Hello one and all, and happy new year! In this, our first episode of 2026, Josh and Colin gather around the proverbial hearth to discuss our lofty goals and dreams for the year ahead. Will this year finally be the year of the backlog? What game purchases and trophy hunts are must buys for us? What games are we looking forward to the most? We touch on all of these topics (many of which are also touched on from our Patreon write ins), and also give some thoughts on more personal goals for the year regarding parenthood, fitness, and life in general. Before all of that though, we begin the episode with a look back at our PlayStation Wrap Up for 2025. These statistics are always interesting and provide valuable insight into just how our year went. It's easy to have an opinion about how your trophy hunts went throughout a calendar year but seeing statistics behind it really puts things in perspective. Whether that's Josh's mammoth amount of games played compared to Colin (even though there hours were not so different in total), or coming to an understanding of the average length of our play sessions, this is all good stuff to dig into and dissect. The episode is rounded out with a great discussion about the various games we've been playing as well as some Plat shout outs pulled directly from our Discord. We hope that you enjoy this first episode of the new year, it's going to be a good one! Happy gaming, and take care all!

Join Colin and Josh as they break down the newest video game in the Alien franchise. In a Surviving the Horror first, Josh and Colin had two very different experiences with the game as Josh played on PSVR2 and Colin played on the newest PS5 flatscreen version. Like most episodes, we go in-depth with our personal histories of the Alien franchise, gameplay mechanics, story beats, lore thoughts and discussion on the ending. While this game was more "action-focused" than we thought it would be, we both agree that it was a solid entry into the world of Alien and it has definitely piqued our interest for Part 2. Join us and let us know your thoughts about Alien.

Warmest of Welcomes everybody and Merry Christmas The end of the year is a time of relaxation and good company and what better way to celebrate the 2025 christmas break than to have an episode dedicated to just that. Myself (Max) and Zac have given it our all over the first full year of Mooglecast and we thought we'd challenge ourselves to give you guys a full 2hr episode of freestyle, the topic? NO TOPIC! The first of what we hope will be many general chatter! We often start the recording session by having the best conversations before we even hit record and we decided to nip this in the bud and hit record as soon as we got into the call for that extra bit of authenticity! As far as what subjects are brought up, we talk about our moments of being starstruck, a controversial bass player, holiday plans for 2026 and of course a sprinkle of gaming related crap. In January we will be returning to our usual 3rd sunday slot joinned by newcomer to the Discord - Katieeee, but not before our 2nd xmas gift to you in the form of an extra bonus episode where I will be rejoined by Maurice for part 2 of our Guitar Hero special, but for now we hope you enjoy this special episode! Be Merry to eachother.

Warmest of Welcomes everybody This month on the Mooglecast Zac takes the reins in Max’s absence to host the first ever Community Catch Up episode featuring debut voices to the TrophyTalk Network, Emerson and Fate Prime. In this Informal discussion the lads talk some of their own personal top moments in gaming this year including Blue Prince, Tetris Effect and Trackmania. Whilst the bulk of the show is spent on what the guys have been playing, they also touch on the game awards and some of the trailers shown at the event, we can only assume Max did a backflip with the announcement of 2 Tomb Raider games, to be honest my hype was limited at 3am dare I wake the most vocal dog currently in existence. I’ve taken the time to make a new audio session for editing the shows, we apologise for the last episode being pretty quiet, hopefully this new template will fix the issue moving forward. But for now please enjoy the last episode of 2025. Be excellent to each other.

Earlier this year Jordan Vickers recommended the game Blue Prince and Kevin sits down with him and newcomer Gary Scott to extensively talk about it. If you’re afraid of being spoiled by anything in the game, don’t worry. After playing Blue Prince, they all agree that there is so much in here to discover that it’s hard to spoil everything and their discussion only briefly touches on the story elements of the game. This is more a collection of their own stories of exploring the Mount Holly Estate, finding our own paths to Room 46, and what else we discover after reaching it. The things they talk about may sound like nonsense to those who haven’t played the game, but even if you have, it may still confound you. This discussion may make the game sound like a very daunting puzzle, but be assured that Blue Prince feels much more relaxed and casual than you might think. The three of them recommend this game if you like puzzle boxes, board games, and mysteries. You can obsess over all of the details of every room with a corkboard and string like Gary did, or you can just take everything as it comes. Kevin recommends a small notebook to keep track of some of those more obtuse clues or if you discover a puzzle that spans the entire layout of your house. Speaking of discoveries, during this episode all three of them reveal something about the game that the others didn’t know. Kevin found a satellite dish for the house, Jordan may have discovered an extra safe to crack, and Gary suspected that a small animal was the key to everything. All of this proves our suspicions that there is ALWAYS something more to discover in Blue Prince.

