A Winner Is You (A Winner Is You)

Steel thy earphones and get ready for a 10th birthday celebration for the almighty indie gem that is Yacht Club's Shovel Knight.

We take a deep dive into every main stage of the game, the bosses, the music, the development, the Kickstarter, and more! If you're playing the game to mark the anniversary, you need this pod!

Rate/review/subscribe! Say hi @winnerisyoupod

We don't need to introduce this one. It's Halo. Halo is GOAT.

Come say hi over @winnerisyoupod or email us awinnerisyoupod@gmail.com

Rate/review on your pod platform of choice please!

See you next episode for MAYtroidvania 2024!

BOO! Spooky season is upon us and, as we are contractually obligated, so is Spooktoberfest! Once again we bring you a terrifying dose of Halloween havoc with a whole month of horror podcasts.

Up first this year is Bloober Team's 2016 cult hit, Layers of Fear. Alex was genuinely terrified by this game, while David was a much braver boy.

We delve deep into the story of the game and do our best to explain all the subtle things you may have missed.

Please rate/review on your pod platform of choice, check out the video version on YouTube if you like faces, and say hi to us on Twitter @winnerisyoupod.

We're back on the clock for another Video Game Draft special! This time, it's what we believe to be the greatest games of 2002 that are under the spotlight. 

As with before, we are joined by KDB from the Gears Intel and First Aid Spray podcasts (among many others), and once again the three of us take turns to draft 10 games each, then find the Metacritic score for all the games, add it all up and the person with the highest total score at the end wins. 

There are some real corkers to choose from 2002 - Wind Waker, Metroid Prime, GTA: Vice City, Urban Yeti!, Nancy Drew: Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake, Jazz Jackrabbit, Resident Evil REmake, and Go! Go! Beckham! Adventure on Soccer Island. 

Alex is the current reigning champeen. Can anyone stop his march towards greatness, or will he storm into a 2-0-0 lead? 

Don't forget to tweet us @winnerisyoupod or email awinnerisyoupod@gmail.com - and give us a rating on your podcast app, yeah?

We needed a bit more time to bring you Resident Evil 1 so to fill the gap we decided to go through all 10 Resident Evil games we've covered so far on the podcast. Including Resident Evil 1 because Alex knows it well and David was right near the end of the game. And Resident Evil 6 because we started playing it for the podcast and had enough. And Dino Crisis because we say so.

The 10 games being ranked for now - until we get through another couple of years when we'll come back to it - are: Resident Evil, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, Dino Crisis, Resident Evil 0, Resident Evil 5, Resident Evil 6, Resident Evil 7, Resident Evil 2 Remake, Resident Evil Village, and Resident Evil 4 Remake.

Let us know how you'd rank those games over @winnerisyoupod or via email to awinnerisyoupod@gmail.com and sorry about the audio issues. Alex had his input set to his cocking iPhone earphones mic and it was like having your ears turned into a Jill sandwich. We had to scrape the audio from the Discord video feed (where he had set it to the correct mic) but it was a proper patch-up. Next episode will sound beautiful. Promise!

Please rate/review the show on your pod platform of choice, you lovely people who are lovely to us.

A little later than usual, but we're finally ready to draw a line under 2023 with our annual GOTY Awards. Remember, friends, that our awards specifically cover the games covered on this podcast in 2023, so some winners/nominees will be old games.

Don't forget to rate/review us on your pod platform of choice, come say hi over @winnerisyoupod and get ready to go ape in the next episode with 10 years of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze!

We keep rollin' through Raccoon City for Summer of Resi 2023, this time with a big ol' bugger on our tail. Join us as we dive deep into the spinoff-turned-full-game (kinda), 1999's PS1 classic, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis.

As usual, we talk at length about the story, development, gameplay, legacy, and our own thoughts, with the obligatory dose of irreverent banter you expect from AWIY.

If you want to experience Resi 3 in the beautiful seamless HD the way we did when playing for this episode, you can download everything you need here: https://www.reshdp.com/re3/

Rate/review us on your pod platform of choice, please!

Check out the YouTube version of this podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@awinnerisyoupodcast1501

Say hi on Twitter to @winnerisyoupod, @davidsmillie1 and @superthrillex

The lads prepare for the upcoming Alan Wake II episode by fumbling around in the dark with Alan Wake. Honestly? It holds up even better than it felt originally!

We talk the story, episodic nature, action, characters, and much more!

Don't forget to rate/review on your pod platform of choice, check out YouTube for the video version, and come say hi to us on X @winnerisyoupod

Get your drafting pens at the ready, because we're back on the clock for another Video Game Draft! KDB - of First Aid Spray, Gears Intel, and Tapes From The Wastes fame - joins us once again to take turns picking 10 games each, this time from the year 2003, and determine a winner based on the total Metacritic scores for said games.

Will Alex make it a threepeat with his underhanded GBA game-picking tactics? Will David go mad and inexplicably keep picking American football games? Will KDB pick something that's actually terrible and kill his total score yet again? Tune in to find out, and play along if you want by hitting up the Wikipedia 'category: 2003 games' page and pick your own dream team.

Don't forget to leave us a review if you liked what you heard, and come say hello over on Twitter @winnerisyoupod. See you next episode for Resident Evil 4 Remake!

Ook ook, are you folks ready to go a... oh wait, I already did that one. Still, you don't need to be a king (preferably nobody is) to appreciate Kong around here - we absolutely love DKC: Tropical Freeze.

We love it so much, in fact, that we both rank it in our top 10 2D platformers of all time. After we get through praising the game for its 10th birthday, we talk about our individual lists of GOAT platformers.

Don't forget to rate/review us on your pod platform of choice, say hi over @winnerisyoupod and tune in next time for the inaugural February Film Fest episode!

Aye carumba! Are you folks ready to laugh? Well, you should be, because we bring you a podcast celebrating 20 years of the 2003 open world classic, The Simpsons: Hit & Run.

Does it hold up? Is it funny? Is it the best Simpsons game ever made? You better listen to find out.

Don't forget to rate/review on your platform of choice, say hi to us on X @winnerisyoupod, or check us out on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram.

If we're being honest, F.E.A.R. didn't really fill us with much fear, but it did fill a bunch of super soldiers with very slow-moving bullets that look cool. So, there's that.

The game does have horror leanings, especially with its Ring/Grudge influences, and we talk about that as well as the story, gunplay, visuals, development, trivia and much more!

Please rate/review the show on your pod platform of choice and come say hi on X @winnerisyoupod

We round off the madness of March and all its movie magnificence with two fantastic pieces of Batman media.

First up is the the latest entry into Batman's cinematic adventures, with 2022's grisly detective thriller, The Batman.

The second half of the pod is dedicated to one of the greatest licensed games of all time, the one that started a revolution - Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Follow us on Twitter @winnerisyoupod and please rate/review on your pod platform of choice!

Don't feel old, mate. We're all in this together, ageing like fine wine. Has Halo 2 done the same, or is it old and embarassing like your dad?

We talk through everything - gameplay, story, marketing, multiplayer, the 2014 remaster and much, much more.

