Hey Besties listeners. This is a special, one-off feed drop of Plante's new show, Post Games. We hope you enjoy it! We will return to the regular Besties cadence this Friday with our episode on Herdling!

Welcome to Post Games!

Listen to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

Get full episode notes at www.patreon.com/postgames and www.post.games

Video game adaptations threaten to replace superhero movies as Hollywood's favorite fad. How did Mario and friends evolve from box office poison into some of the most valuable IPS in movie history? Today on Post Games: an extended interview with filmmaker and video essayist Patrick H. Willems, in which we make sense of 30 years and five distinct eras of video game adaptations.

• Act 1: The Doomed Decades
• Act 2: The Hollywood Hits
• A Patreon bonus: The Future of Video Game Movies. Patrick sticks around to speculate on the future of video game adaptations – including no fewer than 46 movies in active development
• Act 3: The News of the Week

You can now watch Post Games shorts on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. Listen to the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

Get the full list of games (and other stuff) discussed at www.besties.fan. Want more episodes? Join us at patreon.com/thebesties for three bonus episodes each month!

Sword of the Sea is the closest game yet to a Journey sequel. The new game from Giant Squid sends a silent, heroic character through a desert on a magical sword that fills the world with life-giving waters. It’s fun! It’s beautiful! It’s… sensual? In the back half, the Besties discuss the big news from Gamescom, including updates on Silksong and Bubsy 4D.

Get the full list of games (and other stuff) discussed at www.besties.fan. Want more episodes? Join us at patreon.com/thebesties for three bonus episodes each month!

Mafia: The Old Country is one of the most visually extravagant AAA video games we’ve ever played. And yet, there’s very little game to be found in this strange, disjointed, but decadent tale of organized crime in early 20th-century Sicily. Why has the Mafia series struggled for decades to deliver on its ambitions? And how did this get made?

The Besties unpack their complicated feelings after a week with this oddity. And because we always like to provide something fresh for you to try, we share a few new, enjoyable games.

Get the full list of games (and other stuff) discussed at www.besties.fan. Want more episodes? Join us at patreon.com/thebesties for three bonus episodes each month!