Jamie and Marsh reel from Microsoft’s latest layoffs, mismanage time in Hades 2, paddle in the uncanny, chlorinated waters of Pools, devour the bite-sized city-building triumphs of Against the Storm, and indulge their flaws in The Thaumaturge. * The last lay offs of 2024. Thankfully there won’t be any more of those! Phew!! * Nathan Brown’s Hit Points newsletter which I incorrectly namechecked as Bullet Points. Look, there are only so many pithy game-related analogies to go around, ok? * Hades 2, the much anticipated ARPG sequel – perhaps not ideal for the time-poor? * Destiny 2 is unintelligible at this point, but the guns still go bang. * Animal Well is a pixelart indie Metroidvania with notes of Fez and Cocoon. * Knytt and Within a Deep Forest are two excellent pixelart indie Metroidvania’s from yesteryear. You can find them in Nifflas’s archive here. * POOLS is about vibing in weird swimming pools. * Dreamcore is about vibing in weird swimming pools, and then being jump-scared. * Against the Storm is a city-builder for people who don’t have the mental capacity for city-builders. * The Thaumaturge could be the best 7/10 RPG of the year. Terrific character. * The Royal Mob – Jamie’s TV show about orgies and dying of exposure. * Judas is a roguelike shooter from Ken Levine’s studio, Ghost Story Games. You can hang out with us and our community on our Discord channel. If you have a question for a future episode, send it to us at [email protected] or tweet us @crateandcrowbar. You can also listen to it on YouTube, and subscribe to our YouTube channel, if you like. The Crate and Crowbar is kindly funded by our Patreon backers. If you’d like to know more about supporting our podcast and its spinoffs, click here. Our intro music is by The Mandibles from their track Clambake. Many of the band members now tour as Count Bobo And The Bullion.