Say hi @winnerisyoupod on twitter and/or BlueSky, watch us on YouTube, and please rate/review on your platform of choice - it probably helps.

Summer may finally be picking up, but it's still pretty drafty in here! We welcome back the handsome KDB for the 2009 Video Game Draft!

As always, we pick 10 games each, all from 2009, and then tot up their metacritic scores to decide a winner.

Rate/review/subscribe. Say hi @winnerisyoupod. See you next time for Shovel Knight!

We're back with another roller-coaster, tension-filled, laugh-a-minute Video Game Draft! Joined, as is the tradition, by The Man of 1000 Podcasts, Mr KDB, to take on The Ice Man (because Scotland), David, and The People's Champ, Alex in a battle to the death over the best games of 2004.

If you don't know the format by now, you suck, but as you should be aware, we each take turns to draft a game at time for 10 rounds and then total up the Metacritic scores to determine a winner. Alex is currently winning 2-1-0 over David and KDB respectively, but there's plenty of time for this tournament of kings to twist and turn. Can David win his second draft in a row? Will KDB finally get one over the line? Listen and find out!

Don't forget to leave us a review on your pod platforms, or send us tweets over to @winnerisyoupod. We will see you next time for a special event for the month of May - don't miss it!

We're in celebratory mood, as September '23 marks the 25th birthday of one of the seminal works in video games - the classic Kojima masterpiece Metal Gear Solid.

We both love the game, but there's definitely plenty of opportunity to poke fun at its eccentricities and nonsense. Alex also played Twin Snakes for comparison between the two, so we also chat about why that game is a bit of a black sheep (perhaps harshly).

Please rate/review on your pod platform of choice, check out our YouTube if you want to see the video version, and come say hi to us on Twitter @winnerisyoupod

Summer of Resi returns for Season Two! For the rest of the summer, we're focusing on nothing but Capcom's Resident Evil series - starting with the incredible 2019 remake of Resident Evil 2!

We chat about the game's development and release, dish out some trivia, a tonne of opinions, and go through the major moments in the campaigns of Leon and Claire.

See you next episode for Resident Evil 3: Nemesis!

Like/review/rate us on your pod app of choice. Please!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WinnerIsYouPod

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@awinnerisyoupodcast1501

TikTok: https://t.co/ZZLpcSz1Fn

We got one hell of a package for you this episode, pals! Yes, it really is 30 sodding years since we were able to gorge ourselves silly on four SNES-ified remakes of classic Super Mario Bros.

We take you through the development of the game, the key changes between the NES originals and the remakes, our feelings on each individual game and, of course, a music tier list!

Get in touch with us on Twitter @winnerisyoupod! Please rate/review/subscribe (and check us on YouTube if you want to look at beards)

We ride again, drafters! KDB joins us once more to pick 10 games each, this time from the year 2006, and total up their Metacritic scores to see who wins.

Will Kelsi retain his crown from 2005? Will David overtake Alex in the overall league table? Will Alex do something stupid like picking only games from Nintendo consoles? Oh, the suspense!

Don't forget to leave a rating/review on your pod platform of choice, and hit us up on Twitter (if you're still on there) @VG_HOF. We'll be on Threads and more soon when we can be arsed to make the accounts!

We satiate our hunger to get started with Summer of Resi by diving deep into the wonderfully nostalgic indie survival horror gem, Crow Country.

Developed mostly by one man, this truly is a gloriously reverential homage to classic Resi that stands as a veritable masterpiece in its own right.

Like, rate, review, subscribe! Come say hi @winnerisyoupod

Let's just take a moment to pay respects to an incredible video game. Alex finally managed to convince David to drop everything (mostly Apex Legends) and play through the campaign of Respawn's marvellous 2016 shooter, Titanfall 2. 

We discuss the, ahem, story and the relationship between Cooper and BT, the gunplay and Titan loadouts, the movement mechanics and level gimmicks, the game's development, its critical and commercial reception, and loads more! 

Don't forget to give us a rating on your pod platform of choice, and come say hi over @winnerisyoupod

It's a top 10, kinda top 20, list episode! Alex and David both have their own personal top 10s of Mega Drive and SNES games, mixing both platforms to create the ultimate list of 16-bit classics.

Cue a lot of Alex saying he didn't include certain games because he's shit at them, David adding most of Alex's to his backlog, and both of them not giving a tiny rat's arse if you disagree with their picks - it's all subjective, lads.

Rate/review on your pod platform, and tell us your favourite SNES and/or Mega Drive games over @winnerisyoupod.

We got to 100 episodes and went mad! As promised, we bring to you the first part in our magnum opus. Based on ranking the Xbox 360 as our favourite console back in episode 82, we promised you we'd eventually rank the top 100 games on the system. That begins now.

We'll be hitting 15 games per episode until the final part, which will be the final 10. Some of the below games may never leave the top 10, but you'll have to keep coming back to find out!

Up for ranking in this episode are:

Alan Wake

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Binary Domain

Bioshock

Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Dead Space

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

FIFA 10

Gears of War

Left 4 Dead 2

Limbo

Portal 2

Resident Evil 5

Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed

Split/Second

Enjoy the episode, thanks for being with us for 100 episodes. Here's to 100 more! That will be easier if you rate/review us on your pod platform of choice, tweet about us @winnerisyoupod, chat to us on BlueSky @winnerisyoupod or email us at awinnerisyoupod@gmail.com

It's back to the originals again, boys and girls, as we tackle what is arguably still the jewel in the Resident Evil crown, 1998's Resident Evil 2.

We talk the story, the development, the RPD, the differences between this and the remake, all the differences in the A/B campaigns and much more!

Say hi @winnerisyoupod, email awinnerisyoupod@gmail.com and please tell your buddies about us - it'd really help x

Sometimes you just have the play the ball as it lies. We made this bed to finish Summer of Resi 2024 with the remake of Resident Evil 3 so, by god, we had a lie in it.

Is it really as bad as people say (not really)? Is it a terrible remake of the original (pretty much)? We have some pretty strong feelings on this one, and there are many laughs to be had along the way.

Hey! Rate this podcast 5* and tell your mates! Hey! We're on BlueSky now because Elon is a weapons grade bellend! We're still on X though, and it's @winnerisyoupod on whichever of those you choose to use. Also on YouTube and TikTok if you can't enjoy resting your eyes for even a second, you fucking zoomer.

We kick off our third annual Summer of Resi by bringing in KDB for a special video game draft - this time picking only Resident Evil games! The list with the highest total Metacritic (or GameRankings archive if the game is too old) wins! This one has some real shite in it towards the end. Resi history is a mixed bag as we all know! Say hi @winnerisyoupod and rate/review/sub on your pod platform of choice

25 years of one of the greatest Rare games, nae, N64 games, nae, 3D platformers, nae, video games of all time - Banjo-Kazooie!

We've been so excited to finally discuss a game beloved by us for such a large part of our lives, and this episode is a real corker. We've got trivia, we've got info on the game's development, we've got some critiquing of magazine reviews from the time, we've got a music tier list, and more! Banjo fans don't want to miss this one.

