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Dave | Tales from the Backlog

@tftblpod.bsky.social

3.3K followers 790 following 2.1K posts

Critical discussions about the games we play, with Dave Jackson (he/him) and friends. One game per episode, in depth, no spoilers until we warn you. Podcast/YouTube- https://linktr.ee/talesfromthebacklog Support- Patreon.com/realdavejackson

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Dave | Tales from the Backlog @tftblpod.bsky.social · Nov 9

Hi! I'm Dave, and I host Tales from the Backlog (a backlog games deep dive podcast). Each episode is me with a different guest discussing the games we play, with no spoilers for a while.

Also pictured: my producer Rukey.

🌐linktr.ee/realdavejackson
📬[email protected]

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Dave | Tales from the Backlog @tftblpod.bsky.social · 2h

Just driving down the roads, but you need to be very meticulous about steering and speed or you'll fly off the road. I imagine keeping your cargo from falling out will be a thing too.

Dave | Tales from the Backlog @tftblpod.bsky.social · 2h

And Truckful! Load your pickup truck with your cargo, and try to stay on the road...and whatever you do, don't go in the forest at night. Short demo, but it's got a great hook. store.steampowered.com/app/3090810/...

Main menu for Truckful. Shows a truck driving down a road toward a forest, with an ominous red area in the forest.

Screenshot from Truckful. Your red truck is blocked from driving further down the road by a flock of sheep.

Screenshot from Truckful. Your red truck is shown driving down a narrow forest road as light filters through the trees.

Screenshot from Truckful. Your red truck is shown driving at night on a forest road, about to pass under a streetlight.

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Dave | Tales from the Backlog @tftblpod.bsky.social · 3h

Here's Thrasher, an arcadey game where you...fly through good stuff without flying through bad stuff to increase your time score? It's tough to describe, but it makes sense in the hands, and just like Thumper, the visuals and music are great. store.steampowered.com/app/3949660/...

Screenshot of the main menu from Thrasher. A dark, alien landscape and a colorful alien sky.

Screenshot from Thrasher. Your snake-like character is about to fly through a series of lines.

Screenshot from Thrasher. Your snakelike character takes on a skull boss with a long tongue. The landscape is alien, tentacled and colorful.

Screenshot from Thrasher. The boss has been defeated and its skull is cracking.

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Dave | Tales from the Backlog @tftblpod.bsky.social · 4h

Next up is Hoop Land, a real throwback to NBA Jam-type basketball games, but with maybe legally distinct teams, fun players names, more depth (and more players). Also has a franchise mode! This reminds me of Retro Bowl, one of my favorite mobile games. store.steampowered.com/app/2453660/...

Starting lineup screen for a Hoop Land game between the Boston Charms and Los Angeles Stars.

Charms players- Jason Garcia PG #2, Jordan Covington SG #50, Pippy Big Pippy PF #32, Tone Show SF #55, Elijah Rose C #19

Stars players- Carl Joseph PG #8, Polan Stronk SG #6, Hanamichi Suzuki PF #43, Tobias DiPierri SF #25, Raihan Rizky C #12

Screenshot from Hoop Land. A Los Angeles Stars player is dunking the ball.

Screenshot from Hoop Land. J. James handles the ball for the Los Angeles Stars.

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Dave | Tales from the Backlog @tftblpod.bsky.social · 5h

First demo for tonight is Ambrosia Sky, a power washing scifi game about a fungal infestation growing out of control. Had some real performance issues after a few levels, but those few levels were enough to sell it. Good shit. Oh it has a grapple beam too. store.steampowered.com/app/3580160/...

Main menu for Ambrosia Sky. A woman with a gun of some kind is floating upside down in front of an airlock, with the game's title and menu options visible.

Screenshot from Ambrosia Sky, looking out a window out at Saturn from a ring colony.

Screenshot from Ambrosia Sky. The main character uses a pressure washing gun to break lightning-like strands of fungus.

Screenshot from Ambrosia Sky. The character uses a pressure washing gun to break apart a large formation of orange and black fungus.

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i sob hell @isobel.top · 27d

maslow's hierarchy of needs but with hollow knight silksong fleas and it says "when you find one of these little guys and he goes "awooo"

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Dave | Tales from the Backlog @tftblpod.bsky.social · 7h

I knew saving that hard drive with thousands of mp3s for decades was a good idea. Now, where did I put my Zune...

