

The Level
Duckfeed.tv
The Level is a podcast for people who love video games. It's a weekly roundtable hosted by friends and industry outsiders Kole Ross, Ben Merkel, Dennis Furia, David Moneysmith, and Jala Prendes. Every Friday, we discuss video game news, the games we've been playing, and listener mail.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Dec 23, 2022 • 1h 15min
Episode 440: No Tangents: Titles Can Also Be Lies
Kole, Ben, Dennis, and David talk about the games they played over Duckstream, and announce the 2022 Title of the Year.
The Grind:
Friday the 13th
Vermintide 2
Golf With Your Friends
Deep Rock Galactic
Deceit

Dec 17, 2022 • 1h 58min
Episode 439: Drop My Balls
Kole, Ben, Dennis, and Jala talk about The Devil in Me, Marve;’s Midnight Suns, Gungrave G.O.R.E., and much more!
The Grind:
Kole: Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me.
Jala: Pokemon Scarlet.
Ben: Marvel’s Midnight Suns
Dennis: Gungrave G.O.R.E. Modern Warfare 2: DMZ.
The Multiplayer:
What’s your Game In the Year 2022?
The End Boss:
FromSoft reveals new Armored Core game.
The boy wizard game’s last-gen versions are delayed.
Brawl Star gambling addicts bemoan loss of loot boxes.

Dec 10, 2022 • 2h 4min
Episode 438: It Won a The Game Award
Kole, Ben, David, and Dennis talk about Pentiment, Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, and much more!
The Grind:
Dennis: Dawncaster. Slay the Spire. Warzone 2.0.
David: Warhammer 40,000: Darktide.
Ben: God of War: Ragnarok. Pentiment.
Kole: NOTHING.
The Multiplayer:
Your The Game Awards predictions.
The End Boss:
Star Wars: Jedi Survivor release date leaks.
A Zenimax QA team unionizes.
A new Mario movie trailer dropped.
Vampire Survivor is getting some DLC.

Dec 2, 2022 • 1h 48min
Episode 437: The Weedle in the Weeds
Kole, Ben, David, and Jala talk about Pokemon Scarlet, The Case of the Golden Idol, Atari 50, and much more!
The Grind:
Jala: Persona 5 Royal. Pokemon Scarlet.
Ben: God of War: Ragnarok. The Case of the Golden Idol.
David: Kenshi.
Kole: Signalis. Bonelab. Atari 50.
The Multiplayer:
What’s your first video game memory?
The End Boss:
Starfox artist is working on a new game.
Marvel’s Midnight Suns is coming out like right now, much to our surprise.
Tetris: The Grand Masters is coming to America for the first time.
Elite: Dangerous is getting aliens, officially.

Nov 18, 2022 • 2h 12min
Episode 436: Dissecting the Punks
Kole, Ben, David, and Dennis talk about God of War: Ragnarok, SIGNALIS, Somerville, and much more!
The Grind:
Ben: Somerville. God of War: Ragnarok. Returnal.
David: SIGNALIS. Kenshi. Shadow Over Loathing.
Kole: Resident Evil Village: Shadows of Rose. Walkabout Mini-Golf: Myst.
Dennis: Deep Rock Galactic. Magic the Gathering Arena: The Brothers’ War. Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands.
The Multiplayer:
What feature will immediately make you interested in a game?
The End Boss:
God of War super special collector’s editions ship with one glaring omission.
Remedy announces Control 2.
Fallout 76 gets a neat fan trailer.
Crypto exchange FTX, which bought Storybook Brawl, implodes.

Nov 4, 2022 • 1h 47min
Episode 435: Throw Assets at the Problem
Kole, Ben, David, and Dennis talk about Persona 5 Royal, Walkabout Mini Golf, Dawncaster, and much more.
The Grind:
Ben: V Rising. Phasmophobia.
Kole: Phasmophobia. Walkabout Mini Golf.
David: Deep Rock Galactic.
Dennis: Dawncaster. Fallout 3. Persona 5 Royal.
The Multiplayer:
What game or property do you want a survival horror version of?
The End Boss:
A Riven remake is on the way.
Apparently Nascar 2005 for GameCube is a lot more useful than we thought.
The Last of Us HBO series premieres in January 2023.
The PS Plus numbers.

Oct 28, 2022 • 1h 40min
Episode 434: Spaghetti Belts
Kole, Ben, David, and Dennis talk about Phantom Abyss, Tunic, Scorn, and much more!
The Grind:
Dennis: Phantom Abyss. Magic: The Gathering Arena.
Kole: Scorn.
David: Scorn. Deep Rock Galactic.
Ben: Tunic. Satisfactory.
The Multiplayer:
Let’s talk about challenge runs!
The End Boss:
Square Enix trademarks “Symbiogenesis”.
Streamer-funded Smash tournaments fill a void Nintendo isn’t interested in filling.
Dark Souls 2 online play restored, but with caveats.

Oct 21, 2022 • 1h 49min
Episode 433: The Rabbids Ethos
Kole, Ben, David, and Dennis talk about Scorn, Outer Wilds, Echoes of the Eye, Slay the Spire: Downfall, and much more!
The Grind:
David: Deathloop. Deep Rock Galactic.
Dennis: Deep Rock Galactic. Slay the Spire: Downfall Mod. Rabbids: Party of Legends.
Ben: Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye. Tunic.
Kole: Scorn.
The Multiplayer:
What games handle grinding the best?
The End Boss:
Bayonetta 3 voiceover woes.
Silent Hill announcements are happening and we’re uncertain.
Scientists have taught brain cells to play Pong.
Minecraft Legends looks like a neat RTS.

Oct 14, 2022 • 1h 30min
Episode 432: Morbography
Kole, Ben, and Dennis talk about Medieval Dynasty, Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye, Ori and the Blind Forest, and much more!
The Grind:
Dennis: Ori and the Blind Forest. Medieval Dynasty.
Ben: Dome Keeper. Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye.
Kole: Rocksmith 2014.
The Multiplayer:
What games use simplicity or minimalism to great effect?
The End Boss:
Among Us is coming to VR on November 10.
Let’s talk about the Mario movie trailer.
VTubers apologize for streaming porn with Splatoon 3, creatively.

Oct 7, 2022 • 2h 2min
Episode 431: Who Yassified Yertle?
Kole, David, Dennis, and Jala talk about Catherine Full Body, Deep Rock Galactic, Metal Gear Survive, and much more!
The Grind:
Jala: Catherine: Full Body. Shining Force 2.
Dennis: XCOM II: War of the Chosen. Trackmania. Deep Rock Galactic.
David: Deathloop.
Kole: Vampire Survivors. Metal Gear Survive.
The Multiplayer:
What’s your Last Meal game?
The End Boss:
Google kills Stadia.
CD Projekt Red announces a Cyberpunk sequel and several new Witcher games.
Fandom buys GameFAQS and Kole is concerned.
Overwatch 2 suffers launch day DDoS attacks.