Shows
Scholars At Play2PT - 002 - Isabelle Is a Bell (Animal Crossing: New Horizons)Subscribe to Two Player Theory! https://twoplayertheory.podbean.com/2025-07-091h 25
Two Player Theory012 - "How do you solve a problem like..." (INDIKA)Joined once again by special guest Sean (or Bean, has the Theorists end up calling him), Derek and Zach meditate on 2024's beloved indie game about a failed nun, INDIKA (Odd-Meter). They talk fate, faith, work, play, and imagine "What if the devil was real?" If you've ever wanted to listen to a podcast half the length of the actual game, THIS is the episode for you.
2025-07-092h 09Two Player Theory011 - Revenge, Retribution, and a Sapling of Hope (Arco)Derek and Zach make their way through Arco (2024), an indie, postcolonial (??) turn-based action game about the violence of colonization and the stories of indigenous people seeking revenge and redemption for past injustices. Challenging at mechanical, thematic, and narrative levels, Arco was difficult in all the best ways.
2025-06-061h 36Two Player Theory010 - It's NetRUNNER, Not NetWALKER! (Cloudpunk)Thanks to a listener suggestion, Zach and Derek drift into the neon-lit world of Cloudpunk (Ion Lands, 2020). They reflect on Cloudpunk's unique, "cozy" take on cyberpunk, and try to figure out what they want and expect from a game about techno-feudalist collapse.
2025-05-021h 50Two Player Theory009 - "Now summoning Ayn Rand" (Dark Souls)Derek and Zach are joined by special guest Sean to recount the highs and lows of their relationships with FromSoft's classic Dark Souls (2011). They reflect on narrative and mechanical design, struggle, failure, vulnerability, prophecy, and more.
Check out Sean's podcast! https://www.gokvet.ch/
Works Cited
Kelly: "I Can’t Take This: Dark Souls, Vulnerability, and the Ethics of Networks"
Keogh: “Dark Souls: A Time To Grind”
2025-04-041h 48Two Player Theory008 - Are you a Minecraft Hero or Minecraft ZERO?? (Minecraft)Zach and Derek talk about one of the biggest games in the world: Minecraft. They test their knowledge, try their hand at some amateur foley work, and work through why procedural generation in games like Minecraft feels good, but generative AI sometimes really doesn't.
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@twoplayertheory
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/twoplayertheory/
2025-03-061h 35Two Player Theory007 - Thrusting is particularly bad for crowd control (Boyfriend Dungeon)On this unintentionally-well-timed-nearly-Valentine's release, Zach and Derek visit the dating-sim/dungeon crawler Boyfriend Dungeon (Kitfox, 2021), a game far less saucy than the title suggests. How does the game bring together these disparate genres, and what do The Theorists think of it? Listen in and find out!
Article referenced: Boyfriend Dungeon Is Being Subjected To Tumblr's Messiest Death Throes (Renata Price, 2021), https://kotaku.com/boyfriend-dungeon-is-being-subjected-to-tumblrs-messies-1847506425
2025-02-061h 07Two Player Theory006 - 2024 Games of the YearIt's Two Player Theory Award Season!! Zach and Derek highlight their favorite moments with games in 2024, both the big and the small.
Wanna see the full list of our awards? Check them out on social media here:
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@twoplayertheory
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/twoplayertheory/
2025-01-121h 36Two Player Theory005 - Roguelikes and Roguelites (FTL and Cult of the Lamb)Or, The Life and Death of Robo Derek
Zach and Derek (and a special guest ??) do a game swap to tackle a favorite genre: roguelikes, roguelites, and everything in between. They focus on FTL: Faster Than Light (Subset Games, 2012) and Cult of the Lamb (Massive Monster, 2022), but touch on many other games in this genre.
This episode is the first of a mini-series on roguelikes - more coming soon!
2024-12-081h 48Two Player Theory004 - All Scrims and Set-Pieces (Kentucky Route Zero)Has the die already been cast? Are we all just floating along for the ride? What makes a memory, a dream, a ghost, or an echo (un)real? Is there hope for community and life after the flood? Derek and Zach consider it all as they explore their thoughts and feelings about Annapurna Interactive's Kentucky Route Zero (2013- 2020).
2024-11-071h 43Two Player TheoryGaming to Know You: Orange Boxes and Meat Flowers (Derek + Zach)Derek goes back to the very beginning of his interest in first-person shooters with Team Fortress 2 (Valve, 2007), and Zach tells the tale of his time at summer camp in Psychonauts (Double Fine, 2005).
2024-09-291h 16Two Player Theory003 - Live from the Cathedral! (Sid Meier's Civilization V)Friend Kyle joins Derek and Zach to talk about a really bad tweet thread - but also about Sid Meier's Civilization V, Baldur's Gate 3, and what we want from good criticism.
2024-08-191h 35Two Player TheoryGaming To Know You: All The Chrono Crossibilities (Zach)Zach explores the many pathways of Chrono Cross's story, within the game and across his life growing up.
2024-07-1852 minTwo Player Theory002 - Isabelle Is a Bell (Animal Crossing: New Horizons)In this episode, Derek and Zach talk through their experiences with the latest instalment in the Animal Crossing series, New Horizons. Topics include utopia, friction, and the debut of the Fruit Minute with Derek and Zach.
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Links:
Flores, Natalie. “Animal Crossing: New Horizons Is as Anxiety-Inducing as It Is Relaxing” (https://www.pastemagazine.com/games/animal-crossing-new-horizons/animal-crossing-and-anxiety)
Minsky, Yaz. “Animal Crossing and the Ideology of Chill” (https://youtube.com/watch?v=JN8Q0KASClE)
Signor, Jeremy. “Animal Crossing and Queer Agency” (https://unwinnable.com/2020/04/02/animal-crossing-and-queer-agency/)
2024-06-201h 24
Two Player TheoryGaming to Know You: A Decade of "Isaac" (Derek)Derek talks about his decade-long relationship with the rogue-like that started it all (for him) - The Binding of Isaac (Nicalis, 2014)
2024-06-1339 minTwo Player Theory001 - Whose Tears? Whose Kingdom? (Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom)In this first episode, Derek and Zach talk through their experiences with The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
2024-04-181h 00