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PODCAST

Tales from the Backlog

A video games podcast where Dave Jackson and guests break down and discuss the games they play. Each episode looks at one game in depth, focusing on mechanics, story, music and other aspects, with no spoilers until a clearly marked spoiler wall in the middle.

leisure video games

All Episodes

1:44:31

173: Max Payne (with Nomad - The Retro Wildlands)

Tales from the Backlog ·

2025/07/09

Support my work on Patreon (https://patreon.com/realdavejackson)Two podcasters entered the room on a collision course, one with a backlog the size of a mobster's rap sheet, the other with one foot in the past. There was only one way out of this mess- one podcast to end them all. The subject was an old friend, if you consider a man out of options a friend. A man with a thirst for revenge that nothing could quench- Max Payne. Guest info: Nomad (The Retro Wildlands) * Listen to The Retro Wildlands

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1:56:37

172: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (with Dan -...

Tales from the Backlog ·

2025/07/02

Support my work on Patreon (https://patreon.com/realdavejackson)As a lifelong Indiana Jones agnostic, there was no way that MachineGames would make an Indiana Jones game I would care about, right? Right? Well, it certainly looked that way when the first gameplay trailer for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle dropped. But then I started hearing my activation phrases start to bounce around- "this is like Hitman", "this is like Dishonored", so I knew I had to give it a try. And boy am I glad that I

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1:55:56

171: El Paso, Elsewhere (with Jacob McCourt & Luke...

Tales from the Backlog ·

2025/06/25

Support my work on Patreon (https://patreon.com/realdavejackson)Strange Scaffold is a rare game studio that gets as much, or maybe even more, positive attention for their workplace ethos and number of releases per year as they do for their games themselves. I found myself in that same position, with great respect for their process, but no experience with the games themselves....until now! El Paso, Elsewhere is an emotional take on neo-noir, vampire stories, Max Payne and boomer shooters, and it

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2:36:04

170: Lunacid (with Dave Cox)

Tales from the Backlog ·

2025/06/18

Support my work on Patreon (https://patreon.com/realdavejackson)I was admittedly very late to the King's Field and Shadow Tower bandwagons, energized by my love for FromSoftware's modern titles and a desire to dig into their history some more. However, I didn't anticipate loving those games so much that I wanted more like them, and that's where Kira LLC's Lunacid (2023) entered the fray. Lunacid is a fantastic game, leaning more on the exploration and vibes of those FromSoftware dungeon crawlers

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2:26:28

169: South of Midnight (with Kate Sánchez)

Tales from the Backlog ·

2025/06/11

Support my work on Patreon (https://patreon.com/realdavejackson)Some games just grab your attention from the first trailer, and South of Midnight is one of those games. A breathtaking art style and a gothic Southern fantasy setting? South of Midnight jumped straight to the top of my to-play list, and it did not disappoint. Guest info: Kate Sánchez of But Why Tho? * Check out all of the writing and reporting on But Why Tho? https://butwhytho.net/ * Check out Kate's article on the folklore

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3:17:57

168: Persona 4 Golden (with Flora Merigold)

Tales from the Backlog ·

2025/06/04

Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejacksonPersona games are a tough sell for a guy who does a weekly podcast like this, so thank you to my wonderful patrons for voting Persona 4 Golden onto the show. While it has all of the pacing issues that you would expect an 80 hour game to have, I thought this is, in some ways, the best of the Persona 4/5/Metaphor trio that I've played in the last five years. Tune in to the episode to find out why. Guest Info: Flora Merigold * Find her

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2:19:17

167: Lorelei and the Laser Eyes (with Jesse Guarascia)

Tales from the Backlog ·

2025/05/28

What if Resident Evil 1 was just puzzles? What if it was also about eccentric artists and how they view their art and the creative process vs how their work is perceived? Lorelei and the Laser Eyes (Simogo, 2024) is that game! Tune in to find out how we felt about it!Guest Info: Jesse Guarascia * Find Jesse's work on Noclip's YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@NoclipDocs * Support Noclip on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/cw/noclip * Check out Blowback https://blowback.show/ * Follow on

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1:50:52

166: Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown (with Derek Van Dyke)

Tales from the Backlog ·

2025/05/21

Support my work on Patreon (https://patreon.com/realdavejackson)I can hear it now- "Another Ace Combat game? Didn't Dave just do one?" and the answer to those questions is "You bet your ass I'm doing another one, I'm IN IT NOW"....ahem, Ace Combat rules, and Ace Combat 7 (Bandai Namco, 2019) is the most Ace Combat that Ace Combat has ever been. Join us as we give it the deep dive! Guest info: Derek Van Dyke * Follow on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/derekvandyke.bsky.social * Check out Derek's

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33:44

PAX East 2025 Wrap-Up

Tales from the Backlog ·

2025/05/19

Support my work on Patreon- https://www.patreon.com/realdavejackson PAX East 2025 show floor was dominated by indie games, and here are all 17 of the indie games that I had a chance to play! Thank you to the folks at PAX for allowing me to cover the convention! TIMESTAMPS * 0:00 Intro * 0:47 Tanuki: Pon's Summer https://store.steampowered.com/app/3218570/TANUKIPonsSummer/ * 2:39 Airframe Ultra https://store.steampowered.com/app/2522120/AirframeUltra/ * 4:18 Ultimate Sheep Raccoon

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1:35:06

165: SUPERHOT (with Emily Merritt - No Small Games)

Tales from the Backlog ·

2025/05/14

Support my work on Patreon https://patreon.com/realdavejacksonIs it really the most innovative shooter I've played in years? SUPERHOT Team struck gold with this idea, did just enough with it, and got out before things got stale. Now that's what I call SUPER. HOT. Guest info: Emily Merritt aka aspecificegg * Check out No Small Games https://nosmallgames.com/ * Follow No Small Games on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/nosmallgames.bsky.social * Catch Emily on Twitch