Don't forget to leave us a rating/review on your pod platform of choice, tweet us @winnerisyoupod or email awinnerisyoupod@gmail.com

To keep you on tenter hooks for a bit longer before we tackle Alan Wake 2, we pay respects to another Remedy sequel - 2003's Max Payne 2.

We chat about what the increased budget did for the game, where bullet time went, whether it's a puzzle game or not, the story, the legacy of the series, our hopes for the remasters and much more!

There's also time to chat about our plans for next year, including February Film Fest, which will start in 2024 and deliver a movie and game club episode all at once!

Side note: David recorded this podcast while suffering (unbeknownst at the time) from his third bout of Covid. So excuse if he says anything silly like Idris Elba is in Alan Wake 2. He was not himself!

Don't forget to rate/review/say hi to us @winnerisyoupod, and we'll see you next time for the ranking of every home console Christmas special!

Spooktoberfest comes to an end for another year with a horror games draft. Happy Halloween! Alex and David pick 10 games each across a variety of categories, and you lot get to vote on whose final list of 10 games is better. Do that over @winnerisyoupod on Twitter.

Don't forget to rate/review on your pod platform of choice, check out the YouTube version, and have a look at our stuff on TikTok.

Summer of Resi proper begins with what is still arguably the greatest remake of all time - the 2002 GameCube behemoth that is Resident Evil.

We dive deep into the game's development, the extended lore of the Trevor family, the differences between it and the 1996 original, and much more!

If you want to play the PC version of Resident Evil HD Remaster with the shiny and gorgeous graphics mods like we did, then head over to: https://www.nexusmods.com/residentevilbiohazardhdremaster/mods/6

Like/rate/review/sub on your platform of choice, say hi @winnerisyoupod and we'll see you next episode for Resident Evil 2!

Ook ook. Are you folks ready to go ape? That's right, we're in Kong country, and it's a pretty big country, so we've decided to cram in Rare's iconic SNES classics Donkey Kong Country and Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest into one podcast!

We'll talk, as usual, about our own opinions and historical experiences with the game, the development, its reception, and we're picking out notable levels from each game to pour over. So get comfortable, check on your banana horde, dust off your mine cart and ready yourself for some monkey mayhem! In podcast form!

Don't forget to leave us a review if you like what you hear, tweet us @winnerisyoupod, or email us via awinnerisyoupod@gmail.com

Three men. Ten games each to draft. 30 Metacritic scores. One winner.

The year is 2005, and Xbox 360 has just hit the shelves, while the Nintendo DS further finds its groove in the handheld space alongside the PSP. As we begin to say goodbye to the sixth generation of consoles the decisions get even tougher, but our handsome and intrepid podcasters aren't fazed.

Alex currently leads the league with two wins and two 2nd places, but the more important question is just when will KDB get himself off the mark with a win? Is 2005 his year? Tune in to find out!

The list of games we drafted from, as always, the Wikipedia 2005 category, so hit this up if you want to see what we were working with: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:2005_video_games⁠

Don't forget to give us a review/rating on your pod apps, follow us on Twitter @winnerisyoupod, and sub to David's new blog here: ⁠https://supersmillie.substack.com/

KDB returns to the pod for another hard-hitting, smack-talking, game-picking, JRPG-lamenting video game draft!

This time, we each draft 10 games from the year 2007, and total up their metacritic scores to determine a winner.

Don't forget to rate/review on your pod platform of choice, and come say hi to us on X over @winnerisyoupod

We couldn't help ourselves. Once you go full Necromorph, you never go back. Well, you do go back... to Dead Space. Specifically to its sequel, as we set virtual sail for Titan Station in 2011's blockbuster (except in terms of sales) Dead Space 2.

A much more linear, action-heavy game than the original, it doesn't stop Visceral's efforts from still feeling as satisfying and scary as it did 11 years ago. We chat about the ongoing trials and tribulations of Isaac Clarke after he awakens in a mental hospital aboard a space station on one of Saturn's moons known as The Sprawl, and the endless nightmare he endures thereafter. 

How does the story hold up? Is the combat still great? Is the game scary or just relentlessly full-on? What weapons did we use this time? We answer these questions and many more in typical AWIY deep dive fashion.  

Don't forget to leave us a review on your pod platform of choice, and head over to @winnerisyoupod on Twitter to get in touch!

A few episodes ago we late fate decide six games we were going to play, all from the SNES and Mega Drive libraries available on Nintendo Switch Online. Those games were:

• Battletoads in Battlemaniacs
• Claymates
• Comix Zone
• Kirby's Dream Land 3
• Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
• Target Earth

It's safe to say we didn't love most of these, but if you know one thing about this podcast, it's that things generally get more entertaining the angrier we get!

Rate/review/sub on your pod platforms, check us out on YouTube and/or TikTok, say hi @winnerisyoupod

Chuck on your jersey, pad up your shins, take your energy drinks, make sure the laces are out (Dan) and get ready to kick off - it's the AWIY Sports Video Game Draft!

David and Alex each draft 10 sports games across a variety of categories ranging from arcade to motorsport, and you get to vote on whose list of 10 is better!

Head on over to @winnerisyoupod on Twitter/X to cast your vote on who is the draft winner!

Welcome, one and all, to the inaugural Video Game Draft! We're doing something a little different in 2023 with this bonus new episode type. We got our buddy KDB (@K_D_B_) from the Gears Intel podcast (which also includes the two of us) to join us as we look back on the year 2001 in gaming in a fun and competitive way.

The basic premise is that we determine a draft order and then each take turns picking 10 games, one per round for 10 rounds, from everything released in 2001. Once we have our 10 games picked, we then look up the games' individual Metacritic critic review scores, and the person with the highest total for all their 10 games wins. 

It starts off pretty easy, as there are a number of huge games from 2001, but as you get down the pecking order and into the later rounds, you're left with more niche or potentially underrated titles. We aim to keep this going for as long as it remains fun, so we'll be keeping a running tally of winners. 

We used the Wikipedia page for 2001 games to draft from, so here it is if you want to follow along. Don't forget to tweet us @winnerisyoupod if you want to request a game for us to cover, or just to chat! See you next episode for some Dead Space Remake!

It's spooky season once again, and we are nothing if not men of tradition. It's a two-parter this year, and first up is a game we've wanted to play for years: Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem.

A GameCube launch window gem, this game has a still-unique sanity system that brilliantly fucks with the player, some great puzzling, a deep magic system, top voice acting and much more to recommend. All of which you'll hear in this episode.

Say hi on Twitter @winnerisyoupod, rate/review/sub on your platform of choice, and we'll see you for part 2 with Silent Hill 2 (both versions)

Grab your popcorn and curl up for a movie night with the lads. In a new annual feature, we're combining a movie with a game on our pods for the month of March, and first up is a cracking combo.

We watched the 1988 classic RoboCop (Alex also watched RoboCop 2) and played RoboCop: Rogue City so we can talk about both of them in one pod!

Don't forget to rate/review on your pod platform of choice, say hi over @winnerisyoupod and stay tuned for the next instalment of Triple M, where we'll be covering The Batman + Batman: Arkham Asylum.

