What’s Your Favorite Podcast Game?

Last week, just after beating Prey for the first time (and before starting it again, with a different playthrough strategy, send help), I decided I needed a new ‘podcast game.’ You know, something I could play and enjoy while catching up on my podcasts, or while watching friends stream. Something that can take up 75% of my attention, happily.

So, I popped Overwatch on.

I adore the game, as much for its community of passionate, artistic fans as for the game itself, but I hadn’t really played in nearly a year. I tried some of the newer characters (and had some success with Sombra!) but mostly, fell back in with my girl Zarya, the only character I’ve ever been 100% comfortable with, and enjoyed the hell out of buffing my teammates with the buffest hero on the field.

It’s fun, it’s fast, and playing in the basically-no-stakes Arcade mode, it is the perfect podcast game.

Forza image courtesy of Microsoft Studios

None of this is to make light of Overwatch as a competitive game, or a well-designed piece of work. I certainly don’t think of podcast games as lesser games—my last serious podcast game was the formidable Forza 6, which I’d play endlessly, getting perfect laps while I was in EMT school, using audio book chapters to study while I played. I mean, sure, I now associate cardiac tamponades with really gorgeous muscle cars, but it was a net positive, in the end.

Games for this purpose can be extremely robust, but they just need to give some parts of my brain something engaging to hook onto, while the rest can listen in.

So, what are some of your favorite podcast games? Let’s talk about it in the forums!