As a game developer myself, I enjoyed their conversations and insights. However it’s basically ruined by the audio quality of one of the hosts (Mike?). He is very echo-y, hard to understand, and it contrasts poorly with the other hosts (who sound great). At first I thought it was just an issue with the specific episode I started with, but nope, his audio is always bad. So it’s hard to recommend this podcast in its current state.

Austin Wintory is the only reason this podcast is worth a listen post Troy Bakers exit. Austin is a fantastic & fascinating host with great insights into the games industry. And that is the only positive thing worth saying about this podcast… I just listened to the episode where Alannah & Mike ridiculed those who expressed displeasure with Joanna Dark’s appearance in the new Perfect Dark stating that anyone who didn’t like it “probably has never been close to a woman.” As a female gamer, which according to Alannah & Mikes' standards should not only make me one of the leading authorities on the appearance of female characters in video games but also one of the only relevant authorities, I could not be more disappointed in Joanna Darks watered-down new look as a long time Perfect Dark fan. If fans are allowed to express a displeasure in the re-creation of a beloved character like Sonic, why are we not allowed to express displeasure in Joanna Dark’s? Because she’s a woman? Mike and Alannah are every bit as sexist as they accuse gamers of being. We should be allowed to kindly but critically express a dislike for a character design without an implication anyone who disagrees with them is a troll who has never been near a woman and therefore an invalid opinion. Mike & Alannah are overly political clowns. If you’re looking for a podcast that just talks video games without shoving other kinds of bull down your throat - look elsewhere.

This podcast is full of such great conversations & insight about the gaming industry, any success is well deserved

Listening to this podcast every week or every time that they post a podcast is fantastic. They don’t know how much they have a positive affect on people and how much of a difference they actually make. It’s truly amazing. I hope this podcast goes on for the next several years because they do a phenomenal job without question.

See title

Good Stuff

Stop cutting off Austin! Like, he’s the best one, and y’all be disrespecting this king 👑 Be better. (I say this with humor and love, keep up the awesome podcast! Always a joy to listen to)

There was some eating at the start of the latest episode. Be warned, I haven’t listened to a single episode of Beyond since the infamous ham episode. 5 out of 5 for the amazing and talented people discussing everything but video games.

Such a great group…yes there are tangents but it’s part of the charm. Love the discussions they have and even when they don’t agree or are on a more sensitive topic, they are respectful.

Really cool concept with very talented and intelligent people bringing different and thought provoking perspectives! They talk about all things video games, the entertainment industry, and at times, even the economy lol! Would be really interested to hear your guys' review or thoughts on the Alex Garland limited series on Hulu called 'Devs' which aired in 2020. I think it might be within all of your interests. Thanks!

I love all the discussions, and I love listening when Austin and Troy are on. Alanah and Mike are great too, and I can appreciate her trying to keep everyone on topic sometimes lol

Don’t what cosmos had to align to get these 4 together, actually it was just DICE, but nonetheless I’m sure glad they did. Each one brings a unique perspective to a leading entertainment industry. The BTS (behind the scenes, though I’d love to see them do a Korean karaoke night) stories are awesome and are all enough of a peek behind the curtain to keep you coming back for the next week. That said, we have been spoiled by weekly iterations for the past two years and now as the world begins to churn at a normal pace again, we unfortunately must get less of these amazing individuals. Alanah: Does her best to keep these genius minds in-line and on topic despite it being futile. Initially wished in some eps she had a chance to talk more but realized she’s listening just as intently as I am. Mike: Offers dry British humor and cynicism which in my personal limits are about two hours and so this show hits the perfect marker for me. Game dev stories are insightful and give way to a bigger picture. Austin: Delivers the best behind the scenes stories in my opinion, and is wicked at the piano. I love his genuine love for the craft and his respect for his colleagues. There are times where I wish he wasn’t cut off and times when I wish he’d get to the point. That’s nuance, baby! Troy: A guy who feels like your really cool uncle you love to hang around but is the one person who is very hard to get ahold of. When you guys do hang, he makes crystals with you from the crystal kit that you both went to Michael’s and bought in the arts and crafts section. After failing twice, and getting it right the third time, he tells you that’s what being a scientist is all about. By the way, did you know he’s done voice work for two Cabela’s Hunts games?

This rambling group of misfits manages to never stay on topic yet continually enlighten me on the state and history of music, film, and games. That statement might seem a contradiction to the review title, but I invite you to give the show a listen and disagree with me, babyyy.

