Tanked Up

This week we dive into discussions on three games, first Rip Them Off from Lozange Lab which we've all played. Lucy gives her thoughts on Inkle's new game Pendragon and we finish with Aadil's thoughts on When the Past was Around from Mojiken which he streamed earlier in the day. For beers this week Ben drinks Forgotten Dreams from Pipeline Brewing Co and Odyssey Brew Co Return of the Boom Bap. Lucy has another Overtone beer in Lotus Oat Cream NEIPA and then Left Handed Giants Sky Above. Aadil drinks two supermarket collab stouts, first Vocation X Brew York Sweet Temptation and second Nothern Monk X Lervig Norse Star.

This week we discuss a lot of games. Lucy gives us her thoughts on Lair of the Clockwork God, Silent Hill, The Coma 2, Tony Hawks Pro Skater and A Monsters Expedition. Ben has his investigative hat on and deep dives into Paradise Killer. The beers this week are, for Lucy, Pale Loral from Overtone Brewing Co and the Westmalle Triple. Aadil drinks Wiper & Trues Kaleidoscope and a Peanut butter milk stout from Tailgate Beer. Ben starts with Transient from Northern Monk and ends with Fear of Fog from Left Handed Giant.

We get together this week to discuss the new Xbox consoles, this was before the Series X price was announced, briefly touch on Paradise Killer and delve into our thoughts on Spiritfarer. A few technical difficulties in Birmingham kick Lucy off the pod before she gets to discuss Tony Hawks Pro Skater 1 + 2. For drinking this week Aadil gets into a Beer52 box having 'Bel Air sour' from Brooklyn Brewery and 'Ye Olde Stout Will Never Go Out of Style' from Evil Twin. Ben drinks the supermarket available collab 'One Through Three' from Siren Craft Brew, North Brewing and Salt Beer Factory then has a direct from the Left Handed Giant Brew Pub 'Fossil & Fern'. Lucy drinks 'Slow Lives' from Galway Bay Brewery and the Crak Brewery X Lervig collab 'Party Animals'.

Its a Ben-free episode! Aadil and Lucy are joined by guest Adam Thomas, supping a cool Dr. Pepper. We talk about "Fall Guys", their social engagement and charity competition. Adam talks the intricacies of "Rocket League" and its upcoming changes. We also talk about "The Last Campfire", "If Found...", "Metamorphosis" and "Four Last Things". Lucy drinks the 'Tea Party' Cream Ale from "People Like Us" and 'Daybreak' Coffee Porter by "Frontaal", while Aadil has 'Weimea' IPA by "Wild Card" and 'Black Eagle' Black IPA by "Brew York".

Lucy has some games to discuss whilst Ben poses a question this week. As always we start with beers. Lucy drinks Mothership Beers Seeds of Hope, Aadil cracks Quantic from Wild Beer Co and Ben has Oh My Citra! from Tanker Brewery. Lucy has played Jessika, Next Stop Nowhere and Battletoads. Ben then asks what franchise would you like to see as a game. Whilst we discuss this more beers are opened. Lucy has Heedhunter from By The River Brew Co, Aadil drinks Arbor Ales I Speak For The Trees and Ben finishes with Sound Machine Groove from Deya. There are also some excellent tangents from the franchise convo.

This week Sean and Dave from Pillbug Interactive are back. They are here to discuss the release of Making It Home which Ben and Aadil have put some time in. After a dive into the game and its writing we talking more games. Sean has been thinking about The Last of Us and violence in games, Dave has played Divinity Original Sin 2 and Lucy discusses both Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town and touches on Milky Way Prince. The beers! Dave drinks beers from Evil Twin and Thornbrige, Sean sups on a couple of different Old Fashioned mixes, Aadil drinks a Rochefort 8 and a Windswept X Glen Morey collab whilst Ben drinks beers from Utopian and Electric Bear.

It's just Ben and Aadil this week in a classic WillSmithisode. Aadil dips into the Beer52 box and drinks Panty Stout from Oedipus and the Daybreak coffee porter from Brouwerij Frontaal. Ben has a couple of Goose IPAs from Goose Island. This elicits a conversation about casual drinking before we launch into gaming chat. We start with talk on custom PCs, move into Aadil's time with The Fall of Lazarus from the Bundle for Racial Inequality and Justice then finish on Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout.