Rebekah Valentine @duckvalentine.bsky.social · 8h

between this and the ICE ads on Spotify, YouTube randomly doing AI edits of creator's videos without their consent, and the U.S. government taking over TikTok, I think I'll just get really into collecting music on CDs and start bringing books with me everywhere again.

demon grrl 😈🏳️‍⚧️ @demongrrl.gay · 4d

seriously

for fucks sake

cancel your spotify subscription

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Jesse Guarascia @jesseguarascia.com · 11h

Are you trying to check out #SteamNextFest demos but can't quite make it past all the AI crud? Overwhelmed by the sheer number of games of varying degrees of quality?

Well look no further! I'm going to be playing tons of demos this week and cataloguing the most standout ones in this thread:

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NARFNra @narfnra.bsky.social · 8d

emulator filter called gameboy advance at night which looks like this

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Yuna.EXE 🏳️‍⚧️ @yunanoire.bsky.social · Mar 10

Real opening paragraph in an Official Nintendo Magazine feature

"I once punched my younger brother so hard in the chest that he vomited up that morning's breakfast - cornflakes mainly. It wasn't technically the Heimlich manoevre, as he wasn't choking and I wasn't trying to save him-"

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Design Room @designroom.bsky.social · 14h

For the Shadow of the Colossus story, we interviewed 14 people including project leads Fumito Ueda and Kenji Kaido, hired Gravity Rush concept artist Takeshi Oga to illustrate the cover, and put together a 10,000-word story with help from @milkman.bsky.social @shmuplations.bsky.social and others.

Shadow of the Colossus: An oral history

Celebrate the 20th anniversary of Team Ico’s masterpiece by looking back with 11 people who worked on it (and three who didn’t).

www.designroom.site

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Design Room @designroom.bsky.social · 14h

🚨🚨🚨

We are live! Welcome to Design Room, a new independent games media site.

• We specialize in oral histories like the Final Fantasy 7 and Street Fighter 2 ones I (@mattleone.bsky.social) did at Polygon
• Our first big story is on Shadow of the Colossus: bit.ly/4hjwz8n
• See more: designroom.site

Design Room

Video game oral histories

designroom.site

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Dave | Tales from the Backlog @tftblpod.bsky.social · 15h

A little transparency, as a treat, perhaps? 👉👈

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Dave | Tales from the Backlog @tftblpod.bsky.social · 15h

Will leave a review now!

Reposted by Dave | Tales from the Backlog

Emily Merritt | No Small Games @aspecificegg.bsky.social · 16h

Hey @valvesoftware.com, you know what would be really rad? If we could filter out games that used AI in pre or post production while we browse through Next Fest demos.

Might also give you some interesting data on how people feel about AI games. Could be fun, could be cool

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Dave | Tales from the Backlog @tftblpod.bsky.social · 1d

It had me in full concentration, tongue out like Michael Jordan at the free throw line.

Dave | Tales from the Backlog @tftblpod.bsky.social · 1d

Last one for tonight is @aerialknight.com's DropShot- arcadey (finger)gunfights while skydiving. It gets you right in the action, the music is great, and I had a good time replaying levels to get every target. Really loved the boss fight level too! This is a great time.

Title screen for Aerial_Knight's DropShot. Two characters are shown shooting at each other while skydiving. One character has a gun, one has their hand in the shape of a gun.

Screenshot from Aerial_Knight's DropShot. The main character is skydiving, and their pink arm and hand form a finger gun. They are dodging red lasers while diving after targets.

Screenshot from Aerial_Knight's DropShot. The character is skyciving, with their pink arm and hand forming a gun. They are falling toward some floating islands, and the text "Dragon Attack!" is shown in the air.

End of level score screen in Aerial_Knight's DropShot. The main character has white hair, sunglasses, a mustache and goatee, and is holding up a finger gun. Rank A, Score 1194, take downs 9 out of 11, bullets left 3 out of 18, time 0049.

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Dave | Tales from the Backlog @tftblpod.bsky.social · 1d

Next one is Cairn, and folks, this is *good shit*. Sometimes "good gameplay" is all about making a plan, executing it and making little micro decisions within that plan, and that's what this is all about. I can't wait to play the full release.

Main menu screen for Cairn. A hiking pack sits in the foreground of a mountain range in front of a blue sky. A huge peak is in the center of the screen. Menu options are: Story, settings, Cairn Steam page, Credits, Quit.

