Spawn On Me with Kahlief Adams: A Video Game Podcast

I'm back after nearly a month off and joined by my man, my mellow, the smoothest kind of fellow — Cam Hawkins of the Party Chat JRPG Podcast — to unpack a HEAVY few weeks in gaming.We open with the news that broke our hearts: BioWare is closing. After more than 30 years and franchises like Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and Anthem, EA is shutting the studio down and ending development on the next Mass Effect project. We read through BioWare's farewell statement, talk about how this one hit different than other closures, and dig into the leaked Mass Effect trailer that showed us exactly what we were going to lose — including a middle-aged Liara anchoring a brand new trilogy.Cam and I get into:• Why BioWare's influence runs through Witcher 3, Baldur's Gate 3, and basically every modern Western RPG• The "save Mass Effect" campaign and whether any publisher could realistically pick BioWare up• EA's restructuring, the Saudi buyout, and the "open world football" direction that doesn't inspire confidence• IP fatigue, Expedition 33, and whether gamers really know what they want• The "too online" problem and how it distorts what success looks like• How Japanese studios develop talent differently from the layoff-heavy US modelThen we get into WHAT WE'VE BEEN PLAYING:• Valor Mortis — the Napoleon-era Souls-adjacent first-person parry game from the Ghostrunner devs (BioShock vibes, Atomic Heart energy)• Final Fantasy Resonance — Cam makes the case that THIS might be the JRPG for me, and I'm actually convinced• Toy Story Retro Roundup — Atari going HAM on nostalgia (and I admit I've never seen a Toy Story movie, send help)• Gears of War: E-Day — I'm calling it: the best Gears game ever made. Prequel done right, Dom finally gets his moment, locusts are terrifying again• Control Resonant — probably my GOTY. Smarter than the original, better enemy diversity, that ending is WILDHeads up: Mark Grisby, co-studio head of Infinity Ward, is coming on the show this week to talk Call of Duty. Stay locked in.— FOLLOW SPAWN ON ME —X / Twitter: @SpawnOnMeInstagram: @spawnonmepodcastTikTok: @spawnonmeYouTube: youtube.com/SPAWNONMETwitch (Live Wed 6PM PST): twitch.tv/SPAWNONMEAll links: campsite.bio/spawnonmeBusiness: spawnonmepodcast@gmail.com

Luc Bernard has been trying to make The Light in the Darkness for nearly 20 years. It's a graphic novel-style narrative game set in occupied France during World War II — where you play as a Jewish family, experiencing the Holocaust not through combat, but through helplessness, fear, and the slow erosion of safety. It's the first game of its kind. And on Episode 591 of Spawn On Me, I sat down with Luke to find out how it got made, what it cost him emotionally, and why the Director's Cut is the version the world actually needs to see right now.

Go behind the scenes of Marvel's Wolverine with Insomniac's Head of Technology, Mike Fitzgerald. Learn how the team tackles complex development challenges. In this episode of Spawn on Me, we sit down with Mike Fitzgerald to discuss the realities of game development at Insomniac Games. We explore the technical constraints of bringing a major title to market, the intricate process of building character deformation tech, and what it takes to create high-end visuals in modern gaming. This conversation offers a unique look at the engineering hurdles faced by one of the industry's most prominent studios.

I've waited on a Wolverine game like this my whole life as an X-Men fan, and after 20+ hours with Insomniac's take, I'm breaking down whether it earns a place next to Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 as one of their best.This is a spoiler-free review, but I get into the big-picture stuff: how Insomniac reimagines Logan's origin through Team X and gives him a more grounded, human throughline than we usually get from this character; how the combat carves out its own identity — close-quarters and brutal rather than the aerial mobility Spider-Man built its reputation on — and where that comparison helps the game and where it works against it; the DNA augment system and suit customization, and how deep that rabbit hole goes; and what might be Insomniac's most technically impressive work yet, a photo mode and deformation system that shows real-time damage across the entire model.I also talk about where the game stumbles — specifically the Nightmare gauntlet challenges — and where I think this universe goes from here if Insomniac gets a second shot at it, or expands it into something bigger.If you're deciding whether this is worth your time, or you've already played it and want to see if we landed in the same place, this is the conversation. Let me know in the comments what you think — is this the best superhero game we've gotten, or does something else still hold that title for you?

I've been wanting to have this conversation for a long time, and it did not disappoint. This week on Spawn On Me, I sat down with Mara Junot — the voice of Ikora Rey in Destiny, Storm across multiple Marvel games, and Queen Sindel in Mortal Kombat — and we went deep on everything from their origin story to what it actually takes to build a lasting career as a voice actor.
Mara gets real about starting out with zero voiceover resources in their area, teaching themselves through YouTube and podcasts, and spending nearly 8 years as a country radio DJ before discovering the world of voice acting. They break down what agents actually expect from you (hint: it's not 10%), why introverts can absolutely thrive in this industry, and why they ignored everyone who told them they couldn't do trailers.
We also talk about voicing Storm across Marvel Midnight Suns, Ultimate Alliance 3, and the new Marvel Tokon — and the deeply personal reason Storm means more to them than any other character they've played.
This is one of my favorite conversations of the year. Don't sleep on it.
We are the culture. 🎮✊