x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Describing The Skybox

Describing The Skybox

WELCOME TO DESCRIBING THE SKYBOX! We are a fortnightly, book club-styled podcast in which we attempt to go in-depth on an individual video game and figure out what makes it unique. Episodes are around an hour to an hour and a half long and primarily feature free form discussion on themes and mechanics present in each episode’s titular game. Bear in mind that we are not reviewers, so as far as we critique the games at hand, our intent is not to convince you to play any particular work. SPOILER

games & hobbies video games

All Episodes

00:47:52

NOCLIP Pocket E61 - Juice Heads - Gemini Rue

Describing The Skybox ·

2022/05/20

We hope you’ll listen to this podcast so we don’t have to wipe your memory again. Welcome to Mystery May! This week, we’re going to be talking about Gemini Rue, a detective point and click adventure game with a cyberpunk setting. This game came out during an era that you could call the Adventure game revival period, if you think the genre actually was revived at some point, but the important thing is that it is obvious the design was inspired by classic adventure games. There are several ways to

en-US

01:37:21

Episode 130 - Big Ice Bag - Donkey Kong Country:...

Describing The Skybox ·

2022/04/30

Podcast juice, huh? I have no idea what it is, dude, but it tastes radical! Welcome back to the podcast and our final episode in Ape-ril! We’re going to be discussing Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. This is a sequel to Donkey Kong Country Returns which is itself a spiritual follow up to the original series of games from the SNES, which puts this in a fairly odd position as a part of the franchise. A lot of the base elements of the game are tied to those original titles as the new series

en-US

00:49:21

NOCLIP Pocket E60 - Freshly-Jellied - Ape Escape

Describing The Skybox ·

2022/04/23

What’s happening? What’s wrong with you? Do you realize what you’re saying? Do you know who you’re talking to? Snap out of it! Pull yourself together! Can you hear me? Welcome back to the podcast! For our second pocket episode for the very cohesive and not stupid in any way themed month of Ape-ril, we’re going to be talking about Ape Escape. This is a Playstation 1 title that necessitates the use of the Dual-Shock analog controller. Which in the grand scheme of things doesn’t necessarily sound

en-US

01:14:04

Episode 129 - The Wheeling Wizpigs - Diddy Kong Racing

Describing The Skybox ·

2022/04/16

You must find 8 podcasts from each level and WIN. Welcome back to the podcast, and to our stupidest themed month yet, Ape-ril! Today, we’re going to be talking about Diddy Kong Racing. This is Rare’s effort in the kart racing genre, and we’re willing to bet that if you’re around our age and had an N64, you probably have some positive memories of this game. Cherish them. Those memories betray how soul crushingly difficult this game is to play. The core concepts at play here in this game are

en-US

00:46:59

NOCLIP Pocket E59 - A Crossover With Lettuce - Super...

Describing The Skybox ·

2022/04/09

Ready? Podcast! Hurry up! Welcome back to the podcast! Today, we’re starting our hopefully not recurring theme month of Ape-ril by talking about Super Monkey Ball! While we ended up playing a little of the first game and a bit of Banana Mania for this episode, the original games do sort of conglomerate in your head if you’ve played them both, so it seems fair to consider this more of a look at the series rather than a specific game. The Monkey Ball games are defined by their mechanical design:

en-US

02:44:49

Episode 128 - The Hill That Killed Me - Elden Ring

Describing The Skybox ·

2022/03/28

Put these podcast ambitions to rest. Welcome back to the podcast, where we absolutely couldn’t not talk about Elden Ring. This is the latest game from From Software, the developer behind the Dark Souls franchise and the creator of the genre that spawned a million imitators. These are all things you probably knew before going in, though. The surprising thing about Elden Ring though is just how much like Dark Souls it ends up being. The design philosophy behind all of the Souls-like titles is

