Nate, Sebastian, and Ryan are joined by newcomer Chris Carr to discuss THE LAST OF US, Naughty Dog's grim tale from 2013 of a trip westward across the ruined United States amidst a fungal zombie plague. We discuss naturalistic dialogue, scrappy combat, and parallels to Children of Men. Sebastian praises the game's Western influences, Chris appreciates the game's complex character work, and Ryan tries to suspend his belief that a middle-aged Texan man would willingly don a protective mask amidst a global pandemic.
Nate, Sebastian, Jordan, and Max all gather to discuss SPELUNKY, or at least the HD remake of it, the procedurally-generated platformer from 2012. We discuss the perils and promises of proc-gen elements in games, how dangerous complexity can arise from beautiful simplicity, and whether it's okay to use a pug to trigger an arrow trap. Nate relates stories of horrible coincidence, Sebastian considers suing Rube Goldberg, and Jordan becomes compelled.