We start this week by cracking a few beers with Aadil drinking Trackdown from Uiltje Brewing Company and Ben starting with Ninja Vs Unicorn from Pipeworks Brewing Company. Lucy shakes off the shackles of a backlog and instead delves into the archive to play Halo. She's also been playing Grounded and Beyond a Steel Sky. Ben then drinks Three Hills Brewing Of Juice No03 and Aadil has Resonance from De Moersleutel. We then launch into a conversation on Open Worlds including more Ghost of Tsushima and touching on Mad Max, Spider-Man, Prey, Crackdown, Sleeping Dogs, Sunset Overdrive, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Breath of the Wild. Aadil finishes us out with more chat on MTG Arena Jump Start and the physical Magic The Gathering card version of it.

It is a monster show this week in length and content. Beers! Lucy cracks open Hey Mango from Brew York, Ben drinks Rainbock from Utopian and Aadil has Raw from Moor Beer. Ben kicks off the gaming chat with Othercide and Carrion, which Lucy finished. Lucy has also played Arrog and Necro Barrista. More beers are drunk. Lucy sticks with Brew York drinking Muffin Else Matters. Ben has Leviathan Brewing Co, Instinct of Survival and Aadil has Claudia from Moor Beer. Back to games and Lucy chats Panzer Paladin and Aadil finishes us out with Banners of Ruin.

We're joined by Adam Thomas this week to discuss all things Ghost of Tsushima. If you've listened to Adam on the show before you'll know he's not a beer drinker so we're allowing him to chug vodka and Dr Pepper whilst we chat. The rest of us are on the beers. Ben opens with Bless the Weather from Left Handed Giant, Lucy has Imbongo from Boundary Brewing and Aadil drinks Mobberley Brewhouse Big Idea oatmeal stout. Discussions on the newest game from Sucker Punch kick-off and extended so long more beers are opened. Ben has another LHG with Mockingbird Dream, a collab with Deya. Lucy sticks with Boundary for Right Hand Man Back and Aadil has the Flat White from Garden Brewery. Lucy has played things other than Samurai simulator and discusses Before I Forget from 3-Fold Games, Radical Rabbit Stew from Pugstorm AB and Creaks from Amanita Design.

Lucy and Ben get together again in their second discussion on The Last of Us Part II. This time they focus on Abby's journey and the final act of the game. They delve into Abby's time in Seattle. Ellie on the farm and her search in California then to the game's closing scenes and how they felt about the experience. There are plenty of spoilers for the whole game in this chat so finish the game first if you haven't.

Some companies have been naughty and it's time for us to talk about them. First, we crack open some beers. Ben has already got one on the go and finishes Shelby from Thornbridge in the first few minutes, Aadil drinks Hugs & Kisses from Brouwerij De Molen, Lucy has been to Burning Soul to pick up the Raspberry Ripple and Ben opens Galaga from Brew York. Then we get em. Aadil discusses the bad branding and messaging of the beer Karen Sour from Calgary brewer Common Crown Brewing Co. More beers are needed after the conversation so Aadil has Van Vollenhoven & Co Extra Stout, Lucy jumps on the Brew York train with Big Eagle 2020 and Ben finishes with Touch Sensitive from North Brewing Co. Lucy lightens the mood with a discussion on the games she has played including Bird Alone, The Great Perhaps and Ultracore. Conversation then descends to the dark depths some gaming companies have fallen to recently and Ben asks at what point do we stop supporting a developer?

Join Lucy and Ben as they discuss the first half of the Last of Us Part II. They go into detail on their thoughts on gameplay, story and characters. It's full of spoilers for the entire game as they discuss Ellie, Joel and the inhabitants of Seattle. They'll be back next week to discuss the second half and the end of the game.

We are joined this week by returning guest Stephen Carter, aka Points of Brew to discuss a few beery issues. Stephen starts by drinking a new beer from Salt Steel Brewing Co, Aadil has one beer this week and cracks The Little Earth Project Stupid Sexy Suffolk Blend III and Ben begins with Rare Candy from Turning Point. Ben leads the conversation wanting to discuss the latest blog post from Cloudwater on beer distribution and if our drinking habits are changing. This leads into Stephen discussing actually going out for a beer. Stephen opens another beer, The Dank Knight from S43 Brewery and Ben has Canadian Riot from Beatnikz Republic in celebration of Aadil and Canada Day. Lucy chats about the games she has been playing including CoD Modern Warfare and shooter campaigns, Pokemon Snap and Timespinner. Check out Stephen's beer podcast Points of Brew available on all podcast platforms.

