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Pixel Therapy Pod is a monthly podcast and Let's Play YouTube Channel queering and transcending video games for all kinds of gamers. We believe that games can serve as tools for understanding ourselves, each other, and the world around us— and we want to celebrate gaming in its many contexts: as a hobby; as an art form; as therapy. Learn more on https://www.pixeltherapypod.com/
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From developer Studio Zero and publisher Atlus (creators of the beloved Persona series) comes Metaphor: ReFantazio, the developer's first foray into the fantasy genre -- with a sprawling epic RPG that imagines a utopic new world and fights to make it real. Built upon radical ideas from as far back as 1516, Metaphor brings them to life for a new gen…
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From Nomada Studio, the creators of Gris, comes new puzzle-platformer Neva: the moving tale of a young swordswoman named Alba and her lifelong bond with a magnificent wolf as they embark on a thrilling adventure through a rapidly dying world. And all we have to say is...HOW DARE YOU?! But forreal though, this game packs a ton of emotional weight in…
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Welcome to Part 2 of our PAX West 2024 coverage! PAX West is one of the biggest gaming conventions in the world, existing as a celebration of gaming and gaming culture and featuring panels, a massive expo-hall, and more. While there, Spencer and Jamie got hands-on demos with more than 40 games (!!!) and recorded interviews with over a dozen game-ma…
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At the beginning of September, we spent a jam-packed whirlwind of a weekend at this year's PAX West Convention in Seattle, WA. A celebration of gaming and gaming culture featuring panels, a massive expo-hall, and more, PAX West is one of the biggest gaming conventions in the world with over 100,000 attendees present this year alone. We put our time…
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You give me a genderless, silent protagonist, and you bet I will project ALL OF THE FEELINGS onto your tower defense game. A unique blend of action and strategy, Capcom's Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess puts players in the role of Soh, protector of the maiden Yoshiro, as they slice with elegant, dance-like sword moves and strategically command vi…
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We do not choose what we inherit, but we can choose what we carry. This week we're joined by sunset visitor 斜陽過客 Creative Director Remy Siu and Narrative Designer Pinki Li to chat about their journey as indie devs bringing 1000xRESIST to life -- and the resonance that has been deeply felt by players within and outside of the Asian diaspora. Hailed …
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This week on the podcast we're chatting about Akupara Games' CRYPTMASTER -- a bizarre dungeon-crawling adventure where words control everything. It's like Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing, but with more necromancy. And we mean that in the best way possible. 0:55 - Patreon shoutouts 3:22 - We're going to PAX West! 6:28 - Cryptmaster conversation begins W…
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This week we're joined by AstralShift's Kira (António Lopes / @kirariinn) to talk everything Little Goody Two Shoes -- a lush, gorgeously detailed horror-adventure-visual novel following Elise, a rebellious young woman daring to build a better life for herself in a deceptively peaceful small town. The game expertly explores the queer subtext beneat…
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Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, originally released in 2013 to critical and fan acclaim, transformed the way many people thought about what games could be and laid the groundwork for director Josef Fares' later explorations in cooperative mechanics (y'all may remember his title It Takes Two won Game of the Year in 2021!). Lovingly remade by Italian d…
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Join us as we break down DON'T NOD's spiritual Vampyr successor, the doomed love story of ghost hunters Red and Antea in Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden. 0:45 - Patreon shoutouts 3:05 - Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin 9:10 - Showtime's The Curse 16:51 - discussion of Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden begins Side Quest tinyurl.com/…
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This week, we're so excited to welcome cartoonist, animator, and game developer Adrienne Bazir (she/they) into the studio to talk about their 2023 timeloop RPG, In Stars and Time! In Stars and Time is a turn-based RPG that follows a group of adventurers at the end of their journey to defeat a king slowly freezing the land in time. It's also a game …
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Welcome to our third annual totally unserious end of year review! Let's dive into some of the games that we were especially delighted, transported, and inspired by in 2023. 3:27 - thank you! 7:14 - 2023 in games - great games vs. terrible layoffs 17:04 - recapping our year in games 31:49 - our 2023 Top 5 games 1:41:58 - honorable mentions 1:48:32 -…