PS. Sorry about the audio not being as good as normal this episode. Alex had the wrong input selected when recording so we had to edit the pod using the audio from the Discord call. It'll be better next time, please don't tell ED-209 about this.

MAYtroidvania concludes with the 2009 award-winner from Epic Games, Shadow Complex. We discuss the game's hilariously terrible story, its map design, upgrade system, controls and combat, development and more!

Don't forget to leave us a review/rating and subscribe, tweet us @winnerisyoupod or email awinnerisyoupod@gmail.com

Tell the girls you're off to do something manly and cool, because we're actually all off to the Games Workshop together to purge some scum in Warhammer 40k: Boltgun. An unabashed homage to Doom (just look at the box art) set in the Warhammer universe, this isn't Roy Hodgson's Warhammer. No, sir, this is a blood-soaked, viscera-splattered gore-fest of glorious, righteous violence.

With gameplay and visuals straight out of the late '90s, these games can often become a bit of a slog once you get sick of traipsing round for 20 minutes looking for the COCK-SHITTING BLUE KEY... but does Boltgun fall into that same trap? Does it have bollocks AI? A terrible soundtrack? Is it better than Doom? Does it have the best guns in the boomer shooter game? Listen to find out!

Don't forget to check out and sub to David's SubStack over at https://supersmillie.substack.com/ and follow us on Twitter @winnerisyoupod. Rate, review, subscribe, love.

Imagine if we did a bait and switch and halfway through the pod we just start talking about fucking Roblox or something. That's what you did to us, Kojima!

Nah, Raiden's alright with us. He's had a rough life. Probably just misses his old glasses. But yeah, we're talking about Metal Gear Solid 2 and it's one of the best pods we've ever done. If you don't listen, don't blame us for your lack of enlightenment.

Come say hi @winnerisyoupod, rate/review on your pod platform of choice and we'll see you next time for Halo: CE.

It’s the first podcast of 2024, and the first since the apparently infamous console ranking! As such, the lads are forced to deal with the Sega Nutters of Twitter and the realisation that ranking the Sega Saturn below the Wii U is some kind of a hate crime against miserable little incels who really need to touch grass.

So, if it’s ok with you, we’d like to talk about how amazing Alan Wake 2 is. Please don’t also bully us on Twitter for that (@winnerisyoupod either way). We’re only ever here to celebrate video games, and this one is an absolute masterpiece.

Don't forget to rate/review on your pod platform of choice, and we'll see you next time for GOTY 2023!

KDB rejoins his best friends for a distinctly, well, friendly draft. This time, it's 2008 under the microscope, as the lads all draft 10 games each from the year and hope to have the best metacritic score by the end.

David's won the last two in a row, and is looking for a cheeky hat-trick. KDB just doesn't want to lose again. You can play along by checking the list of 2008 games we drafted from here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:2008_video_games

There's also a bonus bit of chat about Alone in the Dark, Dave the Diver and FFVII Remake.

Like/rate/review/subscribe/be nice. Say hi @winnerisyoupod and we'll see you next episode for Metal Gear Solid 2!

It's MAYtroidvania... in June! Sorry for the delay on this one, lads, but life stuff got in the way.

Speaking of life stuff, Alex's audio had to take a hit on this episode in order to remove the background screaming of his two-year-old daughter's unfortunatley-timed hissy fit (when she should have been asleep like a good girl). Spare a thought for Mrs. Alex who had to try and calm down the little mite!

Anyway, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is a proper banger. One of the best metroidvania games in years, and arguably the best PoP game ever made - this is not a game, or pod, to be missed!

An update to the end of the pod - Racing Lagoon is, indeed, not for us. Sorry! Instead, join us next episode for the 2009 Video Game Draft, and Shovel Knight after that.

Like, subscribe, rate 5*, say hi @winnerisyoupod. Cheers x

Yeah, not the remake. We both bought the terribly-optimised PC version and... nah. Unplayable.

But hey, the original Silent Hill 2 is a masterpiece and one of the greatest horror games, if not the greatest, ever made. We have an epic chat about this seminal, groundbreaking game that is just as unsettling now as it was in 2001.

Trigger warning: this podcast contains discussions about sexual assault, mental illness, terminal illness, euthanasia, suicide and more dark topics that you probably already know are in the game. Just letting you know now - this pod gets pretty heavy at times.

Rate/review/sub, tell your friends, say hi to us on Twitter @winnerisyoupod.

The final game before Spooky Season is a strong contender for game of the year, and the best 3D platformer in bloody ages (and we do love one of those on this pod) - it's the PS5-chugging Astro Bot.

As a little bonus, Alex relays all the mad games he played while abject and directionless as David was away on a cruise for two weeks.

Say hi @winnerisyoupod on X, awinnerisyoupod on Instagram, or @winnerisyou on BlueSky. We're also on YouTube if you want to watch us while we chat, you fackin' perv.

This year's Summer of Resi rounds out with the game that started it all, the original Resident Evil for PlayStation.

Regular bros of the podcast will know we ranked this game 7th out of all the Resident Evils we've covered on the pod so far, but that doesn't mean we don't love it.

Don't forget to rate/review us on your pod platform of choice, check out the YouTube channel for video versions of the pods, and hit us up on X @WinnerIsYouPod

Our first new release pod of the year is the bone-chillingly fantastic Dead Space Remake. We're huge fans of the original game, and this remake is the goldest of gold standards on how to do it properly. 

We chat about the story, gameplay, world design, and highlight the changes between this and the original game. We loved our time with the game so much that we've decided to dive straight in to Dead Space 2 for the next episode! 

Tune in next time for that, and don't forget to tweet any questions or feedback to @winnerisyoupod or email us at awinnerisyoupod@gmail.com

Arise, yourself and your shadow, it's time for MAYtroidvania! You know we love a themed period of pods on this show, so for the month of May we've been (slowly) playing through some of the best Metroidvania (or 'search action' if you're a hipster) games to bring to you yet more pod goodness.

First up is the Kickstarter phenomenon, the game they totally made not shite after the first trailer, the return of Igavania - Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. Y'all may remember that last year David fell in love with Igarashi's masterpiece, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, so this was an easy sell to get him playing.

Does it live up to that lofty predecessor, or indeed anything else in the Igavania catalogue? Is the map too big? Is the voice acting too terrible? Is the game absolutely awesome? Listen and find out.

Don't forget to leave a review, tweet us @winnerisyoupod or email awinnerisyoupod@gmail.com

It's Mario. It's wonderful. It's Super Mario Bros. Wonder! Join us as we celebrate one of the highlights of the year, and the best 2D Mario since the SNES.

Don't forget to leave us a review/rating and come say hi to us over @winnerisyoupod on Twitter!

HO HO HO! For our holiday special, we basically lost our minds and decided to spend FOUR HOURS ranking every home video game console from Sega, Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft - starting with the Master System right up to the PS5!

It's a long debate, but you can't muck about with things of such importance, we're sure you're aware. What would your number one console of all time be? Let us know via @winnerisyoupod

Show some festive spirit by leaving us a review/rating on your pod platform of choice and have a yourself a merry little Christmas from A Winner is You!

