Lots going on this fall; not just in the world of my podcasts, but there, too. Here’s a roundup on everything I’ve been up to, with some spare thoughts at the end about one of my favorite games of the year.
On Strong Songs: Talking Dan, Steely Heads
In September, I finally made good on the latest Strong Songs Patreon bracket vote, with an episode on Talking Heads’ “Once in a Lifetime.” I knew it was a good song going in, but the process of making the episode elevated it to a new level for me. I now believe “Once in a Lifetime” to be a rare work of genius, utterly unique in its construction and effect. You may ask yourself, why don’t more songs use repetition and second-person suggestion to climb inside your head and reshape your thoughts? Maybe no one else has the guts.
Just today, October’s episode went live, on Steely Dan’s “Peg,” from 1977’s Aja. This was a more straightforward one, though the song is anything but. I was happy to gain a newfound appreciation for how strange it is. Michael McDonald’s cluster-chord chorus harmonies attract a lot of the discussion around this song, but Jay Graydon’s careening guitar solo and Donald Fagen’s spacious, too-hip harmonies deserve just as much of an eye. Researching this ep made me glad for Rick Beato, who has done a thorough job of documenting the production of Aja by speaking at length to basically everyone who worked on it.
On Definitely Fiction: The Warrior’s Apprentice and The Vor Game
My newest podcast, Definitely Fiction, has a couple of new episodes since Sam and I announced the show. Midway through September we published our episode on 1986’s The Warrior’s Apprentice, the first book in our Vorkosigan Saga reading order to focus on series protagonist Miles Vorkosigan:
Then, at the start of October, we ran episode four, about 1990’s The Vor Game. It’s a terrifically entertaining book that digs deeper into Miles’s character and motivations by pitting him against a dangerous woman who is every bit his cunning equal:
We’re on to a monthly schedule now, so our episode on 1995’s Cetaganda will hit on November 3. It was a great conversation about a fascinating book. After that comes Ethan of Athos, which Emily and I are reading through now, and which is just a terrific book.
This series has been a blast so far. I’m glad we’ve found some longtime Lois McMaster Bujold fans, and I’m particularly happy to see some of you out there giving these books a shot for the first time. It’s lovely to see someone finish Barrayar and come screaming into a Discord channel, excited about how great it was.
If you have been enjoying Definitely Fiction, consider signing up for our Patreon!
I finished Cai’s act one and am on to Leda
On Triple Click: Games, Games, And One Extra Special Game
It’s a big fall for video games! I unfortunately mean that in multiple ways: this autumn marks the release of a number of exciting, ambitious, high-profile video games. And also, the beleaguered video game industry has fallen so far, so fast.
Let’s focus on that first fall 🍂. Here’s a list of all (most?) of the video games I’ve talked about on Triple Click over the past couple months:
First up there’s Soma, a 2015 horror game that I had us revisit in 2026, which led to an enjoyable conversation about consciousness, artificial intelligence, and the meaning of life.
We discussed The Blood of Dawnwalker, a confident and well-made Witcher 3-alike that was, per my co-host Jason’s reporting, made in less time and for far less money than your average game of its quality.
A few weeks back we talked about Star Wars: Zero Company, a turn-based tactics game based in the Star Wars universe that’s easily in the running for my Games of the Year list.
But wait, there’s more! The Switch 2’s Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave is a life-devourer that has already stolen many dozens of my hours. I liked it more than Maddy and especially Jason, but I’ve also played a lot more, which is how it goes. Definitely a game that gets better as you go.
Then comes Control Resonant, an open-world supernatural adventure that is every bit as intriguing and visually beautiful as its predecessor. A full episode on this one is forthcoming, though Maddy and I have already discussed it a bit with guest-host Lucy James. It is a fantastic and fearlessly ambitious game, and I’m impressed with developer Remedy’s willingness to try new ideas.
In the world of third-person action, Control stands in sharp contrast to Marvel’s Wolverine, an unfortunately messy game that still manages to have some fun thanks to strong central performances. Also discussed with Lucy.
And we still aren’t done, as Valor Mortis (do the words “first-person Napoleonic soulslike” mean anything to you?) got a brief mention at the end of this week’s episode. The game makes for an interesting pairing with Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo, which I recently finished and discussed at the end of last week’s ep.
AND, the excellent Ace Combat 8 (basically Battlestar Galactica with fighter jets), Onimusha: Way of the Sword (terrific, not at all what I was expecting), and the adrenaline soaked, ingenious Star Wars: Galactic Racer are each crying out for their own episodes. None will get them, I fear. I’ll have to cram some thoughts onto the show at some point. It suffices to say that all three games rock.
Whew! All that, because no one wanted to launch a game to compete with Grand Theft Auto VI in November. Well, no one but Nintendo.
GTA can have November. My heart still belongs to Big Walk, an independent cooperative game out of Australia that has vaulted past the rest to become my favorite game of 2026.
This is a pic by the developer, but it might as well be me, Maddy, and Jason
We recorded an episode about this game back in August, with a bonus spoiler-filled segment at the end of a later ep. The short version: you and a group of friends all drop onto a mysterious island and are tasked with solving a bunch of varied and creative puzzles strewn about the valleys, beaches, and mountains. (In my case, my group of friends are my Triple Click co-hosts, Maddy Myers and Jason Schreier.)
The game’s hook, if you can call it that, is that you must communicate via in-game proximity chat, meaning that your voice emanates from your character, and if you get more than a few feet away, you won’t be heard or understood. With this one restriction, the game’s developers—a very small team at a Melbourne studio called House House—have opened the door to an endless cascade of delights.
Every puzzle is built around creative communication. One player may be in a soundproof room, using the game’s complex gesture system to wave their arms and jump around in order to communicate a series of patterns to their teammates outside the glass. Puzzle after puzzle utilizes telescopes, sensory deprivation helmets, relay races, and mysterious audio cues to force you and your friends to adapt, adjust, and cooperate to determine how best to proceed.
All of this builds over the course of a dozen hours and many dozens of puzzles, culminating in a grand finale that is among the most sublime video game endings I have ever experienced. I will say no more, because I hope that some of you reading this are still planning to play. But: it was astounding in its cleverness, its beauty, and most of all in its simplicity.
Simplicity is actually the word that I have come back to, again and again, when considering Big Walk. It was certainly not an easy game to make; House House spent six years on it. But there is nonetheless a simplicity to this game that feels remarkable to me. A conceptual simplicity, if you like. Each time Maddy, Jason and I began a new session, I found myself asking the same question: why on earth aren’t there more games like this?
As a kid, I spent countless hours walking around in the woods with my friends. I still do it as an adult, though not often enough. If someone told me I could go to a park on an island, and spend time with my friends solving clever and often funny puzzles? I would go and do it. Why are so many video games fixated on transporting me to battlefields and star bases, when I’d prefer to just go to a big playground with my friends? Why are so many talented developers working on derivative competitive shooters—each of which struggles mightily to stand out from its similar competitors—when a game as conceptually straightforward and obviously pleasing as Big Walk is more or less unprecedented?
It seems evident that the answer, at least in part, is that video games like Big Walk are much more difficult to make than they seem. And, perhaps, not the kind of thing most publishers’ marketing departments are excited to sell. But in the wake of Big Walk’s critical and commercial success, I hope to see a couple of studios at least try to chase these ideas. The world would be a better place with a few more Big Walks.
Onward
That’ll do it for now. I’ll leave you with this pic of Appa, who has become quite sweet in her middle age. Unless you try to brush her belly, then all bets are off.
Take care, and keep listening-
~KH
10/16/26 - Portland, Oregon