Tanked Up

Aadil's back and we have guests for a big episode. Joining Ben and Aadil are Sean Walton and David Towsey from Pillbug Interactive makers of Cycle 28 (which you've heard Ben rant about before). We take a deep dive into the game and what went into making it. We also chat about Pillbug and a little of what's to come from them. All this and several choice beers. Sean and Dave share a beer from Flavourly, brewed with Bad Co, it's the 'Endless River' golden IPA. Aadil sinks the Arbor 'Gingerly Pale Ale' and moves to the White Hag 'Bran & Sceolan' irish IPA. Ben starts with the 'Bristol Crush' pale ale from Wiper & True and finishes with the 'Futureshock' DDH IDA from Wylam. You can get more information on Pillbug Interactive and Cycle 28 at pillbug.zone

Once again Ben and Lucy delve into the world of video games whilst supping some excellent beers. We start with some beer chat, tax breaks and the price of a pint. Ben's played the first add-on for Assassin's Creed Origins 'The Hidden One's'. Lucy has sunk some time into the strategic graffiti mobile puzzler 'Vandals'. We end with another game Ben has played 'Doki Doki Literature Club' and discuss games that have unsettled us or made us feel awful. We drink some fantastic beers on a warm day. Lucy has a Deya, they've some new cans! It's the 'Invoice me for the microphone' IPA. Ben starts with a big boy, a 'Mind Control' Double IPA from Magic Rock. Lucy follows up with an offering from Verdant, the 'Quiet charge' pale ale and Ben has 'Tonkoko' milk stout from Brew York.

We've a couple of smaller titles to talk about today. Ben's played the mobile puzzle game 'Umiro' and Lucy's playing something similar called 'Sally's Law'. We finish the episode with a discussion on our favourite games from the year so far. Lucy drinks two stouts to reflect her mood and has a Northern Monk 'Sticky Toffee Stranik' Russian imperial stout and a Magic Rock 'De Mole' imperial stout. Ben has two collaborations and it appears like we've synced up perfectly. He has the 'Noise Pollution' sour IPA from Left Handed Giant / Northern Monk and the Verdant / Magic Rock 'We've Met Before' IPA.

Ben and Lucy are here to drink and discuss their love for the new release Minit, where you die every 60 seconds. There's chat of the co-op game A Way Out too and it's Lucy who's been playing it! We finish on the news of Spider-man getting a date and Ben gives his initial thought on The Red Strings Club, which Lucy has already played and talked about. It's, by chance, a London beer episode dominated by Brew By Numbers. Lucy has two from them with the 07|07 Witbier - orange and a 55|07 DIPA - grape. Ben starts with the Gipsy Hill 'Roamer' session IPA then joins the BBNo band wagon with the 42|02 DDH Pale Ale - Number 2.

There's talk of beers and talk of videogames as Ben and Lucy delve into an advertising faux pas, Florence (again), Shadow of the Colossus (again), Telltale Batman (again) and finish on something new in Octahedron. Go here if you haven't seen the advert: https://news.sky.com/story/heineken-advert-branded-terribly-racist-over-lighter-is-better-tagline-11307349 Ben drinks a Lost and Found 'Fomosaic' APA and the 'Double Chin Double Neck Oil' from Beavertown whilst Lucy doubles up on Cloudwater with the DIPA Enigma and DIPA Citra Enigma.

It's a Ben and Lucy WillSmithisode so they have a chat about Wolfenstein 2, one of Lucy's favourite games from 2017 and the one Ben's been putting his time into. Lucy's played a really long game on Switch (probably whilst she was on the toilet) called Never Stop Sneaking, a top down stealth game. There's also a phone ringing in the background, don't worry about it, it probably wasn't related to the discussion of a spy game. More importantly, or perhaps equally as important dependent on your interests, are the beers. Lucy continues this week with Gypsy Hill and tries their 'Beatnik' Pale Ale whilst Ben begins with the 'I Rate Saison' from Brasserie De La Senne and Melissa Cole. Lucy then travels to Cardiff for a Crafty Devil 'I Am The Resurrection' and Ben's in the North East for an 'Us & Them' DIPA by Wylam.

