Into the Aether - A Low Key Video Game Podcast · Stephen Hilger + Brendon Bigley

Buff Sam and Old Leon (feat. Resident Evil Requiem, Marathon, and Ys X)

·1 hr 52 min·5 clips

A singing zombie can damage Grace just by performing, and Leon can drop her mid-note.

Into the Aether opens in full Resident Evil freak mode. Brendan Bigley and Stephen Hilger joke that the freak show has escaped the circus, then settle into a spoiler-free talk about Resident Evil Requiem, the game that had Brendan up until 1:30 in the morning and both hosts sounding like people who know exactly why that happens. The hook is pretty simple. They are both into the series enough to treat Leon S. Kennedy like a familiar bit of chaos, and that familiarity lets them bounce between affection, exasperation, and a lot of small jokes without losing the actual point. Grace gets a lot of attention too. The hosts keep circling back to how much work she does on her own, and one of the sharper bits is Leon saying he is glad Grace made it out okay while the listener remembers spending hours watching her fail, flail, and get dragged through the mud. That contrast is funny. It also tells you a lot about the episode's tone, because the joke lands, but it lands against a real sense that this game is making its player care about the character while also putting her through a lot. The violence is part of the conversation. They describe it as campy and over the top, but also creepier and more unsettling than Resident Evil 4, closer to a creepy Evil Dead 1 edge than a broad comedy groove, and that comparison gives the whole discussion some useful shape. It does not feel gratuitous to them. They explicitly place it below the more punishing feeling they associate with the Resident Evil 2 remake, which keeps the conversation from sliding into empty shock talk and instead grounds it in how the game actually feels to sit with. Still, there is one note. A few of Grace's death animations run about five seconds too long, and that is the kind of complaint these two can make without souring the mood, because they are clearly speaking as people who are still having a good time. That matters. The episode keeps coming back to the idea that Resident Evil is the one series that can get them playing far too late, then make the next morning feel earned, and that is a pretty good summary of the hold it has on them. The emotional flashback hits hard. When the game uses one early sequence to set up stakes for Grace, the hosts respond to it as a real payoff rather than a cheap trick, which is part of why the discussion feels both relaxed and attentive. The ending stays affectionate. By the time they wrap, the conversation has wandered through jokes, comparisons, discomfort, and genuine appreciation, and it still sounds like two people who are glad to be making the show together and glad to have listeners along for the ride.

As heard by us

A spoiler-free Resident Evil hangout that balances camp, unease, and genuine affection.

Brendan Bigley and Stephen Hilger spend this spoiler-free hangout digging into Resident Evil Requiem, and the appeal is how quickly a late-night play session turns into a real debate about why these games still hold their grip.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

For a spoiler-free Resident Evil Requiem check-in that feels like two friends happily spiraling around the game.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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