That guy never shuts up. Insufferable. The other 3 are fascinating. The boring one never. Stops. Talking.

I was starting to get into this show and have enjoyed the output of some of the hosts for a while. Now that one is vocally supporting and creating NFTs I’m unsubscribing and unfollowing. No thanks.

To start I want to be clear that I’ve been listening since the first episode and I enjoy listening to and admire each of its members. I understand that this is their podcast, it’s free for listeners and they can do whatever they want. With that being said it feels disrespectful (well maybe this is too strong of a word but for the lack of a better term…) to hop in to listen to Troy, Alanah, Mike, AND Austin to then find out that only two of them, maybe three, are on, then later one of them finally jumps on, derails the conversation that was happening; and then still declare that they only have 10 minutes or so and have to leave. At that point why even join at all. I just find it unprofessional and maybe Alanah should consider announcing before the podcast who’s in it to help us choose if it’s worth tuning in for this episode or not.

These guys have such a great chemistry! I just wish they’d talk about video games for once…

I always look forward to this podcast so much! Just wish there was more of it!

The tangential aspects of the podcast were difficult to get used to. The more I listened, the more I adapted. Talks of movies, music, politics, and gaming are prevalent, but sometimes gaming is an afterthought. That’s okay! It’s called “Play, Watch, Listen” for a reason. The expertise each host holds in their respective industries is immeasurably palpable. Learning more about games journalism, voice acting, scoring, and game development is invaluable. Learning how the many aspects of the games industry operates will allow you to look at games in a completely different light. Highly recommended.

…that doesn’t talk about video games. The formula: Alanah has a game she wants to discuss, and the four of them talk about current events, morality, politics, movies, music, the video game industry, comedy, and the internet, while the game Alanah wanted to discuss gets maybe a passing mention. It’s great, it’s organic, I like the banter these 4 have. Highly recommend.

Awesome show and love the topics the de-rail. :)

One podcast at a time lol

I love video games don’t get me wrong, but this podcast IS ASTRONOMICALLY BETTER when everyone, mostly Troy, Austin and Mike derail from video games and start talking about other stuff. Talking about video games is almost as bad as watching paint dry, probably worse. Great podcast otherwise.

People like Rachel Nichols. For “ally” whites, by “ally” whites.

As someone transitioning from Sci-Fi pilot writing and production design into game writing, I’m very appreciative of the friendly informative style and content. One thought… (perhaps just for us newbies?) when you talk about a game can you take a moment to clearly enunciate the title? This has been a repeated issue over several weeks. I rewind several times and can’t capture the title you are discussing, and I really want to because what you’re saying is very intriguing. Thank you for considering this. Much appreciation to all of you for sharing your experience and insights.

A casual but incredibly insightful show on a wide range of topics within the video game industry and the media scene at large with a cast of hosts with backgrounds in very different areas. While it doesn’t typically hold a central topic or theme throughout, the discussion is always well-informed and interesting and would be a great listen for people in the video game and media industries or anyone interested in this area of technology, art, and creativity.

Great cast and they do a great job giving unique perspectives on all types of topics.

Pretty pretty good😌

Take Troy off and I think the show is wonderful

Been listening for a long time. I look forward to the weekend when each episode releases. I love the off topic discussions just as much as the on topic ones. As a gamer, musician, IT engineer, and international relations nerd...you all seem to hit all those areas plus things I’ve never thought about! I’ve tried new games based on this show, thought about life and issues differently, and learned a lot about toilets. What more do you need in a show?

This show reminds you of hanging out with your artistic friends talking about art, “the craft” (whatever yours or theirs may be), god knows what, laughing, arguing. Really comforting during quarantine times.

This is the only video game podcast that teaches me more about philosophy and Star Wars trivia than video games and I love it so much. The conversations these four people, who I admire immensely, are deeper than they have any right to be and I love seeing them go back and forth on things I would never expect to hear on a video game podcast. Keep up the good work! I look forward to the next episode!

I genuinely love this podcast and look forward to it every week. Probably an unpopular opinion but I do love the tangent episodes because I always come away from it having learned something totally new, whether that be seeing something from a different point of view or getting a new book recommendation from Mike. As an avid gamer, this podcast is a wonderful breath of fresh air to anything I’ve listened to before and highly recommend it to everyone I talk to!