Hello one and all, and welcome back to another exciting episode of Trophy Talk! This month, Josh and I (Colin) sit down to catch up on the Thanksgiving festivities and break down 2025 with a few larger topics of discussion. To start off, we dig into our YouTube 2025 recap and what it can tell us about the types of content and media we consume on arguably our most used "streaming" app. If you're like Josh and have three kids who also use your account, you'll end up with some goofy stuff such as Animal Farm Sounds. However, Josh and I realized pretty quickly that many of the metrics and channels being referenced in our wrap ups had to come from YouTube Shorts. So, scroll away folks and watch your recap numbers explode! From there, we dive into a few Patreon write ins that look to summarize how we felt about this year as a whole. Were there any games in recent memory that we started that we wish we didn't? If we were magically given a 30 hour time capsule, would we use that time to finish off games we already have progress in or would we opt to start and finish brand new things from our backlog? Will Colin (I) ever get into and play Arc Raiders? Probably not... We close up our main discussions with a look back at a topic from two months ago, which of the behemoth FPS games "won" 2025. Did Battlefield 6 capitalize enough on one of the weaker CoD entries in recent memory and capture the zeitgeist? Or, despite poor campaigns from both franchises, does the MP, Endgame, Warzone and Zombies package end up as still too high a value proposition to pass up? Josh and I go into great detail breaking down the stats that we can see in addition to giving our own thoughts on both games and their trophy hunts after nearly 50 hours in each of them. We wrap up this final episode of 2025 by talking about a few of the smaller games we've been playing including House of the Dead: Remake, and many more! Thank you all for listening, we'll be back in the first weekend of 2026 to chat about our PSN Year in Review and what we ended up playing over the Holidays. Happy Gaming, and take care!

For this extra weekend Kevin gathers up more hopeful future game ideas from part of the Trophy Talk cast and Discord. We start with a follow-up to Max’s latest episode of the Moogle Cast where Kevin was a guest for a breakdown of the Bioshock series. This time he digs into an old folder on his hard drive to share an idea he had for a future game that would follow up Bioshock Infinite. While it still feels like Bioshock, it’s a new concept, setting, and story that would include the epic and grand ideas that the series is known for. Then Max takes the stage and shares his extremely detailed design for what the next game for Astro Bot should be. He covers how it should help launch the PlayStation 6 in the same way Astro’s Playroom helped the PlayStation 5 and also how it might redeem Sony’s failed attempt at live-service games (eeeww). As detailed as some of Kevin’s ideas have been, they are nothing compared to what Max has prepared for this game. To follow that up Jordan Vickers stops to pitch some of his ideas for three games that he wants to see. He starts off with a few easy concepts for games that sound like they are perfect new directions for the series they come from, and then pitches a third game that would reboot a long-dead game from the 90’s that not many of us have heard of. After finding footage of it and seeing a trailer for a failed reboot, this game has to be made. Gary from the Platinum Achievements podcast then joins in to give some ideas for a few beloved series that already have plenty of games, but deserve even more spin-off ideas into other genres. After a few of these game ideas both Kevin and Gary realize they need to start a game studio because they seem to be so good at adding to each other’s ideas. We hope you all have a great weekend and have a great time listening to some more of our lofty dream game ideas. Be excellent to each other!

Hello hello, listeners. On this episode, we are coming to you straight from Freddie Fazbear's Pizza Plex where Josh and local FNAF expert, Kade (GreenGorillaGamer) are going to take you on a very special journey. Join the boys as they discuss the development of the game and a story discussion for both the base game and "Ruin" DLC. Additionally, you will need your tin-foil hat as Kade walks us through the many theories & mysterious lore for a second time on this show. It's especially interesting to see how much his thoughts have changed on the overall FNAF universe due to the ramifications from this game. So climb into your Freddy suit, throw on your favorite earbuds, and join us for this awesome and informative episode.

Warmest of Welcomes everybody. This month on the mooglecast Max & Zac are joined by the bookworm himself ThePortlandKevin to discuss one of videogames most iconic and thought provoking franchises Bioshock. Kevin lets loose on the themes present in this I.P and how it compares to the state of the world today. Also on the usual run of the show we shoutout some of the recent Platinum trophies being earned by the discord community aswell as the latest installment of The Record fittingly centred around The Playstation Plus Gameclub. We hope you enjoy the discussion and we'll see you next month for a community catch up, but until then, would you kindly be excellent to eachother!

