A Pile of Shame: Critical Moves Hosts Force Each Other's Backlog Games (Ep.88)

Drexy hosts this week, joined by Adam and an early-rising Joe (5am and counting). The trio raid each other's Steam libraries for a "Pile of Shame" challenge, picking games none of them have played and forcing each other to give them a proper go (2-5 hours minimum) before reporting back. Adam gets handed Warhammer 40K: Gladius – Relics of War by Drexy and Terra Invicta by Joe, complete with a rundown of Gladius's brutal AI (built by a modder-turned-freelancer) and a full strategy briefing on playing Terra Invicta as the Initiative. Drexy is gifted Nova Lands by Adam and the original Mount & Blade (with the Prophecy of Pendor mod) by Joe. Joe gets Prison Architect and Warsim: The Realm of Aslona from Adam, plus a Shadow Run: Dragonfall pick from Drexy — with a shared, unplayed copy of Warsim becoming a running joke and unofficial group homework. Expect tangents on Zephon's end-game crisis problem, Terra Invicta's mid-patch Ukraine war update, and a Rock Paper Shotgun story about a Solium Infernum player who won a match he almost missed entirely.