Screenshot from Cairn, showing the main character resting mid-climb as the sun sets in the background. Press X to climb, RT to hold rope.

Screenshot from Cairn, showing the main character in mid-climb, moving her left leg to a new position. The climbing bot can also be seen to the right of her.

Screenshot from Cairn. A giant peak looms in the distance below a starry sky. Aava says "Doesn't look so bad, does it?"

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Dave | Tales from the Backlog @tftblpod.bsky.social · 1d

Next up is The Remake of the End of the Greatest RPG of all time. Clearly taking inspiration from old RPGs, Tunic and meta documentary stuff....will be interesting to see how complex it gets and how all of these things tie together.

Menu screen for The Remake of the End of the Greatest RPG of All time. Options are: Continue (99.53%), Options, Wishlist on Steam, Log Off, Shut Down. A castle is shown in a fiery background with demons flying around.

Screenshot from The Remake of the End of the Greatest RPG of All Time. Three characters are shown walking along a tiled floor as castle walls go in different directions in the background.

Screenshot from The Remake of the End of the Greatest RPG of All Time. One character wielding an axe stands in combat against three enemies, two flying and one that looks like a factory smokestack.

Screenshot from The Remake of the End of the Greatest RPG of All Time. In the background, four characters walk through a castle corridor. In the foreground, a menu overlay shows a selectable video clip from a "making of" documentary about the game.

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Dave | Tales from the Backlog @tftblpod.bsky.social · 1d

Trying out some Next Fest demos, and the first one was Skate Story! This game jumps out in trailers due to the visuals, and I'm happy to say it's a blast to play. Zooming through the levels is a thrill, and even the most basic tricks feel impactful to land. Looking forward to the full release.

Main menu screen for the Skate Story demo. What appears to be a city or series of crystals is in the background, colored by prismatic greens, reds and blues. A glowing crystal skateboard sits in the center of the screen.

Screenshot from Skate Story. An ethereal character stands looking at the moon, surrounded by jagged red crystals. Text says "this demon was going to eat the moon"

Screenshot from Skate Story. The skater is kicking a skateboard and moving toward a row of glowing red fire and a doorway behind it.

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Elijah Gonzalez @elijahgonzalez.bsky.social · 1d

I played a bunch of Steam Next Fest demos and came up with a list of five you definitely want to check out. We've got some long-awaited Devolver releases, a PSX flavored real time/turn based hybrid that I haven't seen anyone talk about, and a game about a psychic baby. Something for everyone, etc.

Endless Mode @endlessmode.bsky.social · 1d

The latest Steam Next Fest is here, and you're probably overwhelmed by its thousands of options. Luckily, we've dug through much of its offerings and have come up with five must-play demos to check out, including at least a few you probably haven't heard of:

Five Must-Play Demos From Steam Next Fest October 2025

Endless Mode explores the infinite possibilities of games and anime, from the excitement of video games, togetherness of board games, and action of pinball, to the adventure of theme parks, exhilarati...

www.endlessmode.com

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Dave | Tales from the Backlog @tftblpod.bsky.social · 1d

Pathologic 3 releasing January 9th, we have never been so back.

Release date
PATHOLOGIC 3 will launch January 9th, 2026. That date is nailed down, screwed in, wrapped in commitments and isn't moving.

Pathologic 3 is a complex game. It blends many mechanics: sometimes non-obvious and not fitting neatly into a conventional genre, because we built them to best express the Bachelor's worldview and story. It's a game that's hard to explain with "keywords"; the truth is in the details. So instead of one trailer, we made several.

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more mr. dice guy @juniorhoncho.bsky.social · 3d

pilgrim guy finishes reading a big book, leans way back in his chair and loosens the belt on his hat

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Dave | Tales from the Backlog @tftblpod.bsky.social · 1d

Japan would like a word!

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Dave | Tales from the Backlog @tftblpod.bsky.social · 2d

You're never gonna believe this, but I'm talking about Rain World again. Big thanks to Jake for inviting me on again!

Jake | POB Podcast | So Many Games @chipdip.bsky.social · 2d

Folks! The latest Indie Impressions episode is now public. @tftblpod.bsky.social Dave and I chat about a little survival game called Rain World, with all its frustrations, beauty, and unmatched game design.

Take a listen here: open.spotify.com/episode/2jhW...

Rain World: Harder than any From Software game

open.spotify.com

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