Max from the Mooglecast and Gary from the Platinum Achievements Podcast slide in to talk about the newest artistic release from indie developer and publisher Giant Squid. Their game Sword of the Sea evoked feelings for all three of them in different ways. Max opens up his first impression thoughts with a point that neither Kevin nor Gary picked up on and it completely changes how they view an essential element of the game. They talk about how the art style, music, and gameplay make this more of an art experience than a game, and why it’s meant to be experienced by absolutely anyone. They also note how this game retains many elements that appear in the developers’ previous games and how the new pieces introduced in this game fit surprisingly well with them. They talk about the minimal story and a few ways to interpret it. Lastly they all talk about the extra challenges that a player can tackle if they want to earn the trophies and how all three of them had different experiences overcoming them - collectibles, no-damage fights, and speed-runs. We hope you enjoy this episode of a short but excellent piece of art. Bonus points if you start this episode with a speed-run of the game and roll the credits before the episode ends.

Hello one and all, and welcome back to another episode of Trophy Talk! In this episode, we continue what has been a long standing tradition (five years to be exact), of reviewing our favorite trophy hunts for the year. Josh and Colin are joined by Kevin Garaventa to break down our honorable mentions, bronze, silver, gold, and platinum trophy awards for our favorite lists to trophy hunt in for 2025. Some of our picks, may indeed surprise you! Related to this topic we had a good deal of write ins to the show that ask us to dissect some of our least favorite, quickest, longest, and most re-visitable picks as well so strap in for a lengthy discussion on this topic! Before all that though we of course have our typical run of the show with favorite pieces of media for October, Platinum shout outs pulled from the Discord, and more. Thank you so much for listening, and for your support. It truly does mean the world to us here at the Trophy Talk Network. So sit back, grab a drink and some popcorn, and enjoy!

This week on Surviving the Horror, Colin, Josh, and Mitch descend into the world of Silent Hill f, the newest entry in the legendary horror franchise. This one definitely stands on it's own, not only in the Silent Hill universe, but also in the survival horror genre. From its unsettling 1960s Japan setting to the creeping botanical horrors and psychological dread, the boys unpack everything that makes this game fun, thought-provoking, beautiful and scary. We break down everything from the mechanics and gameplay, all the way through the story details and aesthetic choices. Expect theories, spoilers and all of our hot takes. See you on the other side!

Warmest of Welcomes everybody! As promised during the live raffle draw, your bonus episode of the Mooglecast is here where myself (Max) and my old school friend Maurice take a trip down memory lane talking about an I.P that carries a lot of nostalgia for us and really solidified our friendship in the best way possible. In this episode, Maurice introduces himself to the Trophytalk listeners and talks about his approach to gaming and then some of the memories we have playing Guitar Hero, what makes a good guitar hero game and for the main bulk of the episode we design a setlist for a Guitar Hero revival game from scratch. With over 60 songs mentioned we used our extensive music knowledge in Rock and Metal to create a setlist that features Hits, B-sides, and Deep cuts from a variety of artists that stretch across the rock and metal sub genres whether you're into Classic Rock, Death Metal, Alt Metal, Alt Rock, Prog, we try to cater to everyone. With each track mentioned we talk about some of our memories / thoughts of the artists bringing this episode to over 2.5hrs in length, one of Trophytalk networks longest episodes, so turn it up to 11 and get ready to talk riffs! Myself and Maurice will be back for a Part 2 so please look forward to that, but for now we took the time to produce a Spotify Playlist of the songs mentioned in order so you can listen to this fun little game idea, please enjoy and be excellent to eachother! https://spotify.link/t5NIf27qEXb

Madeline Stanley returns to talk with Kevin about what is arguably the best of the Dark Pictures series, House of Ashes. They first cover why they both love the “movie” style games and how Supermassive has perfected this sub-genre. They also talk about some of their favorite horror movies and games that this reminds us of and why any fans of those examples will love House of Ashes. Then they get into a full-on spoiler cast where they break down every major story beat. Along the way they explain who their favorite characters are, which characters have the most memorable relationships, and who has the best action-movie one-liners. They also discuss what makes the monsters in House of Ashes so special and how Supermassive has once again subverted our expectations of what the danger was. Surprise! It’s not exactly what you think it is.

