
The Level
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.
Latest episodes

Oct 26, 2024 • 1h 18min
Episode 520: T.T.T. Approaching Zero
Kole, Dennis, and Moxie talk about Moving Houses, Cult of the Lamb, Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred, and much more!
The Grind:
Moxie: Cult of the Lamb.
Dennis: TrackMania. Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred.
Kole: Silent Hill 2. Moving Houses.
The Multiplayer:
What game do you always have installed?
The End Boss:
Subnautica 2 is getting optional co-op multiplayer.
Baldur’s Gate III voice actors romance themselves.
Someone found a way to play all 2 billion Pokemon Platinum seeds at once.

Oct 19, 2024 • 2h 10min
Episode 519: The Nurses Will Pursue You
Kole, Ben, Dennis, and Moxie talk about Diablo IV: Vessel of Hated, TCG Card Shop Simulator, RoboCop: Rogue City, and much more!
The Grind:
Ben: RoboCop: Rogue City. Beat Saber. Half-Life: Alyx. TCG Card Shop Simulator.
Moxie: Castlevania: Dominus Collection. Cult of the Lamb.
Dennis: Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred. Inscryption.
Kole: Silent Hill 2 Remake.
The Multiplayer:
What’s the most you’ve been spooked by a non-horror game?
The End Boss:
New Pokemon leak contains bawdy folk tales.
Teen “completes” the NES Tetris port.
Some maniacs did Hamlet in Grand Theft Auto Online.
Disco Elysium team splits into feuding spiritual successor studios.

Oct 11, 2024 • 1h 28min
Episode 518: Deck of Wondersful
Kole, Dennis, and Jala talk about the Silent Hill 2 Remake, Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred, Mouthwashing, and much more!
The Grind:
Jala: Shining Force III. Shining in the Darkness. Lid Astray. King of Fighters 14 and 15.
Kole: Silent Hill 2 Remake. Mouthwashing.
Dennis: We < 3 Katamari REROLL. Control. Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred.
The Multiplayer:
What was the best year for video games?
The End Boss:
Alien Isolation is getting a sequel.
Pathologic 3 will be the Bachelor, Daniil Dankovsky’s story.
Pinball Spire is a pinball Metroidvania.

Oct 4, 2024 • 1h 53min
Episode 517: A Dedicated Team of Sickos
Kole, Ben, Dennis, and Moxie talk about Astro Bot, Satisfactory, Final Fantasy XIV, and much more!
The Grind:
Ben: Half-Life: Alyx. Satisfactory. Astro Bot.
Kole: EverQuest. Final Fantasy XIV.
Moxie: Far Cry 6. Legend of Mana.
Dennis: Slay the Spire.
The End Boss:
Nintendo sues the makers of another Switch emulator.
Magic: The Gathering fans ruin the Commander format with death threats.
The next Horizon game might be live service.

Sep 27, 2024 • 1h 39min
Episode 516: Find Your Pervy Person
Kole, Dennis, Jala, and Moxie talk about Frostpunk 2, Master Detective Archive: Rain Code, the Sony State of Play announcements, and much more!
The Grind:
Jala: Master Detective Archive: Rain Code.
Kole: Frostpunk 2.
Dennis: Crash Bandicoot N-Sane Trilogy. Control.
Moxie: Frostpunk 2. Far Cry 6.
The Multiplayer:
What’s the most you’ve changed your opinion on a game, positive or negative?
The End Boss:
LUNAR re-releases are coming next year.
Yale library is preserving the text adventure game Amnesia.
Palworld is coming to PS5 despite Nintendo lawsuit.
Flappy Bird is being re-released as a crypto scam.
Links:
Support the Deck of Wonders: Master of Dungeons Kickstarter campaign!

Sep 18, 2024 • 1h 47min
Episode 515: Windmill Journey
Kole, Ben, Dennis, and Moxie talk about Dungeon Divers, Half-Life: Alyx, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, and much more!
The Grind:
Ben: Half-Life: Alyx. Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire.
Dennis: Dungeon Divers. Tetris Effect. iRacing.
Moxie: Far Cry 6.
Kole: Nothing.
The Multiplayer:
What game would you love to break out and beat on a long weekend?
The End Boss:
Concord pulled from stores, servers closed.
Valve hires team behind Risk of Rain after Microsoft lays them off.
They trained an AI
Silent Hill 2 Enhanced Edition finished.

Aug 31, 2024 • 1h 41min
Episode 514: If You Sleep in the Game You Sleep in Real Life
Kole, Ben, Dennis, and Jala talk about Tactical Breach Wizards, Scarlet Deer Inn, announcements from this week’s Nintendo Direct, and much more!
The Grind:
Jala: Decarnation. Baldur’s Gate III. Scarlet Deer Inn. Dice Games.
Kole: Tactical Breach Wizards. Conscript.
Dennis: Beat Saber. iRacing.
Ben: Above and Below. Beat Saber. Talos Principle 2.
The Multiplayer:
What game needs its own big doofy peripheral?
The End Boss:
Concord launches, flops.
Balatro is getting crossover game content.
Capcom Fighting Collection 2 contains one of Jala’s favorite games.
Castlevania Dominus Collection collects the three amazing DS Castlevania games.
Tetris Forever will tell the Tetris story in interactive form.

Aug 23, 2024 • 2h 10min
Episode 513: A Very Weird Adaptation of Air Bud
Kole, Ben, Dennis, and Moxie talk about Conscript, The Talos Principle 2, Shadow Warrior 3, and much more.
The Grind:
Moxie: Shadow Warrior 3.
Ben: The Talos Principle 2.
Kole: Conscript.
Dennis: Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy. Diablo IV. iRacing.
The Multiplayer:
What media would you like to see get a video game adaptation?
The End Boss:
New Indiana Jones game coming to PS5, weirdly.
Video game anthology series announced at GamesCom.
Black Myth: Wukong developers thought crazy streaming restrictions would fly.
Maniac mods actual car to be racing game rig.

Aug 17, 2024 • 1h 36min
Episode 512: Soft Rock
Kole, Ben, and Dennis talk about CYGNI: All Guns Blazing, Rogue Light Deck Builder, Legendary Tales, and much more!
The Grind:
Kole: Rogue Light Deck Builder. Clone Hero.
Dennis: CYGNI: All Guns Blazing. Manic Miners.
Ben: Legendary Tales.
The Multiplayer:
Propose some gaming-related olympic events that make more sense that what we’re actually getting.
The End Boss:
Tango Gameworks is back from the dead.
Fortnite consumes Fall Guys.
The Borderlands movie is about as good as you’d expect.

Aug 11, 2024 • 1h 53min
Episode 511: If You Like Those, It's One of Them
Kole, Ben, Dennis, and Moxie talk about 7 Days to Die, Fortnite: Reload, Stellaris, and much more!
The Grind:
Kole: 7 Days to Die.
Dennis: Roboquest. Fortnite: Reload. iRacing.
Moxie: Stellaris. Warframe.
Ben: Beat Saber. Hi-Fi Rush.
The Multiplayer:
What games took the biggest risks?
The End Boss:
GameStop shuts down Game Informer.
Until Dawn is getting a movie adaptation.
Diablo IV glitch made permanent.
Sega made an arcade game without a computer or a screen.