This week on Critical Arcade, Dave and Nick dust off their dual pistols, crank up the early-2000s angst, and step into the shadowy, conspiratorial world of Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness—the game that tried to reinvent Lara Croft… and occasionally forgot how legs work in the process.

Fresh off being framed for the murder of her mentor Werner Von Croy, Lara finds herself plunged into the underbelly of Paris. She escapes through rain-soaked streets, dingy back alleys, and the world’s grumpiest cafés while trying to unravel a string of occult murders tied to a secret society known only as the Cabal. Their motives? Mysterious. Their fashion sense? Impeccably leather.

As Lara goes on the run, Dave and Nick try to keep track of all the new “features” this game introduced: morality systems that don’t really matter, stealth segments that no one asked for, and strength upgrades that somehow require Lara to repeatedly push boxes like she’s training for the Olympics. Meanwhile, Nick insists the game’s moody Paris soundtrack is underrated, and Dave keeps asking why every locked door looks like it might actually be a puzzle but… isn’t.

To complicate things further, the boys meet Kurtis Trent, the trench-coat-wearing, telekinesis-dabbling enigma who may or may not be flirting with Lara—or the player, depending on the mood. While Lara chases ancient artifacts tied to the Nephilim, Kurtis does his best to appear cool.

Their journey eventually leads them from grimy nightclubs and abandoned museums to high-security compounds and eerie, centuries-old catacombs. They’ll face mutated monstrosities, secret experiments, and plot twists that feel ripped straight from an early 2000s sci-fi channel marathon.

Find out as Critical Arcade tackles one of the most ambitious, bizarre, and surprisingly charming entries in the Tomb Raider saga—a game that may be flawed but still shines with atmosphere, attitude, and enough early-2000s energy to power a thousand leather jackets.

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This week on Critical Arcade, Dave and Nick strap on their sandals, grab their gleaming katanas, and dive headfirst into the stylized, time-warped epic that is Samurai Jack: The Shadow of Aku. From the moment the boys hit “Start,” they’re hurled into a world where the future is corrupted, everything has an angular edge, and Aku’s voice echoes like a disappointed dad trying way too hard to sound intimidating.

Guiding Jack through swarms of beetle drones, lumbering robots, and Aku’s endless parade of weirdly buff minions, our hosts quickly realize that the game is less about slashing and more about deciding which direction they’re supposed to be slashing in.

As Jack travels across dystopian cities, alien-infested swamps, and Aku’s infernal domain, the duo uncovers fragments of Jack’s journey back to the past. The Shadow of Aku looms large over their adventure, manifesting as everything from boss fights to Aku’s signature evil cackle.

Can Dave and Nick help Jack get one step closer to rewriting his destiny? Will Nick ever master the timing of the jump-slash? And will Dave finally admit that Aku is kind of funny… in a “please stop shouting at me” kind of way?

Tune in as the boys tackle corrupted futures, ancient destinies, and the eternal struggle of trying to look cool while missing every single combo.

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This week on Critical Arcade, Dave and Nick dust off their detective hats, light a cigarette under the flickering glow of a neon sign, and step into the rain-soaked, crumbling streets of dystopian Vancouver in Backbone. This isn’t your average pixel-art adventure — it’s a smoky, jazz-drenched neo-noir where everyone’s an animal, the city’s rotting from the inside, and the truth is far more terrifying than it first appears.

Players take on the role of Howard Lotor, a weary raccoon private investigator barely scraping by, whose latest case — finding a missing husband — leads him into a web of corruption, crime, and existential horror. What starts as a simple domestic investigation quickly unravels into a conspiracy involving the city’s oppressive class system, grotesque secrets hidden by its powerful elite, and a mystery that forces Howard to confront his own humanity… or what’s left of it.

As Dave and Nick follow Howard’s trail through smoky jazz bars, shadowy back alleys, and the towering decadence of the rich, they’ll face moral dilemmas and uncomfortable truths. Dave spends half the episode trying to figure out if raccoons can get PTSD, while Nick insists on narrating every line like a 1940s gumshoe. The two debate everything from the meaning of the game’s shocking transformation in its final act to whether or not the raccoon trench coat counts as “drip.”

Will Dave keep his cool as the story descends into surreal, body-horror-infused madness? Can Nick make sense of the game’s philosophical curveball ending — or will he just blame it on “art”? And most importantly, can anyone really find hope in a world built on lies and fur?

Find out as the Critical Arcade crew peel back the layers of Backbone — a haunting, beautifully realized descent into noir, nostalgia, and nihilism that asks not just who we are, but what we’re willing to become.

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