What a biggie this is, and it's not even the Summer of Resi yet! Pop a Plagas suppository in your anus and join us in full Ganado glory for a chat about the remake to one of the greatest video games of all time - the mighty Resident Evil 4.

We discuss the history of the original game and its development, overall changes to the remake - like the new controls, voice actors, and mechanics - and dive deep going through the chapters of the game (with more discussions on what's changed from the OG). It's a huge pod for a huge game, and richly deserved it is too.

Don't forget to leave us a lovely review on your pod platform and check us out on Twitter @winnerisyoupod

We begin the game club proper with our first deep dive (pun remorselessly intended) episode, and we're starting with a real doozy. Bioshock was a seminal moment in video game storytelling and world design, and remains one of the jewels in the crown of its generation. We discuss the game's merits both historically and in 2021, and then take you through the game from start to finish - talking through each area, the story beats and major setpieces, and our opinions on how the game unfolds. If you're a fan of everything Rapture, would you kindly take a listen? A man listens, a slave... doesn't listen.

It's been 20 years since the hugely influential Max Payne first released. That means 20 years of film noir-aping, Slow-mo-diving, metaphor-chewing, fourth wall-breaking, painkiller-popping action. Join us for a raucous ride through the game's story as we discuss the numerous plot twists, unrelenting action, bullet time brilliance and debate whether the whole thing still holds up today. Oh, and the song at the end is Snowball Fight by the amazing Hyper Potions, so if you want excitement (and rad music), shove them up your stockings. Merry Christmas everyone!

We're currently deep into Resident Evil Village, but we decided we simply couldn't bring you that podcast without first revisiting the Baker family in Ethan Winters' maiden voyage down in the bayou. With Resident Evil 7, Capcom completely revitalised a series that was seriously lost and bogged down by just how ludicrous it had gotten, and it did so by producing one of the most atmospheric and chilling horror games of all time. We chat about the terror, frustration, hilarity, disappointment and confusion we experienced playing the game, and where we think horror games and the Resi franchise is at the moment, as we take you on a rollercoaster ride through the game's main campaign before discussing the two endings and some initial thoughts on Resident Evil Village. Welcome to A Winner Is You, son.

Welcome to the rebirth of A Winner Is You! Your old hosts Alex Aldridge and David Smillie - also formerly of Gamertron and The Not Red E Podcast - have dredged up the old show and jazzed up the format to create a brand new game club podcast. We'll be covering entire games one episode at a time in future, but we'll also be doing plenty of ranking list shows too, so we're starting off by waving goodbye to the PS4 and Xbox One generation with our top 10. Part 1 features all our honourable mentions and the formulation of our final 10 games, which we will rank in order in Part 2. Follow us on Twitter @AWinnerIsYouPod Email us via awinnerisyoupod@gmail.com

What better way to celebrate a birthday than with ca... er, cast. Podcast. We pay homage to one of the greatest games of the 360/PS3 generation with a deep dive into the wonderful Portal 2 on its tenth anniversary. We talk about whether the game is still feeling fresh or is creaking in its old age, our favourite puzzles and gags, what we got stuck on, and take you through the brilliantly-written and well-acted story from start to finish. There's also a really wild intro about knives and stuff. Check out Goombastomp.com for more info on that one! Don't forget to rate and subscribe to us on your favourite podcast platforms, and if you enjoy the song at the end, check out The 8-bit Big Band for more awesome, smooth gaming tunes.

There's not much more to say than this podcast celebrates the 30th birthday of one of the greatest games ever made. A practically flawless masterpiece that we will likely play forever. Despite that, we digress quite a lot in this pod, so if you're a fan of our shitey banter then you're in for a right ol' treat! Otherwise, tune in for the history of the game and its development and reception, some trivia and our standard run through of the whole game. Don't forget to check us out on YouTube for the video version of this podcast if you prefer your pods with a little more sweaty, bearded men in hats.

Welcome, challengers. Pop yourself down at the table, light your candle, draw your cards (ignore the talking ones) and get ready for a lovely ol' game of Inscryption. Daniel Mullins' 2021 masterpiece was an absolute delight for us to play (when we weren't banging out heads against it like the idiots we are), and is a very early contender for our game of the year. Yeah, we do those awards weird here. We chat about the mechanics of the game, the bosses, the story, the meanings behind the ending (and the hidden one) and how we wish more games were like this compared to the AAA shite you see permeating the industry at large.

Introducing SPOOKTOBERFEST, our (hopefully) annual celebration of horror video games throughout the month of October. First up in this smorgasbord of scares is an underrated gem of a game from 1998 - Square's survival horror RPG Parasite Eve. We praise the game's mechanics,unique mixing of genres, and its ragtag bunch of characters, whilst lamenting the relentless difficulty spike of the ending's huge dungeon and boss fight marathon. You know by now how this works so tune in for a deep dive into the game's story from start to finish, but watch out for a jump scare of our own when David's mic decided to quit on us and his sound goes all echoey and shitey. Sorry about that! Make sure you check back for the rest of the month for more horror highlights from the gaming sphere.

You might think we're stalling for more time with Hades here (we are), but the result is another episode jam-packed with top 5 lists to blow your socks off and accompany those chocolate Easter eggs very nicely indeed. We start with our favourite 8bit songs, so rest assured you're going to be bopping along to some classic Mario, Castlevania, Mega Man and more here. The next list is our patriotic homage to developers from the murky shores of our very own Blighty, as we celebrate UK developers' best games. We're ranking games such as Arkham Asylum, Tomb Raider, Goldeneye, Forza Horizon, among others. The last list of the day is in keeping with current events and shoehorns in an obvious Easter reference with our top 5 video game Easter eggs. Dead dudes in fridges, pieces of cheese, severed heads and potato Jesus - you don't want to miss it. Please remember to rate and subscribe on your platform of choice, and you can suggest any top 5 lists or games to cover over @awinnerisyoupod on Twitter.

Weeeeeeee're baaaaaack! Much like the stifling British humidity, you'll never get rid of AWIY, lads! This episode we celebrate the underappreciated brilliance of Arkane Studios' 2017 sleeper hit Prey. We chat about the game's swerving, mysterious story, the stunning mega dungeon of TALOS I, the various neuromod powers and abilities, bugs and nonsense we encountered, and much more. This game really needs to be played to experience this podcast to its fullest, so go out and get playing, and then enjoy retreading those steps again with us.

The scares continue (and end) with the second part of our month of horror games, just in time for Halloween, as we delve into the realm where no-one can hear your scream to play some Alien Isolation. Touted by many as the best survival horror game of the last generation, we have to admit that we probably found it more annoying than scary for the most part! What's not up for debate is the objectively incredible setting, atmosphere, sound design and attention to detail this game delivers. The ultimate Alien companion piece, Isolation is a masterpiece in movie reverence. But is it good?

We're back to complete our list by ranking the final 10 games as decided in part one. Strap yourselves in for the ride as we rank Resident Evil 2, The Witcher 3, Red Dead Redemption 2, The Last of Us 2, Yakuza 0, Apex Legends, Overwatch, God of War, Bloodborne and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild into a definitive order (definitive for us, anyway). There's plenty of discussion about each game and a lot of agonising and bargaining going on over our personal favourites before we arrive at the final 10. Enjoy!

