Pixel Project Radio: A Video Game Podcast

Please consider supporting the show on Patreon!You can also join our free Discord server, or connect with us on Bluesky, Instagram, and TikTok!"A future is not given to you. It is something you must take for yourself."The NieR Automata analysis concludes! Joined by Dave (Tales from the Backlog), we talk through the final three endings of the game in detail. One of the game's main themes — that of a Will to live, a meaning to life to stave off what has been variously called "The Absurd," "Nihilism," and more — is on full display as we see more characters than not grapple with it. Between what the game presents and the supplemental lore canon, there's loads to talk about. Hope you love the show today. Enjoy!Smash Interview with Yoko TaroInterview with Yoko Taro and Yosuke SaitoStanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyInternet Encyclopedia of PhilosophyThank you for listening! Want to reach out to PPR? Send your questions, comments, and recommendations to [email protected]! And as ever, any ratings and/or reviews left on your platform of choice are greatly appreciated!

(00:00:00) Intro Discussion (00:15:26) Adam and Eve (00:26:17) The Forest Kingdom (00:35:44) Mecha-Kaiju (00:40:38) The Copied City (00:53:03) Become as Gods (01:04:44) flowers for m[a]chines (01:34:34) Route B (02:07:28) Adam Captures 9S (02:25:08) Revelations (Replicant Spoilers) (02:43:28) or not to [b]e Please consider supporting the show on Patreon!You can also join our free Discord server, or connect with us on Bluesky, Instagram, and TikTok!"And we need a God worth dying for."The NieR Automata analysis continues! Joined by Dave (Tales from the Backlog) once again, we proceed through the ending of route A and through the entirety of route B. The view from 9S's perspective unearths new information not yet known to 2B...or to most of the YoRHa troops. How will 9S temper the friction between his loyalty — indeed, his "essence" — with an earth-shattering revelation? Further conversations on existentialism, Simone de Beauvoir, the importance of perspective, and more. Hope you love the show today. Enjoy!Smash Interview with Yoko TaroInterview with Yoko Taro and Yosuke SaitoStanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyInternet Encyclopedia of PhilosophyThank you for listening! Want to reach out to PPR? Send your questions, comments, and recommendations to [email protected]! And as ever, any ratings and/or reviews left on your platform of choice are greatly appreciated!

(00:00:00) Intro/What This Podcast Is (00:02:25) Personal Histories (00:13:08) Development (00:31:59) Visual Design (00:38:37) Mechanics (00:51:48) Music and Sound (01:00:28) Story Analysis: Let's Kill God (01:26:18) Resistance Camp (01:39:07) This Cannot Continue (02:03:16) Pascal's Village (02:24:23) Aliens' Return Please consider supporting the show on Patreon!You can also join our free Discord server, or connect with us on Bluesky, Instagram, and TikTok!"Stop calling me ma'am."The analysis on NieR Automata begins! Rick is joined by Dave (Tales from the Backlog) to take an in-depth look at this marriage of Platinum Games's circumfluent battle style and Yoko Taro's philosophically-tinged narratives. NieR Automata is a game with two ideas at its core: existentialism (existence precedes essence); and the all-too-human penchant for "othering" those who are not in our in-group, often due to unwillingness to shift perspective. This episode covers up to learning the fate of the makers of the machines. Hope you love the show today. Enjoy!Interview with Yoko TaroStanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyInternet Encyclopedia of PhilosophyThank you for listening! Want to reach out to PPR? Send your questions, comments, and recommendations to [email protected]! And as ever, any ratings and/or reviews left on your platform of choice are greatly appreciated!

(00:00:00) Intro/What This Podcast Is (00:02:06) Personal Histories and Initial Thoughts (00:12:10) Development (00:16:02) Visuals (00:26:58) Sound Design (00:40:40) Narrative Discussion (01:30:22) Ending Discussion Please consider supporting the show on Patreon!You can also join our free Discord server, or connect with us on Bluesky, Instagram, and TikTok!An oppressive system breeds a need to break free.Rick is joined by Kate and Emily (No Small Games) to take a deeper look into Playdead's INSIDE, a horror-tinged puzzle-platformer released in 2016. Draped in an opaque narrative, INSIDE demands discussion from players—with the game and with each other—to parse out intent and impact. Between the three hosts themes of control, systemic oppression, free will vs determinism, and autonomy are explored, both in terms of gameplay and a suggested narrative. Hope you love the show today. Enjoy!LINK: INSIDE's Audio in a Human SkullThank you for listening! Want to reach out to PPR? Send your questions, comments, and recommendations to [email protected]! And as ever, any ratings and/or reviews left on your platform of choice are greatly appreciated!

(00:00:00) Intro, Abby and Lev Discussion (00:22:46) Day 3A (00:29:29) Through Seraphites and Snipers (00:39:31) Casualties of War (00:46:41) WLF Standoff (00:52:15) The Pyre of Haven (00:57:55) They'll Pay (01:17:10) Epilogue: Throwing It All Away (01:46:49) Final Confrontation Please consider supporting the show on Patreon!You can also join our free Discord server, or connect with us on Bluesky, Instagram, and TikTok!"If somehow the Lord gave me a second chance at that moment...I'd do it all over again."The analysis of The Last of Us Part 2 concludes—and what an ending; a disgrace to some, near-perfect for others, infamous to all. At what point does one become truly irredeemable, forced to bear their scars with no path to forgiveness? Rick and Jon explore this idea at length, discussing the final confrontation at the theater recontextualized, the epilogue and whether or not it is out of place, and the controversy over the end. Hope you love the show today!Thank you for listening! Want to reach out to PPR? Send your questions, comments, and recommendations to [email protected]! And as ever, any ratings and/or reviews left on your platform of choice are greatly appreciated!