In this episode Bryan and Clint dive into Astro Bot, the 2024 PlayStation 5 platformer developed by Team Asobi and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Building on the foundation of the pack-in hit Astro's Playroom, the studio expands the concept into a full-scale adventure that celebrates three decades of PlayStation history. The guys explore how the game blends inventive platforming, playful level design, and clever uses of the DualSense controller into a tightly paced quest where players rescue lost robots and rebuild their PS5 mothership so the Astro Bots can get their interstellar dance party back on track.

Astro Bot balances nostalgia with accessibility, appealing to longtime gamers while remaining instantly readable for kids and newcomers. Listen in as we revisit the game’s joyful structure, colorful hub worlds, creative abilities, spectacular boss battles, and homage levels inspired by iconic PlayStation franchises like God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, Uncharted, and Ape Escape. Astro Bot is a rare AAA platformer bursting with wonder, a game that captures the pure joy of play and bridges generations of players through curiosity, creativity, and delight.

Join for the dancing robots, stay for the testimonials from budding, young gamers (AKA Clint’s sons)!

Three Word Reviews:

Clint - Pure Gaming Joy

Bryan - Wide Eyed Wonder

On this episode Bryan and Josh drive into Promise Mascot Agency, developed by Kaizen Game Works, the team behind Paradise Killer. Released in April 2025 for Windows, Switch, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S, the game blends open-world driving, management sim mechanics, visual novel storytelling, and crime drama into an experience Bryan called his Game of the Year 2025. Set in the cursed town of Kaso-Machi, the story follows exiled yakuza lieutenant Michizane “Michi” Sugawara (voiced by Takaya Kuroda) as he attempts to repay a debt by rebuilding a failing mascot agency alongside his chaotic, foul-mouthed assistant Pink, a literal severed finger with a heart of gold. We explore how the game’s “PS2-feeling” open world, bizarre truck physics, card-battling support system, and management mechanics shouldn’t work on paper but absolutely do in practice. Buoyed by an infectious east-meets-west soundtrack from Alpha Chrome Yayo and Ryo Koike, Promise Mascot Agency delivers a potent dose of earnest absurdity.

From negotiating mascot wages and launching Pinky out of a truck-mounted cannon to debating civic policy and upgrading town landmarks, every system feeds into a larger story about found family, labor, accountability, and rebuilding community. So hop into your mascot laden truck and listen in as Bryan and Josh discuss Promise Mascot Agency!

Three Word Reviews:

Bryan - Uplifting Offbeat Sincerity

Josh - A Rambling Tale

In this episode, Bryan and Clint ride off into Kingdom Come: Deliverance II. Picking up directly after the first game, Warhorse Studios’ historical RPG returns us to early 15th-century Bohemia, following Henry’s journey from blacksmith’s son to reluctant man-at-arms amid political chaos, feudal power struggles, and deeply human moral choices. Along the way, we examine how KCD2’s simulation-driven design—living villages, reputation systems, punishing swordplay, and obsessive historical detail—creates a world where the player always feels like a small cog in a very large, uncaring machine.

We also examine the series’ fixation on historical accuracy, immersion, and realism, and how its simulation of everyday medieval life firmly grounds the game’s themes. Bryan and Clint unpack the game’s uneasy relationship with war, its unflinching portrayals of atrocity, religion, and power, and its often uncomfortable parallels to modern politics and class structures. Through character studies of Henry, Hans Capon, Jan Žižka, Father Godwin, and a sprawling ensemble cast, the game strips away fantasy and leans into human truth. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II tells a story that doesn’t just feel real, but revealing.

Three Word Reviews:

Clint - Bohemian Bastard Simulator

Bryan - Veritas Ex Fabula