Just when you thought the last AWIY pod was in captivity and the airwaves were at peace, here we are! We've wrenched ourselves away from Elden Ring long enough to bring you a stone cold classic - 1994's Super Metroid. We don't need to explain to you just how important and iconic this game is, but the interesting element to this pod is that David has never played any Metroid games before, so you'll get an honest opinion of a 2022 Metroid virgin! We also had an email in to the pod! I know, right?! We've had someone exercise their right to reply (or is it write to reply, I never get it right. Or is that write? No, that one is right) and present their own top 10 of the last generation, so we sink our teeth right into that whole thing again. If you want to have us read your question out, hit us up via awinnerisyoupod@gmail.com or over on Twitter @WinnerIsYouPod

A brand new game (pretty much) on our game club! This episode we're taking you from the material world to the spirit world and back again (through some mirrors or something) with the new Xbox Series S/X exclusive title The Medium, from the people behind Layers of Fear. This ghostly walking sim/puzzler/horror game/Resident Silent Evil Hill homage has been getting rave reviews in the gaming press, but it's also been the subject of criticism for its poor performance and general doesn't-feel-all-that-next-gen..ery. It evokes strong memories of the horror games of yesteryear, so does that work in its favour or make it feel old and unoriginal? Find out as we do a deep ol' dive into the game from start to finish with a big smattering of opinion along the way!

We're taking a well-earned break from all the shooting this week, as we push the boat out into the Sea of Solitude. You may think that game is a huge departure from our usual fare, and you'd be right - David accidentally picked this game, and we still don't know what he mistook it for. Let nobody say we aren't committed, though (unless your game is Narita Boy), as we ploughed on through the literal and figurative storms in Jo-Mei Games' 2019 puzzle-platformer, and now we're here to discuss it. We chat about the mechanics of the game, its various metaphorical representations of mental health, the cast of characters and how empathetic they made us feel, and whether any game should really try and cover mental health issues when they can be so personal and subjective. Don't forget (as in, one of you please do this) to rate/subscribe on your favourite pod platform of choice. It'll make us really happy chaps if you do!

More spooky, scary gaming for you to cram mercilessly into your sound receptacles, as we conclude Spooktoberfest 2022 with Ebb Software's H. R. Giger-influenced biomechanical grossfest, Scorn. We chat about knobs for the first part of the episode, because Scorn's phallic imagery corrupted our tiny little minds. We also discuss the game's confusing beginning, its puzzles, its combat, its ending and a whole load more. We also have a debate on what actually constitutes a horror video game. Does it have to be scary, or can it just be horrific like Scorn? Let us know over on Twitter @winnerisyoupod.

Hello, hollow children, and welcome back to AWIY. This episode, we're celebrating the recent 10th birthday of a game we believe to be a bit of an underrated classic: Sega's Binary Domain. We chat about our surprise at it getting the 60fps boost on Xbox Series consoles, its wacky premise and even wackier story, its rock-solid gameplay and interesting dismemberment mechanics, the characters, the upgrades, the legacy of its director - everything you can think of, we got it covered. That's what we do. Does the game hold up? Were we disappointed to find that maybe it wasn't actually underrated and just... rated? Play the game, listen to the pod, find out.

We know E3's been a bit pants, so we're here to prove that at least some gaming media content can actually be about games. In this case, we're chatting all about Cellar Door Games' 2013 roguelike-like classic Rogue Legacy. We discuss the enemies, areas, bosses, traits, our tactics, and stories of adventure and misfortune (lots and lots of misfortune) on our way to defeating the fountain of youth. Don't forget to rate and subscribe if you like the podcast and hit us up on Twitter @awinnerisyoupod if you want to request a game to cover, or if you have any thoughts on Rogue Legacy.

It's finally time for one of the most nailed-on games we've ever covered. Alex's dream of talking about how he's loved DKR for 25 years has come true at last, and you get to join us for almost two hours of fun. We begin by chatting about the game's development, its difficulty and uniqueness in its genre, and its reception and legacy. We also discuss the different characters and bosses and how much joy/pain they respectively gave us. The main event comes in the second half of the pod, as you are cordially invited to a Diddy Kong Racing Dance Party! We rank every track's theme (including a few bonus songs) on our individual tier lists from our very own Nintendo 64 nightclub. Get Ready... Go!

Happy birthday to the Blue Blur! Yes, Sonic is officially not young any longer, although he's been through some tougher times than most of us before our 30th birthday.  Today is not about those tough times (well mostly), as we're here to celebrate the iconic Sega mascot and talk about the very first game released on the Mega Drive on 23rd June 1991. We'll also talk you through the background to Sonic's creation and the impact he had on gaming at the time, and briefly discuss Alex's cheeky completion of Sonic & Knuckles whilst he was still in the mood for Sonic games. We end the show with a more sombre chat about modern Sonic, as Alex forced himself to play as much as he could handle of the utterly abysmal Sonic 2006. What kind of birthday is it without some kind of crippling introversion and self doubt, eh?

Ok, so we didn't end up being that quick in the end! Either way, as a pallet cleanser before our next big deep dive coming in episode 6, we're breaking things up with the first of a series of top 5 list episodes. First on the ranking schedule we're talking about our top 5 greatest licensed games, with some real incertitude over what a licensed game actually is - sorry Tony Hawk and every wrestling game ever. We're going more traditional; ranging from Batman and Spider-Man to Lord of the Rings and South Park. For the second list of the episode we have some gruesome gassing about gaming's top 5 greatest guns. Shotguns, pistols, rocket launchers, big f'n guns - they're all here! Finally, list number three embodies the spirit of both friendship and arguments in our ranking of the top 5 greatest co-op games. Fans of Portal 2, Gears of War and even Luigi's Mansion 3 will be well served here! Please don't forget to rate us and subscribe on your podcatcher of choice, check out GoombaStomp.com for more quality gaming content, and hit us up on Twitter @AWinnerIsYouPod.

Ladies and gentlemen, take your seats and relax - it's time for the A Winner Is You Game of the Year Awards for 2021. We're doing our GOTY show a little differently to most, as we only considered games we'd covered on the podcast in 2021 for the majority of the awards. The categories for this year are: Best Story, Best Gameplay, Most Bullshit, Best Surprise, Best 2021 Non-Podcast Game, Best Old Non-Podcast Game, Worst Game, and Best Game. If you agree or disagree with our choices, please get in touch and let us know. Now, on to 2022!

Well, never believe everything you read on the internet, right? Somehow, somewhere, Alex read that Limbo was 10 years old this year. That is not correct (we read that on the internet). So, join us now in celebrating a happy 11th birthday to Limbo! We discuss the impact of the game, ugh, 11 years after its initial release and whether it still leaves the same glowing impression it always did. Does it still play well? Is it dwarfed in the shadow of Playdead's follow-up, Inside? For some reason, we also talk loads about Bam Margera, burning batteries and pooping out of trees. It all ties into Limbo, honestly! After that nonsense, we reign things back in and close out with some theories on the game's story and meaning. Is the sister dead? Is the car crash theory right? Whose limbo are we actually playing in - the boy or the sister? All the questions are... asked, at least, and more!

