Podcasts
The Horrors of ‘XCOM’ [Safe Room Podcast]
Before tuning into this week’s new episode of Safe Room, please listen to last week’s episode celebrating 25 years of Fallout!
There is no greater example of risk/reward in games than XCOM. Every action could yield disastrous results for your squad. Or it could produce a thundering victory.
While tough decision-making isn’t a new phenomenon within the strategy genre, the way XCOM: Enemy Unknown approaches consequences felt crushing while entirely fair. Even if losing a veteran soldier always feels like someone sticking their thumb in your eye, rarely could you trace back a move that wasn’t miscalculated on the player’s part.
But no matter how crushing a defeat may be, there’s something about how XCOM handles loss that empowers the player to take what they’ve learned while providing the tools to reassess their strategy.
Fair to say, this plays a role in why I have never been burnt out on XCOM. Sure, I may take week or month breaks from time to time. I’m not an XCOM addict, after all. But I have been playing XCOM off and on every year since Enemy Unknown was released back in 2012.
So why do I keep returning to the white-knuckle turn-based gameplay of XCOM? What separates the series from other strategy games I toiled away at over the years?
Neil and I unpack that very question with the help of returning friend of the show and regular Bloody Disgusting contributor Aaron Boehm as we chat about XCOM‘s anecdotal nature, strong series entries and uncover what it is about XCOM that we all just can’t entirely quit. –Jay Krieger
Safe Room is a weekly horror video game discussion podcast with new episodes every Monday on iTunes/Apple, Sticher, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Linktree for additional streaming services.
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Podcasts
Freddy’s Back, So Is Jason, ‘Hellraiser’ Goes to Horror Nights, and ‘The Odyssey’ [Halloweenies Podcast]
Coming Soon & Now Showing is a monthly series on Halloweenies that catches up on the latest horror headlines and round robins capsule reviews of new and old horrors.
This week, Michael Roffman and McKenzie Gerber hit up Elm Street, Haddonfield, and Crystal Lake before braving the high seas to discuss the horrors within Christopher Nolan‘s The Odyssey. They also review this year’s Exit 8 and Forbidden Fruits before dusting off old classics for the first time in 2020’s Caveat and 1985’s The Mean Season.
Stream the episode below. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and RSS. New to the Halloweenies? Catch up with the gang by revisiting their essential episodes on past franchises such as Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Scream, The Evil Dead, Chucky, Alien, and the Universal Monsters.This year? Hellraiser!
You can also become a member of their Patreon, The Rewind, for hilariously irreverent commentaries (e.g. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Re-Animator, Darkman), one-off deep dives on your favorite rentals (e.g. Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Manhunter, ), and even spinoffs like their recent run Fortune & Glory: An Indiana Jones Podcast.