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And all at once, every news anchor and talk show host said that we're nearly at the end of 2023 and can you possibly believe it. Time is meaningless, but we're all somehow one year older and there have simply been far too many interesting games released this year for any single person to play. All of which kind of brings us nicely around to this, the one hundred and twenty-second episode of The Player 2 PixelCast.

Ken is in charge of this one, and he uses the chance to explain a part of the problem by talking about how he's almost 100 hours into Starfield, but still only halfway through the main quests. He also asks his co-pilots, Tim and Renee, about not just what they have been playing recently, but also what they simply haven't managed to find time and/or money for over the course of this year. Did we mention that a lot of good-looking stuff has been released in 2023?

Games: Go-Go Town, Metroid Prime: Remastered, Starfield
Theme Music: Visitors from Dreams by Mathieu Stempell Dma-Sc
Break Music: Camrade by Diggi Dis

Cast
Ken Lee
Tim Henderson
Renee O'flynn

With Alan Wake 2 not only proving to be a much more out-there, creatively risqué outing than the 2010 game it follows on from, we decided that it was perhaps time to take a moment to express some appreciation for those moments when games get weird. Also, we spoke about horror stuff last episode, so that’s off of the table. This discussion ends up spanning a good number of games and bounces quite liberally between the bizarre being used for legitimate expression and stuff that is kind of nuts in the more simple name of whimsy and fun.

Tim is in charge again, mostly in the name of setting the structure back in order, but also a little bit in order to allow Hewso to force some terrible games on a few unfortunate P2 writers closer to Christmas. Speaking of Hewso, he’s here too, as are Ken and Rob.

Games: Like a Dragon: TMWEHN, Berserk: Recharged, Nier Replicant Remake
Theme Music: Visitors from Dreams by Mathieu Stempell Dma-Sc
Break Music: Ancient Dreams by DJ Mystix, Sabivee

Cast
Ken Lee
Tim Henderson
Matthew Hewson
Rob Caporetto

It’s getting darker, the air is cooling down and… wait. This is Australia? Well, in that case the air is getting warmer and time has fragmented into a half a billion different zones. In general, though, it’s not seasonally spooky at all, but since the Northern Hemisphere apparently gets to decide when festive things happen for the rest of us, it is nonetheless time to delve into horror games and look at what does and doesn’t work for us with them.
The us in this case sees a return of Tim to the host chair, with Renee and Jason providing immediate support. Ken shows up a bit later, too. Just in time, one could so, to become a little disturbed by just how gleefully excited Jason can become about some pretty macabre stuff.

Games: Slay the Princess, Hot Wheels Unleashed 2, My Little Universe
Theme Music: Visitors from Dreams by Mathieu Stempell Dma-Sc
Break Music: Static Aversion by Children of the Monkey Machine, Steve Pordon

Cast
Ken Lee
Tim Henderson
Jason Hawkins
Renee O’flynn

It is that time of the year again folks, time to join the Player 2 crew on the PAX floor to talk about all of the goodies they ran across while fighting off the infamous PAX Pox. There are Bears in Space, Combat Wombats and Italian Plumbers with Elephantits, it is a veritable zoo of fun.
Matt hosts this massive cast of P2 favourites including Jenn, Renee, Stephen, Matto and Jess and all of them go through the highs and lows of the annual fiesta that is PAX.

Theme Music: Visitors from Dreams by Mathieu Stempell Dma-Sc
Break Music: The Land of Fayth by RoeTaKa
 
Cast
Matthew Hewson
Stephen del Prado
Jess Zammit
Renee O'flynn
Matto Phillips
Jenn Christodoulou

This episode represents a scheme that has been a long time coming.  Hewso nicks off to Italy for an overdue vacation, making sure that Tim absolutely be present for each and every episode. Then, upon his return, Ken declares to good holiday games might make a fabulous topic for the next episode! Also, Hewso can only record on a night when Tim can’t make it – effectively removing his ability to make this an episode dedicated to Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams.
So, yeah, no Tim this week, but we do one better by offering up Ken, Hewso and Stephen! They have an interesting slew of games to talk about before some topic stuff that likely delves into the wild variety of powerful-but-portable devices that Hewso seems to be in possession on. And no Sega Saturns.

Games: Starfield, Cyberpunk 2077 (ver 2.0), Witchfire
Theme Music: Visitors from Dreams by Mathieu Stempell Dma-Sc
Break Music: The Land of Fayth by RoeTaKa

Cast
Ken Lee
Matthew Hewson
Stephen del Prado

What a year this is turning out to be; certainly a unique one for the annals of gaming. Here we have a year that may be setting a new kind of benchmark for cross-generation viability, where things that feel truly new and shiny are still not as regular as we've been conditioned to expect, but at the same time we have seen an absolutely massive swathe of meaty, single-player experience arrive with eerie alignment. Octopath, Zelda, Final Fantasy, Baulder's Gate, Starfield... is 2023 the year of the big, epic adventure?
That's the question we set out to answer on this episode. Well, it's the question that Tim and Steve set out to answer, at least. They actually arrive at an answer pretty quickly, so things turn more to focus on exactly what's up with that. Good thing they've been playing som recent releases as well.

Games: Gunbrella, Immortals of Aveum
Theme Music: Visitors from Dreams by Mathieu Stempell Dma-Sc
Break Music: Strife by Pixels and Paradiddles

Cast
Stephen del Prado
Tim Henderson