the life sim and battle elements, how they tie together to make you fear permadeath even more, the four playthroughs, and much more. As always, no spoilers...

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Join Dave and special guest Flora Merigold (Epilogue Gaming, Left Behind Game Club) as they discuss Many Nights a Whisper (Deconstructeam, Selkie Harbour, 2025). Many Nights a Whisper puts you in a high-pressure situation and asks you to make tough choices that will have an impact on whether you make...

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Join Dave and special guest Jesse Guarascia (noclip, noclip_2 and more) as they strengthen their block-pushing muscles for a deep dive into Isles of Sea and Sky (Cicada Games, 2024). They discuss its rich world full of secrets, why Sokoban-style puzzles feel like a great foundation for weird narrativ...

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Join Dave and special guest Leah Haydu (Cane and Rinse, Character Issues) as they discuss Kingdom Hearts (Square Enix, 2001). Leah is a longtime fan and Dave just played for the first time, and that led to a great conversation about the infamous story, the Disney and Final Fantasy tie-ins, the action...

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Join Dave and special guest Rachel Watts (Thinky Games, Indieventure podcast) as they discuss Cairn (The Game Bakers, 2026). Cairn is a meticulous, thoughtful climbing game that takes you into the mind of an elite athlete as she attempts a climb that has never been done before. While it has some (uni...

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Join Dave and returning guest Scott Danielson as they dive into the third and final entry in the Hitman: World of Assassination Trilogy (IO Interactive), as well as its roguelike mode, Freelancer. This whole package is an absolute treat, and this also brings the Tales from the Backlog Hitman Episode ...

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Join Dave and special guest Brian Edwards as they dive into one of 2025's most acclaimed games, The Séance of Blake Manor (Spooky Doorway, Raw Fury, 2025). It's a captivating mystery set in an Irish countryside manor-turned-hotel, full of both literal and figurative ghosts, culminating in a grand séa...

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Join Dave and special guest Josh Galecki (Pixelated Playgrounds, Moonroof Studios) to take a long walk into the woods of Baby Steps. Developed by Bennett Foddy, Gabe Cuzillo and Maxi Boch and published by Devolver Digital, Baby Steps is an extremely unique game, one where its story of its failson pro...

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Guest info: Doug Lief (he/him) and Gen Moonen (they/them)

• Listen to Nostalgium Arcanum https://nostalgiumarcanum.fireside.fm/
• Listen to Playing By Ear https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/playing-by-ear/id1815995146
• Listen to Still Muppeting https://www.patreon.com/c/stillloadingpod/posts
• Lis...

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Join Dave and special guest TroytlePower as they discuss Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines, developed by Troika Games and published by Activision in 2004. Any recommendation to play Bloodlines comes with all sorts of disclaimers attached, which makes it nearly irresistable for someone with a brain ...

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Dave recaps 13 indie games that he played on the PAX East 2026 show floor.

TIMESTAMPS

• 0:00 Intro
• 0:25 The Secret of Weepstone
• 2:05 Throwback! Jai-Alai Heroes
• 2:59 Canvas City
• 3:51 DREADMOOR
• 5:03 Fractured Blooms
• 6:20 GNAW
• 7:31 Valor Mortis
• 8:32 Well Dweller
• 9:39 Never's End
• 11:17 ZWAARD
• 12:15 ...

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Join Dave and guest Travis Colenutt on their language-learning journey up the tower in Chants of Sennaar (Rundisc, Focus Entertainment, 2023). What do our languages say about our culture, and how can learning another language change the way we see the world? All of this and more in the discussion!

G...

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Join Dave and guest Bryan Skursha as they deep dive Death Howl (The Outer Zone, 11 Bit Studios, 2025) on their journey through the underworld to find out what the hell a soulslike deckbuilder even is. Brutal turn-based combat, a story about grieving and a mother's love, and all the fucked up guys a g...

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Join Dave and special guest Josh Leslie as they discuss Skate Story, developed by Sam Eng and published by Devolver Digital in 2025. How does the skating compare to touchstone games like Tony Hawk's Pro Skater or skate.? How does its poetic storytelling land? How do the aesthetics enhance other aspec...

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Bioshock is a title that carries weight, nearly 20 years after its 2007 release by 2K Boston and 2K Australia, and it feels like one that every gaming podcast eventually talks about. And hey, it's our turn this time- Bioshock has long been a favorite of mine that I've revisited through the years. But...

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I always tend to take note when a game from previous generations gets a remaster and the general consensus is "hell yeah, finally!", which just so happened to be the case when Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (Capcom, 2010) got the HD treatment in 2023. The DS is a real blind spot for me, as are the wo...

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Ghost of Tsushima (2020) was one of my favorite games of that year, and happens to be episode 2(!!) of this podcast, an early game that screamed to me "you should talk about this into a microphone for 2+ hours). That being the case, Sucker Punch's follow-up, Ghost of Yotei, was an instant day-one buy...