Splash Damage

Episode 140: Relooted is Another Failure Games Journalists are Propping Up

Relooted, an African-developed game about black people heisting museums for artifacts to return them to the cultures from which they came, released to a resounding 57 players on Steam. Despite being an utter failure for “modern audiences,” Kotaku and PC Gamer are covering the game as if it’s actually popular. We discuss the situation along with TheGamer’s complaints about Overwatch’s new female hero design, RuneScape going woke, and the delay of the third Horizon game due to a spinoff no one asked for.

Episode 139: Ubisoft is in Trouble

Despite assurances that Assassin’s Creed Shadows was nothing but a success, Ubisoft has canceled six projects, delayed others, and closed two studios, plummeting their stock. We discuss the company’s recent and future woes along with the diversity of the upcoming Fable game, the poor sales of Outer Worlds 2, Highguard’s mid reception, and plenty more!

Episode 138: Lord of the Fallen 2 Catching Heat for Making Attractive Characters

Lords of the Fallen 2 developer and publisher Hexworks and CI Games are getting flak in the video game industry for a single tweet that confirmed the game will feature attractive characters and outfits. We discuss how far video games have fallen that this creative decision is worthy of ridicule, along with Sony’s AI patent that will censor games in real time, Ubisoft admitting Assassin’s Creed Shadows was controversial, how ugly Farah is in the new Prince of Persia remake, and more!

Episode 137: Revisiting Recent Releases Not Doing So Hot

By all accounts, this should have been a big year for gaming, but recent releases such as Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Ghost of Yotei, and Outer Worlds 2 are not selling as well as developers (and shareholders) perhaps hoped. We discuss why they might be underperforming along with Ubisoft’s potential pending destruction, a Eurogamer reviewer who admitted to regretting giving Dragon Age: The Veilguard such a high score, the Steam Machine and what that means for Xbox, and more!

Episode 136: Nature is Healing—The Male Gaze is Back, According to CNN

CNN wrote a lengthy piece illustrating how the male gaze is returning, bringing with it the things human beings actually find attractive in media. We talk about this welcomed return to sanity along with Microsoft continuing to kill the Xbox brand by increasing console and Game Pass subscription costs, EA being sold to Saudis, and the weird social justice games indoctrinating children in Roblox.