With the excitement surrounding the new beta for Back 4 Blood currently gripping the gaming landscape, we decided to take a trip back to where it all began to revisit the still-fantastic Left 4 Dead (and a bit of its brilliant sequel). We chat about the special infected and their various powers, the lore behind characters Bill, Francis, Louis and Zoe, and discuss our favourite moments in each of the main game's campaigns (with a cheeky ranking of them in there too). David also has a ton of trivia to dish out including Dead Rising easter eggs, the Japanese arcade version of the game, and how the special infected wound up in a Hollywood movie.

Ah, it's time to relax and you know what that means. A glass of wine, your favourite easy chair. And, of course, this podcast playing on your home stereo. It's the first of our double feature episodes - two smaller(ish) games with a tenuous link crammed together for double the listening pleasure. In May 2022, ID Software's seminally splendid shooter Wolfenstein 3D turns 30 years-old. For part one of the episode, we discuss its cultural impact, its development, its relevance today, and whether it's still worth playing. The second birthday this month is that of EA's (boo) Medal of Honor: Frontline, as it hits the big 2-0. We had a surprisingly refreshing time with this one, as it feels very of its time in a good way (mostly). There's still plenty of time for gripes, but the importance of this game is not to be dismissed. Don't forget to email in any questions/requests/insults to awinnerisyoupod@gmail.com

It's time to beat the heat with some good ol' survival horror! We're spending our summers hiding from the sun in darkened rooms playing Resident Evil, as we're sure you are too. We begin our journey with that one you probably played loads with your mate, look back on as a being a bit rubbish because it's not proper Resi, but would likely still enjoy if you played it again now - Resident Evil 5. Join us as we recount our adventure in the first co-op Resi, the first Resi to drop an f-bomb, and the first Resi without Shinji Mikami. Make sure you come back throughout the rest of summer as we'll be diving back into this wonderful Capcom franchise.

Are you ready to be big, burly and manly with us? Of course you are, you're a member of the COG now, maggot! This episode is all about that famous purveyor of monochrome colour pallets, chest-high walls, men screaming the names of enemies at each other when under attack, turret sections, and unimaginably high levels of gore - it's Gears of War! Join us as we discuss our memories and highlights of the 2006 original, how the Ultimate Edition fares, and take you through the campaign from start to finish. Please rate and subscribe to this show, and hit us up @AWinnerIsYouPod on Twitter to pitch games for us to play and chat about Gears.

We're still hungover from Sonic's birthday bash in the last episode, so we decided to try curing it with some hair of the hog. We basically just played an absolute scrote-load of Sonic games over the last couple weeks, all so we could bring you three more wonderful Top 5 lists. This time around, we are ranking the Top 5 Sonic Songs, so throw off your running cleats, stick on your dancing shoes and get ready for a boogie. Next up, we run the AWIY rule over the Top 5 Sonic Zones (arguably harder than deciding on the five worst zones, but whatever). Lastly, we go for the big score as we discuss and produce for you the absolutely definitive, iron-clad list of the Top 5 2D Sonic Games. Our relative unfamiliarity with every single series game probably makes this list quite unique, so be prepared to hate us, think we're morons and have Sammyclassicsonicfan scream and cry about us ruining the franchise.

The first game club podcast of 2023 is a game that we properly shafted by not finishing quickly enough for our 2022 GOTY awards! God of War Ragnarök is the very definition of a AAA video game - polished, beautiful, long, engrossing... but is it truly memorable? We talk about the game's mechanics, the story, the cast of characters, the ending, and more! Tie on your Chains of Olympus, load up your wolf-powered sled, make sure your son hasn't disappeared into another realm behind your back, and get ready for A Winner Is You! Don't forget to give us a sub and a rating if you like what you hear (it really helps), get in touch with us on Twitter @winnerisyoupod - we're really friendly if you say nice things about us - and look out for a new feature episode next time around, with a special guest to boot!

The streets aren't quite ready to be filled with rage just yet (well, wait until the last segment of this episode), so we're filling in with some more top 5s, you know you love it. Starting off, we're finally giving the people what they want - the culmination of all the many weeks of Apex Legends digression comes to a head with our top 5 Apex Legends... legends. Mirage mains need not apply. We then pay our respects to those developers no longer with us... after we get some of the developer/publisher housekeeping out of the way. Sorry, Acclaim. We end the show with some lovely bashing of the bigger boys, with our top 5 worst games IGN ever rated 10/10. Honestly, most of them are pretty good anyway, but we can still disagree with a 'perfect' score for a fair amount of them!

You may have noticed we like shootin' the shit about... well, shootin' shit. We get our game club back on track this episode with a deep dive straight into the depths of hell for the recently revived, underrated classic, Doom 64. We talk about what it means to be a 'proper' Doom game and how Doom 64 both fits that mould and stands apart from it. We then take you through the key moments in the game, talking about what we liked and what frustrated us - mainly the final boss on the latter point! There's some bonus content too - we do a cheeky tier list of all the weapons in the game, and pour over some reviews from the time from N64 Magazine and Nintendo Official Magazine. So, we hope you're ready to rip and tear, because A Winner Is You is about to make you their bitch.

Let's close the 2022 book with an awards ceremony for games that almost exclusively weren't released in 2022! It's the AWIY way, folks. That's right, our GOTY awards are focused on games we've covered on the podcast in the last year, which means we were pitting the likes of Elden Ring and Scorn against a weird and wonderful mix that includes games like Wario Land, Diddy Kong Racing and Wolfenstein 3D! Our awards this year are Best Story, Best Gameplay, Most Bullshit, Best Surprise, Worst Game, Outsider Award for Non-pod Game, and Game of the Year. Have a great 2023, everyone!

It's another top 5 special, and just like last time it's not at all worthy of the name 'Quick-Fire'! First up this week we're talking about our top 5 favourite (for one reason or another) gaming peripherals. Chainsaws! Fishing Rods! Bongos! Robots! Kinect?!  Next up, we have a good long rant about the worst games from good franchises. Granted, we haven't made a habit of playing bollocks games most of the time, but we still have plenty of scorn for the likes of Mario Kart Tour, Resident Evil 6, Star Fox Zero and Mass Effect: Andromeda. Finally, we effectively take a trip down memory lane as we rank our top 5 mobile games - remember those?! Come celebrate the likes of 80 Days, Threes, Punch Club, Peggle and Polytopia with us. Don't forget to rate and subscribe, and get playing Hades for our next game club episode. Oh, you're already playing Hades? Of course you are. Nice one!

Please don't hate us for our brief hiatus, this game is just suuuper long! We decided to do a deep dive on a game that has been itching away at us since its less-than-earth-shattering release back in 2019 - Bend Studio's Days Gone. That's right, we went full on backlog busting with this one! We discuss the game's numerous issues - the story, the bland characters, the bugs and glitches, the length, the mission structure... but also we show our appreciation for how, in spite of all that, it's undeniably good fun. Our deep dive tackles all the main characters and their arcs, as well as what we feel about the 'true' ending (or what we don't understand about it, to be honest). It's a long one, but so is the game, and you surely expect that from us by now, right? Good!