We've all played Games, the funk has been kicked. Aadil has finally jumped into 'Mario Odyssey' which leads to a brief discussion on cheat codes. Lucy's been getting a puzzle kick in 'Q.U.B.E 2'. The game to help Ben kick the funk is the arcade space shooter 'Cycle 28'. Lucy's also played a point and click adventure 'Chuchel' and Aadil's actually spent most of the time he should be working playing 'Into The Breach', a tactics puzzle game, instead. Ben felt left out when everyone else had White IPAs so he's got the 'Drift' from Unity, then has the Finzel's Reach from Left Handed Giant. Lucy starts with a big on in the 'Mexicake' Imperial Stout by Tempest and a collaboration, the 'Doyen' IPA from Gypsy Hill and Fullers. Aadil starts light with the Oedipus 'Mannenliefde' saison then has something bigger in the 55|06 DIPA by Brew By Numbers.

Aadil returns to join Ben and Lucy in a full on roast of Brewdog, a chat about Tacoma, some extra thoughts on Zenge and a thorough discussion on violence and video games. Ben drinks the 'Huddle' Pale Ale from Verdent and 'Glory' Triple IPA from Northern Monk. Aadil has the 'Cardinal Wolf' Belgian DIPA from Weird Beard and Tiny Rebel and a Van Vollenhoven Extra Stout. Lucy stays on brand with the Tiny Rebel and Fierce 'Orange Mocha Frapp Stout' and the 'Digeridank' from Tiny Rebel and Siren.

Ben and Lucy have some beers on this cold and frigid night and discuss what they've been playing. Ben's played two games which are almost the opposite of each other in 'Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy' and 'Rime'. Lucy got back into her episodic sleuth persona and played Orwell: Ignorance is Strength. Lucy drinks starts with Gun Dog Ales 'Scrum Dog' and finishes with the coffee porter 'Uppa Hela Natten' from Marble. Ben's gone Irish for the episode with a 'Bran & Sceolan' Irish IPA from The White Hag and the 'Plain Porter' from Porterhouse brewing.

Lucy, Aadil and Ben are casual gamers. It's true, don't try to defend them. Ben hates games and only likes casual educational experiences like the Assassin's Creed: Origins Discovery mode. Aadil hasn't touched a game in months but has been poking Zenge a mobile game, a mobile game! Uhh casual. Lucy's even worse, she's played two mobile games, two! Florence, which she really enjoyed and The Room: Old Sins, which she also enjoyed. So, beers. Aadil drinks Weird Beard 'Epsomania 17' and, from Birmingham Brewing the 'Confused Brummie' white stout. Ben drinks the 'Level Up: American Red' from Elusive Brewing and, from Plato, the 'Salish Sea' IPA. Lucy has another Sour IPA, so casual, from Buxton and Lervig, the 'Trolltunga' and another Weird Beard features this week, the 'God of the gold white silence' white stout. Pure casuals.

Ben and Lucy grab some beers and chat about the games they've been playing over the last week. Lucy kicks off with Celeste, A 2D platformer with a story, and Ben counters with Bloodborne, the Gothic inspired boss battler. Lucy comes back with dystopian set, narrative driven The Red Strings Club whilst Ben continues his epic encounter in Shadow of the Colossus Lucy's first beer is the Buxton / Stillwater 'Raspberry Superluminal' sour IPA followed by a brewer shes drank a lot of recently, Weird Beard, with the 'Safe Stout'. Ben has ventured to a new shop and come away with a 'Just the Ticket' from Fallen Brewing and a 'Syl' black IPA from First Chop.

Ben and Aadil went on a little day trip to the Wiper and True tap room to sample some of their and some of Partizan Brewing's beers. This included the collaboration 'Smoking Jacket' Porter and the beer Ben drinks during the episode the 'Phantasmagoria' IPA from Wiper and True. Aadil starts the episode with the Whiplash 'Roll Over' session IPA. Whilst they were at the brewery they attempted to play Streets of Rage Classic and have thoughts on it. Discussion moves to the Rate Beer top 100 brewers of 2017 and Aadil has his second beer the Lervig, Cloudwater collaboration 'There's a cold beer in my fridge and I need a drink'. We finish on a game. Civilization 6.