This week we've 6 beers and 5 games to chat through. Aadil starts off the drinking with Hopstravaganza from The White Hag, Lucy has World King Fist from Burning Soul Brewery and Ben drinks Deya's Something Good 5. Both Aadil and Lucy have been playing The Almost Gone, a recently released point and click puzzle game. Lucy continues the point and click fun with her thoughts on Edna & Harvey: The Breakout - Anniversary Edition. More beers are cracked. Lucy sticks with Burning Soul drinking the Zephyr Saison. Aadil has Buxton Brewery's Costa Rican Coffee Extra Porter and Ben finishes with another All Together beer this time from Verdant Brewing Co. Aadil touches briefly on Hexcells and as always Lucy has played all the games so chats about the fun she had with Maneater. We finish on a little more The Last of Us Part II chat, again no spoilers are shared.

Hot, hot gaming and beer chat this week. Lucy drinks Tartu Pilsner from Puhaste, Ben has a Session pale from North Brewing Co and Aadil sups Buxton Brewery's Lupulus X Simcoe IPA. Lucy has been playing Little Orpheus from The Chinese Room and it sparks a conversation about Apple in the gaming space and a brief foray for Ben into That Game Company's mobile game Sky. More beers are cracked. Lucy has O Brother Brewing's On Reflection, Ben drinks the Wylam X Finback collab Paying the Price for my Smooth Ride and Aadil finishes with the Northern Monk X Fieldwork collab Eternal Sunshine. Talk turns to Magic the Gathering Arena and remote playing and the episode finishes on initial and general impressions of The Last of Us Part II, there are no spoilers in this discussion.

It's a show of two halves (sort of). In the first Ben drinks Steam Machine's Odins Jam Jar and asks has a demo or beta put you off a full title. Lucy drinks Merrytiller from Kinnegar Brewing and discusses Signs of the Sojourner and Aadil has the Yeastie Boys X Utopian collab Dream Sequence whilst talking the itch.io client and few titles from the bundle for racial equality and justice. Lucy drops off the pod and Dave and Sean from Pillbug Interactive appear. They come to discuss their inclusion on that itch bundle and their new game Making it Home. Dave drinks Gower Gold from Gower Brewery and The Golden Champion from Badger Beers. Sean has made a Hop, Skip and Jump cocktail featuring Gamma Ray from Beavertown. Ben has a Strata evening with Intrinsic Space from Track Brewing Co and Escape the City from Pressure Drop. Aadil drinks Gipsy Hill's Desert Haze and Schwarzwalder from Stroud Brewery. You can check out everything Pillbug Interactive related at www.pillbug.zone

This week Aadil, Ben and Lucy have all picked up the Bundle for racial justice and equality from Itch.io and Lucy has actually played some of them, discussing A Snakes Tail and Spring Falls. She drinks Flying Dogma from Dogma Brewery X Flying Dog Brewery. Aadil drinks Mikkeller's Pepper Spray and Ben leans into the supermarket with Wild Boar from Buxton. Lucy also discusses Rakuen and starts a big conversation about Bioshock. More beers are drunk. Lucy has Zon & Zee from Brouwerij De Molen, Aadil drinks Arbor's Space hardware and Ben has the Thornbridge X Firestone Walker collab Pondera. Ben is waning on Final Fantasy 7 Remake after getting to, maybe, the final boss and Aadil has been playing some new games from The Jackbox Party pack.  

Lucy, Aadil and Ben get together to discuss video games whilst all drinking some tasty beers. Lucy starts with Tasty Juice from Lervig, Aadil has Wild Card Brewery's Unite Tribute and Ben drinks Verdants I Will Nee Your Signature. Aadil gives everyone an Animal Crossing update and delves into the systems and community support the game's economy. It's a heft chat so more beers are cracked. Lucy drinks Omnipollo's Mads, Aadil has Euphoric Minds from Amundsen and Ben finished with Farrago from Polly's. Ben wants to talk the PS4 reveal event and what everyone wants to see. Lucy finishes on games including Ring Fit Adventure, Euro Truck Simulator, Forza Horizon 4 & Lego and the developer Grahfmetal.

This week Ben and Aadil kick off with the same beer, drinking The Daphne Touch from Pollys Brew Co. Lucy starts the gaming chat with her thoughts on Minecraft Dungeons which has many a tangent including current-gen vs new-gen releases. Aadil and Ben then crack more beers with Aadil drinking Citrus Maximus from Arbor and Ben having Basqueland's Mucho Bueno. Talk turns to A New Life and the emotional impact of games, twin peaks and Kentucky Route Zero and finishes on problematic narratives.