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2:17:34

164: Monster Hunter Wilds (with Brad Gallaway)

Tales from the Backlog ·

2025/05/07

Support my work on Patreon (https://patreon.com/realdavejackson)Review code provided by Capcom. Thank you! Monster Hunter has been around for a long time, but has only recently fully broken into the mainstream. And with mainstream success comes grumbling from longtime fans. Is the game actually too streamlined? Does quality of life take away from quality of game? And what about the new focus on the story? All that and more in this lengthy discussion. Guest info: Brad Gallaway * Check out written

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2:34:58

163: Vagrant Story (with Aidan Moher)

Tales from the Backlog ·

2025/04/30

Like many of Square's RPGs of the late 90's and early 2000's, Vagrant Story is an ambitious, flawed, divisive and fantastic RPG, full of big ideas that didn't get a chance to full develop into what was planned. What we got was only one part of a larger saga (see also: Xenogears from just a few years prior), a game that stands on its own, proudly displaying all of the rough edges and brilliant ideas for all to see. It made for a great discussion on the podcast!Guest info: Aidan Moher * Check out

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2:01:39

162: Prey (2006) (with Asa GreenRiver)

Tales from the Backlog ·

2025/04/23

No, this isn't the Arkane Studios Prey, this is the one that Arkane was forced to name their game after for no good reason. In fact, that's what got me interested in Human Head Studios' Prey (2006) in the first place, even before I learned what the game is about. So what did we think of this shooter caught between two eras, with seemingly 10 different puzzle mechanics? How did we find a rare AAA attempt at indigenous representation? Listen in and find out!Guest info: Asa GreenRiver * BlueSky

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2:45:34

161: Wanderstop (with Matt aka Stormageddon & CGDannyB)

Tales from the Backlog ·

2025/04/16

Review code provided by Ivy Road- thank you!I think we all viewed Davey Wreden's new project announcement, a "cozy game about making tea", with a bit of side-eye. Is it really just going to be about making tea? You sure there isn't going to be a subversion in there? Are you still reading this? Well, Wanderstop is here, and it may not have the type of subversion that we expected, but it is most definitely not just a cozy game about making tea. This is a longer episode, because there is just that

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1:44:19

160: Sifu (with Ryan Juengling - List Off)

Tales from the Backlog ·

2025/04/09

From the first trailer, I knew that Sifu (Sloclap, 2022) looked like a game I wanted to play. There was just one small thing- it released two weeks before Elden Ring, and I was clearing the decks in a big way. No mental bandwidth to get stuck in a demanding action game. And so I waited. And waited. And forgot about it. And waited some more. And now, in 2025, after Elden Ring is (maybe) finished, it was time to revisit Sifu. And boy...it was worth the wait. Guest Info: Ryan Juengling of List Off *

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2:13:51

159: Metaphor: ReFantazio (with Scott White)

Tales from the Backlog ·

2025/04/02

Only one studio out there can inspire the following sentence- the first time I saw the menu UI in Metaphor: ReFantazio, I knew that Atlus and Studio Zero were cooking. They've mastered the art of making menu-based RPGs flashy and stylish, as well as mastering the "Persona" calendar-based structure in general. On several fronts, this is the best game this studio has made, but left us wanting in a few areas as well. Listen in to this deep dive discussion and let us know what you think!Guest info:

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2:49:47

158: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (with...

Tales from the Backlog ·

2025/03/26

In my ongoing first-time playthrough of the Metal Gear Solid series, we've arrived at the canonical end of Solid Snake's story, while seeing series creator Hideo Kojima at his most self-indulgent (yet) and most creative. Metal Gear Solid is a series of multitudes, and 2008's Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is no different. Listen in to find out what we thought!Guest info: Geoff Moonen * Check out "Fun" and Games podcast https://funandgames.libsyn.com/ * Follow Geoff on BlueSky

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1:59:57

157: Unpacking (with Kate Hunter - No Small Games)

Tales from the Backlog ·

2025/03/19

Ever since the podcast started in 2021, I always knew I'd do an episode about Unpacking (Witch Beam, 2021) someday. John Fogerty sang that someday never comes, but here we are, and Unpacking is on the show! Unpacking is a great example of using the interactivity of video games to tell a story in a unique, gameplay-forward way. Through the ONE SIMPLE TRICK of unpacking boxes and organizing your stuff when you move, a life story is told, and it's fantastic. Listen in for the deep-dive

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1:51:06

156: Mouthwashing (with Ash Parrish)

Tales from the Backlog ·

2025/03/12

Mouthwashing (Wrong Organ, 2024) is a rare horror game that gets scarier after you finish the game. Its nonlinear structure, reality-blurring presentation and subtle (at times) storytelling leave you to put the pieces together yourself. Once you do that, you'll find a strikingly real story where the most unbelievable thing is the fact that it takes place in outer space. We had a great discussion on the show about what this game says about certain types of leaders, what "taking responsibility" means,

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1:52:58

155: Shenmue (with Luis Aguasvivas)

Tales from the Backlog ·

2025/03/05

I remember reading about Shenmue (AM2 of CRI, Sega, 2000) in the magazines back in the day and really marveling at how cool it all sounded- a revenge/investigation story, a town with characters that live their own lives outside of interacting with you, life in small-town Japan...but I didn't have a Dreamcast, so I never got to play it and eventually forgot about it as everyone else seemed to move on too. But over the past 5 years, I've also become a huge fan of the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series, and I

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232 results

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