I wanted to defend the show from some of the criticisms I’m reading in the reviews. Maybe it’s not clear in the audio version, but they’re recording the podcast remotely over Zoom, which means for Mike Bithell particularly who lives across the globe, there is a delay of about 2 seconds, which will often create situations where it appears like people are intentionally talking over each other. But even when that’s not the case, they’re all pretty respectful of each other and I don’t get the sense they’re intentionally trying to drown each other out. It’s definitely more out of passion and not arrogance. There also seems to be hate towards Troy Baker which is kind of surprising, though part of that could be because he’s the most famous and therefore more of a target? But regardless, I don’t think any of the hosts are ever claiming to be an expert on a subject. And even when they are talking about a subject they’re knowledgeable about, it feels like they’re open to having their ideas or perception challenged. Part of learning is talking and asking questions about subjects you don’t understand. And finally, the unstructured, tangential nature of the show is part of the appeal, not a fault. Often in creativity the best ideas come from tangents or spontaneity, and in this show that’s where a lot of the best discussions arise. So yeah, if you enjoy passionate discussions about virtually any topic through the lens of the video game industry, then you’ll probably like the show. And also, while there is a heavy focus on video games, even if you don’t know a lot about games, I still think you can enjoy the show.

And I love it!! The “gaming” podcast I didn’t know I needed. Alanah, Troy, Mike, and Austin are all so smart and very strongly opinionated, which makes for some very amusing and occasionally profound conversations. Conversations that are rarely about video games lol. But that’s ok! I’ve yet to hear an episode that I didn’t love or learn something from so thanks to the team and keep up the fantastic work 😁

Your all amazing and I always leave with me and interesting things to ponder over 🤓

I have spent the entire pandemic looking forward to this podcast going up late on Fridays. It is hard to explain exactly what this podcast is. It is a video game podcast, but also very much not. And I don’t mean that in the way the Co-Optional podcast functioned as “we occasionally talk about video games”. This podcast often really doesn’t talk about video games - sometimes there’s no cohesive theme and the crew intros are at the end. It is more like video game adjacent most times, but often is a wide-ranging exploration of themes as divergent as the meaning of life and death, the proper form and function of government, biography and fascinating minutiae of Hollywood and videogame composers, and an always entertaining look into the mind of some of the industry’s most talented actors/composers/developers, held together (in the best way possible) by duct tape and string, AKA the irreplaceable Alanah Pearce. Regardless of the topic, these people have a real, palpable friendship and mutual respect for each other. Five stars and my highest possible recommendation.

I am going to start a business where people bet on when in each episode the topic/video games actually gets discussed, pardon me while I become a millionaire (I love the show and you’re all amazing)

Three of the pod members do a great job, especially Alanah. Troy ruins the show at times by talking over the other. Being very uneducated on a topic rarely stops him from talking about a topic. Fortunately the others fact check him sometimes

Good weekly podcast with decent chemistry. Can be casual and nuanced all in one. I feel like I learn at least a couple new things from each episode, which is always a good thing. Has almost like a happy hour vibe if that makes sense. At the end of the day, it’s just a fun listen

I could listen to these four talk about anything and I think I already have. Their different roles in the games industry offers fascinating insight with regards to how games are created, reviewed, scored, etc. and their different, yet compatible personalities are captivating when it comes to non-game related topics as well. 5/5, would recommend!

I really love this podcast and the people involved but just wish that they had time stamps on the podcast & video versions

Accomplished in the industry? Check. Great chemistry? Check. Funny, intelligent and considerate conversation with diverse topics with video games at the center holding it all together? Check. Already a fan of Troy, Alanah, and Mike previously and just “met” Austin from this podcast and I’m purchasing The Pathless just because he did the music. Love it, love it, love it.

First podcast review I’ve ever written cause I love this group so much. The chemistry is off the charts and their conversation is always a worthwhile listen. The unstructured nature is one of my favorite parts but could be grating on some. Still the tangents are hilarious and there’s some real golden info in between...try it out!!

I began to listen to you podcast on a whim. I stayed because of your honesty, view points & experience in your fields. Your opinions has open my mind to many things. I look forward to seeing you guys more often. Please keep being great.

This is the best gaming podcast going to date right now. Highly recommend.

This podcast is a perfect blend of people having some of the most entertaining conversations I’ve heard for a game podcast, it’s a must to check out!

A nice change of pace from your usual video game podcasts. Four different views each coming from a profession in video games. I also love how fast the show goes off on interesting tangents.

Even Ellie is bad, just like this podcast I guess

This podcast has grown on me a lot and has slowly become my favorite podcast, the different points of view and disagreements plus the willingness to branch out to other topics and not shy away from those tangents but dive deep into them is what makes the podcast great