Warmest of Welcomes everybody. This month on the Mooglecast we are joined by Will (Sqweezy) from Australia for a bunch of random topics including some of our favourite voice actors/actresses, what games we'd apply the nemesis system to if the patent ended and what special items we'd like to see included in a collectors edition for a game. The usual run of the show includes 'plat shout outs', 'the record' and as usual a meaty 'what we have been playing', where Max finally gives his thoughts on his first playthrough of his first Uncharted game (Drakes Fortune), and how keeping his teenage arms folded prevented him from entering this series for so long. Will as Norman Reedus with a Fetus slowly walks towards the Death Stranding platinum and Zac inches ever so slightly towards the finish line in Trackmania. We hope you enjoy Octobers episode of the Mooglecast, we'll be back in November alongside Theportlandkevin for a Bioshock retrospective, but until then, be excellent to eachother.

Hello there everybody, and welcome back to Trophy Talk! This week we're back to basics with Josh and Colin here to guide you through the latest trophy hunting news, massive game show announcements, and more. It seems like every year Call of Duty is too big to fail. Rarely is Activision's juggernaut franchise challenged by another shooter for supremacy. This year though, things seem to be different. With Battlefield 6 due out in one week's time, and hot off of a very successful Beta over the Summer, is this the year that CoD finally meets its match? Or does the recent acquisition of EA, news of a labored and glitchy campaign, and incredibly grindy trophy list end up positioning BF6 further away from the competition than it would like? We answer all of those questions as well as chat about the recent Sony State of Play, Tokyo Game Show, and other major announcements. Of course, in addition to all that we cover what we've been playing for the month of September, some Trophy Eco System news surrounding exclusive rewards, Patreon questions, and some initial thoughts on our journey with Silent Hill f. We hope that you enjoy the episode, thank you for listening, and take care!

Well hello everybody, and welcome back to another episode of Surviving the Horror! What happens when you combine a elements of a graphic novel, a pixelated retro aesthetic, and top down survival horror all in one package? Dead of Darkness happens. Developed by Retrofiction games and published by East Asiasoft, Dead of Darkness tells the story of Miles Windham on the search for answers surrounding the deaths of his wife and daughter. The search for these answers takes him to Velvet Island, an isolated and mysterious place with sinister roots. It's only through the clever use of resources, and aptitude for thorough investigation that Miles is able to survive and overcome horror that awaits him. Though he will of course, have some help along the way. Drawing heavily from games like Resident Evil, Silent Hill, and in some ways even Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, Dead of Darkness strikes the right balance of introducing new concepts and stories in Survival Horror along side retreading old ground of games that simply worked. Though the game may outstay its welcome by a few hours or so, it is still well worth a look and playthrough especially if you have love and nostalgia for the more classic PS1 era of the genre. Thank you for listening, and we hope that you enjoy the episode. We will be back next month with Silent Hill f!

Madeline Stanley joins Kevin to talk about The Forgotten City after the Trophy Talk Discord voted for it to be the September game for the episode. They start things off by discussing the game’s unique development history and recommend a few non-spoilery documentary videos on YouTube talking about what makes the game special. Then they get into a spoilercast covering the mystery of the game, the sidequests, and the main story from its beginning all the way through the “fake endings” and real ending. We highly recommend you play this game to truly appreciate this episode, but we hope you love our discussion none-the-less.

Warmest of Welcomes everybody This month on the Mooglecast we're joined by the true french one Thrawn AKA Aymeric to talk about our memories of gaming through the lockdowns of COVID 5 years on from the start of the pandemic, we discuss how our relationship with the hobby was effected and what games we were playing during that time whether solo or using them as a form of connection to other family members. We also bring back the normal run of the show with plat shoutouts and The Record, complete with a very meaty What We've Been Playing section. We hope you enjoy this episode of Mooglecast and we'll see in October. But until then, be excellent to eachother.

This week we’re joined by a very special guest, long time listener, community member and friend, Ray (Smackerly), host of the Platinum Achievements podcast. We have a packed episode full of gaming talk and trophy hunts. After hitting our favorite media, community updates and celebrating some of our listeners, we dive into the main topic of the show: - Ray’s take on balancing trophy hunting across PlayStation and Xbox - The huge news of Gears of War arriving on PlayStation - First impressions of its trophy list and massive player response - What this shift could mean for the future of Halo on PlayStation. Last but not least, we discuss what we’ve been playing to include Division 2, Death Stranding 2, the Exit 8, Anthem, and more! Come join us and please enjoy this latest episode of your favorite trophy hunting show!