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As we close out a difficult year, two great games with interesting parallels remind us to keep it pushing -- with profound meditations on what happens when we look away from the world and from each other. In Rundisc's Chants of Sennaar, a hooded protagonist strives to reach the top of a mysterious tower while decoding language barriers that have ke…
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Jala Jayaratne is a bisexual mess! In Outerloop Games' Thirsty Suitors (published by Annapurna Interactive), she skates, cooks, and battles her way through emotionally intense psychodrama encounters with her exes on the path towards accountability and redemption. You know, your classic visit home. Join us as we gush over this absolutely gorgeous ga…
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Nautical nonsense is absolutely something we wish -- and we never want it to end. Especially when it comes to Die Gute Fabrik's latest narrative adventure masterpiece, Saltsea Chronicles! Join us as we dive into a game full of riches to share, lessons to teach, and mechanics that continue to reimagine and expand what a "visual novel" can be. 4:09 -…
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It's a beefy one this week, bois and gworls! Join us as we dive into the year's biggest RPGs -- Larian Studios' long-awaited Dungeons and Dragons adventure Baldur's Gate 3, and Bethesda's much-hyped interstellar action installment Starfield, its first new universe in 25 years! PLUS: We're livestreaming now! Check us out on YouTube, and thanks for a…
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An end-of-summer extravaganza of queer coming-of-age narrative adventure musicals was not on my bingo card for 2023, but here we are and we're not complaining about it! Join us as we explore two games that could not be more different in their tone and execution, but are linked by coincidental parallels in the form of two player characters striving …
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Thanks for your patience on our slightly-longer than usual episode break! We're so happy to be back with each other and all of you for a deep dive into Night School Studio's Netflix-produced Oxenfree II: Lost Signals! Who doesn't love a good end-of-summer multi-dimensional haunting? Spoiler warning: Light spoilers for the first Oxenfree throughout,…
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Cannes Award-winning director and animator Cedric Babouche crafts a cinematic feast for the senses in sun-soaked Dordogne, a bite-sized narrative adventure from his studio Un Je Ne Sais Quoi and Umanimation and published by Focus Entertainment. Join us as we explore a summery tale about family wounds and childhood memories that may not deliver on a…
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There's no better way to close out Pride Month than crying about The Legend of Zelda, in our opinion. Join us as we dive into Tears of the Kingdom, the latest entry in Nintendo's storied, cyclical, ever-endearing saga starring a princess, a hero, a land alive with history, and the players who love them. 0:50 - Patreon shoutouts! 2:35 - Are y'all wa…
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Join us as we soar upon a Sunwing into Guerilla Games' long-awaited epilogue to 2022's Horizon Forbidden West, among the sun-soaked Burning Shores of post-post-apocalyptic Los Angeles! It's both a bittersweet final adventure with the late, great Lance Reddick and a new kind of journey for the emotionally distant Aloy we've all come to know and love…
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I was an agender explorer in a polycule with a hot alien and a goth loner. I was a lesbian scientist who betrayed my lover to save our home, my relationship torn apart by regret and shame. I was a queer botanist who saved our space colony from famine and discovered an ancient civilization. I was all of these people and more in Northway Games and Fi…
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CONTENT WARNING: Persona 3 Portable contains themes and imagery of death and suicide that are discussed in this episode. Break out your eyeliner, let your hair down (preferably over one eye), and dust off your PSP (RIP) -- it's time to dive into everyone's favorite emo high school RPG: Persona 3 Portable!!! It's like Pokémon, if the protagonist wan…
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Let's get into it! This episode contains spoilers for both Naughty Dog's The Last of Us Part I and HBO's television adaptation starring Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal. This episode brought to you by Dunkin' oat milk macchiatos and Jamie's slow descent into tsundere romance anime. 0:37 - Patreon shout-outs and check-ins! 6:43 - Reflecting on 10 years…
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This week we're covering Scavengers Studio's SEASON: A Letter to the Future, where a bike riding journey to make an apocalyptic scrapbook had us examining the connectedness of all things and turning to the teachings of Octavia Butler, Grace Lee Boggs, and Renata Price's excellent review for Waypoint to wrap our heads around its poignant, heartwrenc…
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