Remap Radio

They dig into why live service games like Highguard launch hot then die and how publishers bankroll repeat bets. They unpack the VideoGamer AI review scandal and industry fallout for journalism and ethics. They share first impressions of Marathon’s extraction gameplay and Bungie lineage. They split on Resident Evil 9’s strong survival-horror opening versus a weaker action back half, and chat about cozy Pokémon Pokopia playtests.

Klas Eriksson, co-game director and writer who shaped Planet of Lana’s wordless storytelling. Adam Stjärnljus, creative director with a film and concept art background who led the game’s visual direction. They recount a decades-long friendship turned game-making journey. They discuss silent storytelling, cinematic versus puzzle platformer design, expanded player mechanics, and lessons from indie production.

The crew riffs on Xbox’s leadership shakeup, platform identity, and AI chatter. They unpack Discord’s postponed face-scan age checks and community migration headaches. Plenty of time is spent on Resident Evil 9: Requiem’s split-protagonin design, pacing, and mechanics. Quick takes cover party game YapYap, God of War: Sons of Sparta, and plans for a multiplayer Marathon.

Audrey Leprince, Co-founder and CEO of The Game Bakers, talks about the studio’s three-year craft behind Cairn. She describes a cooking-like development approach and the focus on tactile, simple design with an added 'extra soul'. The conversation covers hand-crafted mountain levels, balancing challenge and accessibility, and the emotional stakes of climactic choices.

Nicole Clark, a writer and editor published in outlets like Mothership and the New York Times, explores Hornet in Silksong. They discuss Hornet’s agency, compassion, and boundary-setting. The conversation connects game choices to political metaphor, accessibility, player stories, worldbuilding, and hope as practiced through small acts of care.

Sudden exits at the top of Xbox spark questions about who actually steered the division and why the news landed so abruptly. The conversation digs into Game Pass, big studio buys, and how acquisitions plus cost cuts have left studios exposed. They speculate on new AI-heavy leadership and whether Xbox will pivot toward live services, layoffs, or become a different kind of Microsoft asset.

They dig into Highguard’s messy launch, broken retention, and the studio layoffs that followed. They debate shadow-drop risks and whether early hype now dooms live-service games. The discussion shifts to media pivoting to AI and its ripple effects on staff and hardware. They also cover Mewgenics’ controversy, praise for Titanium Court’s demo, and reactions to Love Eternal’s brutal platforming.

Toby Alden, an indie platformer designer behind Love Eternal, explains blending precision platforming with psychological horror. He discusses Lynchian influences, creating unsettling atmosphere over jump scares, and crafting brutal but purposeful difficulty. He also shares development choices like reworking earlier levels, playtesting edits, and including improvised streamer-style narration.

They dig into Discord’s new age-verification plans and the privacy and surveillance risks of ID and biometric checks. They debate how verification laws reshape platform migration and harm marginalized communities. They react to Remedy’s new CEO hire and worry about live-service directions. They share quick takes on standout games like Road to Empress, Repo, Yap Yap, Cairn, and Strategos.

They relish a rare, humiliating Super Bowl loss for the Patriots and break down the pass rush and quarterback collapses. They mock sweaty AI and crypto Super Bowl ads and debate ad flops like AI.com and Ring. They react to Bulls trade-deadline moves, Yuki Kawamura’s spark, and missed first-round assets. They celebrate Bad Bunny’s halftime and rave about the Olympics Gold Zone skiing coverage.