en-US

00:47:09

NOCLIP Pocket E58 - White Knuckle Frenzy - Dragon's Lair

Describing The Skybox ·

2022/03/20

To slay the podcast, use the magic sword! Welcome to NOCLIP Pocket! Today, we’re going to be talking about Dragon’s Lair and it’s sequels and spinoffs, which were all developed for arcades and use the animation of Don Bluth. The animation is really the selling point of these games, and if you can put yourself in an arcade in the 80s, you can imagine how these would stand out. The hand drawn animation recalls Bluth’s movies and makes up most of what appears on screen, with the only UI elements

en-US

01:32:17

Episode 127 - Slaps Soft Ass - Shovel Knight

Describing The Skybox ·

2022/03/13

Steel thy podcast! Welcome back! Today, we’re going to be talking about Shovel Knight, the 2D platformer developed by Yacht Club Games in the long ago age of 2014. Yes, this is an older game that has been talked to death already, but it was definitely interesting to see it now with more or less fresh eyes, particularly in todays landscape where the game is taken as sort of a given. Shovel Knight exploded on the scene when it released because it was an indie 2D platformer that seemed to actually

en-US

00:41:12

NOCLIP Pocket E57 - Group Project Vibes - The Bouncer

Describing The Skybox ·

2022/03/06

I don’t care if I destroy my podcast, as long as I slaughter all of you! Welcome to the final episode of Fanbruary, which happens to be in March, but February is a short month so cut us some slack. In this episode, we’re going to be talking about The Bouncer, a weird little 3D beat ‘em up from Square and the first game they released on PS2. This game feels like a release that was feeling out what could be done on the new hardware, that Square would eventually put to use in the games that would

en-US

01:32:12

Episode 126 - Coulda, Shoulda, Keycards - Prey

Describing The Skybox ·

2022/02/26

We spent years trying to put the podcast into you, we never tried to put you into the podcast. Welcome back! We’ve had a pretty good time so far on Fanbruary, the month where our listeners select the games we play, and we’re going to continue that good time with Prey, the 2017 Arcane immersive sim game. Prey is a first person shooter, but with a heavy focus on systems and a wide array of things the player can do, either by default or by spending some resources to unlock abilities. This is fairly

en-US

00:43:47

NOCLIP Pocket E56 - Gorgon Conclusions - Killing Zone

Describing The Skybox ·

2022/02/19

Sensational 3-D Podcast! Hooooo boy, welcome back to the podcast. This week, as part of Fanbruary, we’re talking about Killing Zone, a PS1 fighting game starring some conspicuously public domain monsters. You might ask, is this game good? That’s a really fair question. No, it’s not great, for sure, but what it does provide is nostalgia (and at least one pretty cool idea, but I’ll get to that later). Sure, maybe your favorite games are actually good, but I bet all of you have at least one game

en-US

01:33:13

Episode 125 - Strawberry Laser - Everspace

Describing The Skybox ·

2022/02/13

You’re a podcast? Then why didn’t you attack on sight? Welcome back! This month is Fanbruary, which means that we are playing games suggested to us by our audience, and the very first we’ve chosen to cover is Everspace. This is a space combat game with a rougelite framework, seeing you making runs through six different “Sectors” to explore and collect resources and starting from the beginning each time you die. The “lite” part of the genre title comes in the form of credits, the game’s

en-US

00:50:29

NOCLIP Pocket E55 - The Birdboss Challenge -...

Describing The Skybox ·

2022/01/30

This sacred podcast is one of the few untouched spots. Welcome back to NOCLIP pocket! Today, we’re going to be talking about Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight, which is the fourth game in the Momodora series, but the first one to really take off. This is a Metroidvania game, but one that is surprisingly compact. It’s fairly rare in the genre to have a game this short, and it brings with it some disadvantages but also some surprising advantages. The smaller map makes backtracking and

