Pixel Vision turns 50 with some earthshaking news, before Ben and Tao turn protector and carrier and take on the armies of Provence in A Plague Tale: Requiem, sequel to A Plague Tale: Innocence. The duo take opposing views as they discuss the contradiction between a didactic story and fun gameplay; why all in-game villains have caricature evil voices; how The Last Of Us sets the benchmark for effective storytelling in adventure games; if crafting, collectibles and upgrade elements are superfluous and interfere with a strong narrative; the influence of JK Rowling; force walk; and rats. Lots of rats.

Every key story element is spoiled by the end, but the first 45 minutes are spoiler free and pretty much all spoilers are heavily forecast.

Content Warning: PEGI 15. Coarse language, violent scenes, tragic developments.

Clarifications:

* The soundtrack to A Plague Tale: Requiem which features heavily is by French composer Olivier Deriviere, who also composed Greedfall, Alone in the Dark and Dying Light 2 among others. Ben’s a fan:

* The Arnaud aka Beast aka Wall confusion exhibited by both Tao and Ben is real, as testified to by several Reddit threads and errors in YouTube compilations. The Beast and the Wall are not the same guy:

* https://www.reddit.com/r/APlagueTale/comments/yrz5an/when_it_comes_to_arnaud_and_the_beast/

* https://www.reddit.com/r/APlagueTale/comments/z3njza/the_beast_arnaud/

* https://www.reddit.com/r/PlagueTaleInnocence/comments/10cj2dq/major_spoiler_why_did_arnaud_become_hunted_by_the/

* https://www.reddit.com/r/APlagueTale/comments/y6cx7o/a_plague_tale_requiem_chapter_vii_discussion/

Audio extracts:

* Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

* The Prodigy - Firestarter

* The Last Of Us OST by Gustavo Santaolalla

* The Godfather 3

* Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

* Monty Python and the Holy Grail

* Dame Vera Lynn - We'll Meet Again

* Citizen Sleeper - Density

* Disco Elysium OST

* Fleetwood Mac - The Chain

* The Revenant OST by Ryuichi Sakamoto

* Wes Anderson Horror Trailer - SNL

* Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)

* Skyrim Level Up

* Playstation 5 start up sound (reversed)

* Wolcen Lords of Mayhem OST by Jean-Gabriel Raynaud & Cedric Baravaglio

* Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels - “Chill Winston”

* Pentiment OST by Alkemie

* Dark Souls OST by Motoi Sakuraba

* The Offspring - Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)

* Brad Mehldau - Exit Music (For A Film), original by Radiohead

* The Mouse Outfit - Money

* The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Substack: Sign up free to read our reviews and commentary at www.pixelvision.net Twitter: @pixelvizEmail: pixelvisionpodcast@gmail.com

PS. So long and thanks for all the fish (and the listening!) - Ben and Tao xx

Ben and Tao dive into A Plague Ta - oh wait, no they don’t, what’s been going on?!

Content Warning: PEGI 3. There’s literally no content. WTAF.

Clarifications:

* Yeah, to be clear, nothing to see here.

Audio extracts:

* Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? composed by Matthew Strachan

Find us at www.pixelvision.netTwitter: @pixelvizEmail: pixelvisionpodcast@gmail.com

Wake up, Citizen! Ben and Tao are in festive spirits as they dish out a Christmas feast of sci-fi turkey with roast story spoilers on the side and cranberry DLC toppings in dice rolling space adventure, Citizen Sleeper - to be clear, absolutely not a turkey, by any definition! Your boys riding the mic get lyrical, discussing the overlap between board games and video games, gaming achievements, romance and gender in RPGs, playing good and evil, characters you can root for, and, naturally, Pixel Vision’s Christmas tradition… There’s a multitude of story spoilers after our initial reactions and the Taomun-ologue.

Content Warning: PEGI 12. Pretty PG this one. ‘Tis the season, innit.

Clarifications:

* Citizen Sleeper’s excellent soundtrack is by Amos Roddy. It’s available on Spotify:

* Gareth Damian Martin talks to PCGamer about his personal experience relating to gender and its influence on the game’s development.

* The other game by Gareth Damian Martin and ‘Jump Over The Edge’ studios is In Other Waters, which also looks really cool…

Audio extracts:

* Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

* The Twelve Days of Christmas - The King's Singers and The Tabernacle Choir

* Slade - Merry Christmas Everybody

* Disco Elysium OST

* Weird Al Yankovic - Smells like Nirvana

* The Beatles - All You Need Is Love

* Kool & The Gang - Get Down On It

* Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows

* Icewind Dale 2

* The Dark Knight

* Free Guy

* The Sopranos

* Repo Men

* Nina Simone - My Baby Just Cares For Me

* Sunless Sea OST

* Shaun of the Dead

* Hearthstone OST

* Observation OST

* Paradise Killer OST by Barry "Epoch" Topping

* In Other Waters OST - A Drifting Lens by Amos Roddy

* A Plague Tale: Innocence OST

* Frank Sinatra - Jingle Bells

Substack: Sign up free to read our reviews and commentary at www.pixelvision.netTwitter: @pixelvizEmail: pixelvisionpodcast@gmail.com