More survival horror to get you through the real life horrors of summer, as Summer of Resi continues with the 2002 prequel to it all, Resident Evil Zero. We chat about the controls, the story and acting, its place in the greater Resi canon, the character-swapping gimmick, the endless backtracking, those damn monkeys, and more! Warning: This podcast contains discussion about a game that features scenes of explicit violence and gore.

We close out our 2021 with arguably the biggest game of the year - Halo Infinite. It's finally here after all the delays, all the memes and all the hype, and it's... yeah, it's pretty good innit. We discuss the beautiful combat, the missed opportunity of the open world, the weird story decisions surrounding the Cortana angle, and that wonderful grappling hook. Is this the ultimate Halo game? Is this the direction Halo should have been taken or is it a bust to make it open world? We answer these questions and more. Tune in next time for our 2021 game of the year awards!

We decided to start the new year off with a nice, harmless bit of fun as we played through Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart to while away the winter days. It turns out, we really weren't that impressed with it and our attempt at a positive start to 2022 was somewhat misguided! We chat about the underdeveloped and unfunny story, the disappointing use of the SSD tech to make what is essentially a fancy grappling hook and the monotonously easy difficulty. We do have praise for how beautiful this game looks, and for its excellent and refined gunplay, but we expected better from a series this far into its stride on this powerful new hardware. Ah well!

Happy birthday, SOTN! We're back to close off our very short Metroidvania season with what we both believe to be the superior of the 'progenitor' titles in the genre. We discuss the game's strongest points, the story, the enemies, the inverted castle (spoiler?) and how disappointing the PS4 remake is (typical Konami, amirite?) among many other absolutely definitely fascinating topics. Because we're quite prone to random nonsense, we also talk about vampire movies, Bram Stoker's Dracula, the Jimmy Savile Netflix documentary, Mindhunter and serial killer museums, learning that Micro Machines and its sequel both actually suck, Keio Flying Squadron for Mega-CD being "weird Japanese shit," and we also have a letter from a listener that's absolutely nothing to do with video games at all. Then again, what is a podcast? A miserable little pile of banter. But enough talk, press play and... hear us talk at you!

Lock all your doors, put your feet up, light a small bundle of paper and chuck it into your back garden, watch the flames rise, and listen to our latest episode all about Campo Santo's 2016 mystery game, Firewatch. We discuss the game's unacceptably poor state on Xbox Series consoles (despite having just arrived on Game Pass in 2022) and whether it still holds up today to play it. Obviously the meat of the pod is all about Henry's story of marital sorrow, forest escape, blossoming new relationship, and eventual paranoia and tragedy. We love it, it's still great, and hopefully you say the same about this podcast!

Merry Christmas, y'all! Your gift from AWIY comes lovingly wrapped in slightly damp paper, as we've been sailing the Great Sea in Nintendo's all-time classic - The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, now 20 bloody years old! Enjoy chat about the game's fascinating development, reveal, and reception, as well as our own opinions on the visuals, game world, challenge, dungeons, bosses, story and more! It's a two-hour+ buffet of equal parts brilliance and buffoonery. You wouldn't have it any other way. If you're still reading this, thanks for your support this year and we hope you have a great holiday. One more game to go in 2022 (God of War Ragnarök) before the GOTY episode. Stay warm, everyone!

More BOGOF podcasting glory from AWIY, as we take you for a ride on the Dot Matrix Highway for Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins and Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 for the Game Boy. Mario Land 2 is one of the most underrated games in the Mario franchise, and it still stands up beautifully today, especially if you play the DX version romhack. Check that out at romhacking.net/hacks/3784/ Wario Land is a different beast altogether, and to be honest it's a madness that it actually carries the Mario Land 3 monicker, but that doesn't mean the game is bad. Far from it, as there's plenty of inventive stuff in this one too. Don't forget to get in your questions or game requests to awinnerisyoupod@gmail.com

It's October, you know what that means! A Winner Is You presents the second annual Spooktoberfest, where we celebrate the spookiest, scariest, kookiest horror(ish) games during the season of scares. First up this year is the flagship title in Nintendo's GameCube launch line up, Luigi's Mansion. Yeah, okay, it's not very scary but it's definitely spooky in tone if nothing else. Plus, it's fantastic, and that's what counts. We have a right ol' laugh at the story of the game and whether Luigi is, in fact, the bad guy in everything. We also chat about the vacuum mechanics, our favourite ghosts in the mansion, our frustrations with the controls, the launch of the GameCube and whether Nintendo may regret not having a Mario game for it, and loads more! It's a banger, honestly.

Modern game time again, as we throw open Death's Door nice and wide for a deep dive into Acid Nerve's Metroidvania/Zelda clone/Souls-like. We talk about what we loved and didn't like about this excellent indie title (surely a shout for some GOTY lists), discuss story beats and go through the game area-by-area to chat our experiences. There's also a bit of end-pod chat about the secret ending, so beware spoilers on that one if you're bothered about that sort of thing.

Elden Ring is a sprawling, fantastical and relentlessly punishing video game. So much so that it can make you go a little crazy, and that seems to have been the case with your intrepid hosts here. Let's just say we're filled with piss and vinegar for this one! Just a warning, this podcast will not cover the lore of these games, especially as many people on YouTube have already. We will, however, chat about the builds, the mechanics, the overall gameplay, the bosses, the areas and much more! Part one of this two-parter sees us journey through the Lands Between up to the end of Caelid and into Nokron, Eternal City - which is where we'll pick it up later on.  Update: We never did a part 2. David was too upset. Just wait til we try to pod Wo Long - he's gonna crack, lads! Enjoy the show, fellow tarnished, and don't forget to email your thoughts/questions to awinnerisyoupod@gmail.com

It's party time! We're throwing a podcast birthday bash for the wonderful 2002 classic GameCube gem that is Metroid Prime. We talk about the game's, at time sordid, development history (looking at you, Spangenberg), its importance and legacy, what we love and don't love in terms of gameplay (and no, we're not going to moan about the scanning), the music, the map - the whole lot, basically. You know how we do. Stick on your power suit, set your coordinates for Talon IV, get your x-ray visor ready and let's get down to discussing just how good Metroid Prime is. RELEASE PRIME 4, NINTENDO, YOU COWARDS.

All aboard the Winner Is You Express, as we delve deep into the atmospheric and mysterious world of Do My Best Games' 2016 zombie shooter/train conductor hit The Final Station. Let's discuss the elephant in the... train: We don't have the definitive theory on what the hell this game is about. We don't know for sure what the ending means, and we certainly weren't able to read all the dialogue because we were too busy fixing the chuffin' train most of the time! Still, we tackle it the best we can - looking at online theories, wiki entries, and our own experiences to try and piece together this puzzling game. Regardless, it's a beautiful, satisfying and tense game to play so get on it yourself and get listening!