en-US

01:42:18

Episode 124 - Imagine Skin - Metroid Dread

Describing The Skybox ·

2022/01/23

You have been stripped of most abilities. You might call it podcast amnesia. Welcome back to the podcast! Today, we’re going to be talking about Metroid Dread, the 5th mainline 2D Metroid game, which is admittedly a lot of qualifiers. Dread picks up following the events of Fusion, a game that was nearly 19 years old at Dread’s release, and carries over its story elements as well as some of the design that made Fusion feel different from the games that preceded it. For example, Dread feels like

en-US

00:46:27

NOCLIP Pocket E54 - Humble Bumble - Wandersong

Describing The Skybox ·

2022/01/15

I hope I was able to prove I’m more handy than the average podcast. Welcome back! Our first game of 2022 is going to be Wandersong, the indie adventure game that refused to just be an indie adventure game. In this game, you play a Bard who is clued in to the forthcoming apocalypse and sets out on an adventure to save the world. Carried by an immutable (literally and figuratively) enthusiasm, the Bard overcomes obstacles using a combination of song and some light platforming mechanics. Tonally,

en-US

01:20:21

The NOCLIP Awards 2021 - Non Falafel Content for Eating

Describing The Skybox ·

2022/01/08

We’re rolling out the green carpet, and not just to play executive golf. The NOCLIP Awards are our most important annual tradition, and we’re back again this year with a new crop of categories alongside our old favorites. Find out what game did jumping the worst, which game focused the most on its mechanics and least on anything else, and join us as we figure out which host knows the other the best in our own version of the Newlyweds Game. All this and many (or at least some) more will be debated

en-US

01:54:01

Episode 123 - 3,000 Emails - Life is Strange: True...

Describing The Skybox ·

2021/12/18

Bah! What a thankless life! Being a podcaster in the age of monsters! Welcome back to the podcast! Today, we’re going to be talking about Life is Strange: True Colors, because we just can’t quit this series apparently. The third game follows the gameplay precedents the series has adhered to thus far, being an adventure game in the “Telltale style” (a term that seems more and more dated since the studio was closed and then reanimated), that focuses on dialog trees and choice-matters narrative

en-US

00:33:01

NOCLIP Pocket E53 - Medicinal Straw - Toem

Describing The Skybox ·

2021/12/11

A new podcast has been added to your HikeLady, Welcome back to the podcast! Today, we’re going to be talking about Toem, a photo-taking adventure game from developer Something We Made, and a game that is, well, frankly, sort of squarely in our wheelhouse. In Toem, you are tasked with going from place to place and fulfilling requests, which you do by using your camera and some limited environmental interaction to solve puzzles and obtain items. The camera is definitely the most noteworthy

en-US

02:11:05

Episode 122 - Narrow Guillotine Alley - The Legend of...

Describing The Skybox ·

2021/12/05

Would you like to hear what I said again? Welcome back! I don’t know how much I really need to say about Ocarina of Time, it’s one of the few axioms of video games that you can just assume people know about and understand. This game accomplished a lot for the industry at the time, making a lasting impact on both games, in the form of how design changed after it came out, and players who would use it as a point of comparison for action adventure games for years to come. But we’re playing it now,

en-US

00:41:22

NOCLIP Pocket E52 - Free the Jesus Trapped Inside -...

Describing The Skybox ·

2021/11/20

All hail Podcast John! Welcome back to NOCLIP Pocket! Today, we’re talking about The Procession to Calvary, a point and click adventure game with an art style composed entirely of renaissance era paintings. If that hasn’t already sold you on the idea, then I don’t really know what your deal is. Comparisons to Monty Python are pretty common in the discourse surrounding this game, and it’s pretty clear why that is, given the art style and the game’s emphasis on humor. To some extent, the game is

en-US

336 results

Similar Podcasts

SpawnCast

Spawn Wave

Autoblog News

おしゃべりサニバ～ボードゲーム大作戦改～

おしゃべりサニバ～ボードゲーム大作戦改～

Crónicas del Multiverso

La Quintaesencia

Game Dev Podcast | Coffee with Butterscotch

Butterscotch Shenanigans