This week features all three of us, huzzah! But we chat the darker side of gaming from Epic Games closing down Paragon after only 2 years to the arcade mode in Star Wars Battlefront 2 being tied to the mulitplayer for progression which has been designed around loot boxes and microtransactions. There are some positives though as we chat a little more Assassin's Creed Origins because Lucy has started it. We then move onto the other game she's been playing, Blossom Tales. To slightly redeem Battlefront 2 Ben really enjoyed the story mode. This week Lucy drinks a Partizan and Beer 52 collaboration Fennel Gose and the  Northern Monk World Gone Sour IPA. Ben has a Double IPA from Fierce and Noble and the Big Poppa from Electric Bear. Aadil drinks a Brew By Numbers 11|26 Session IPA and finishes with the Northern Monk Patrons 2.03 City of Industry.

We recorded an excellent episode and then it all exploded. So Lucy and Ben decided to get together again to drink more and discuss Genital Jousting. It's just come out of early access with a story mode. Ben drinks the Icelandic White Ale from Einstok Olgerd and Lucy has the Punchline Brewery No Eye Dear saison.

Aadil's lost in the frozen north so Ben and Lucy get together to toast his memory. Actually they talk about what they've been playing and discuss the games they are looking forward to in 2018. They also discuss a 2017 article from Boak and Bailey on 'The Seven Ages of Beer Geek?' To start they kick off with collab beers. Ben drinks 'Compulsory fun' from Left Handed Giant, Magic Rock and Deya whilst Lucy has Northern Monk Patrons 3.04 'Attack on Blue Falcon'. Lucy stays with Northern Monk Patrons project 9.03 'Don't look batarang In anger' and Ben has a To Øl 'Fuck art winter is coming'.

2017 was a crazy year for games so we chat about our favourites. Lucy's got a top ten and several honourable mentions whilst Aadil and Ben have top fives. We really get into it but of course stray along the way. What do we drink? We start with the Good Chemistry 'Bonne Chance', drink both the 'Rest In Peace' and 'Roundhouse Kick' from Crew Republic which was kindly gifted to us from Nico, aka Bobthron, and finish with a couple of cans of 'Let It Happen' from Whiplash.

One episode from the grand 100 and Lucy visits Bristol. We capture her, forever. Our chat takes us from Peak Beer to Dishonoured 2 and boss fights. From criminal intent to Mother Russia Bleeds and the brilliance of Devolver Digital. Finally South Park to comedy writing. We drank a few beers before starting but as we record we have To Ol 'Dangerously close to stupid amount of apricots' Imperial IPA, the Left Handed Giant 'Late night fist fight' APA and the 'Sorachi' black IPA from Arbor.

The chat starts with the new sequel/expansion of the swipey-monarch game: Reigns - Her Majesty. We talk about Metroid: Samus Returns, the wonder/pain of 3D, the best mario, Doki Doki Literature Club, Marvel's Netflix series, Emperor Doom. Aadil and Ben start off with the "Wylam" session IPA 'Swipe Right. They go on to have 'Missing Piece' IPA collaboration between "Cloud Water" and "Pilcro" before moving on to the 'Button Masher' black IPA, from "Electric Bear & Elusive brewing." Lucy starts off with the 'Collabaggedon '17', from "Weird Beard" and six other brewers. She then takes on the 'Saison Miel' from "Left Hand Brewing", finishing off with the 'I Scream for you Bruce' pale ale from "Weird Beard".

We talk about the new Play link game "Knowledge is Power", "Dishonored 2", "Hellblade", the latest fundraising for "Star Citizen", how Cloudwater is facing eviction from their current location, tax breaks, inheriting virtual libraries and some other stuff besides. Ben and Aadil start off with the 'Pale 31' pale ale from "Firestone Walker". We follow it up with the "Cloudwater" Saison 'Tettnanger', finishing off with the "Left-handed Giant" & "Track" collaboration kettle sour 'Devil Berry'. Look out for Aadil's oven-roasted Temari Almonds response.

Everyone does the Macarena. We drink three different pairings from the recent Beer 52 x Anders Elements project. We chat different ingredient changes, yeast, malts and hops and how this effects the taste of a beer. Lots of beer chat ensues then onto gamez. Ben's got a PS4 and played the demo of Wolfenstein 2. Oh shit demos remember them. Lucy's played some indie games, of course she has, and chats about 'Far From Noise' which leads to game length chats. Aadil owns Star Wars Battlefront 2 but hasn't played it. Talk moves to the age old question "Are loot boxes gambling" and we actually disagree on something.