The Electronic Wireless Show podcast episode 206: the most relatable characters in games

Following our Halloween special last week, The Electronic Wireless Show podcast today moves away from the monstrous to the relatable (which in our case does not preclude monstrosity). We talk about the characters that we relate to most, and also I find a way to mention Saturnalia again. Tune in next week to see if I can keep up my streak!

Matthew being away this week means that Nate takes on the role of the anti-Matthew, and we speculate about which games we think Matthew would probably find relatable. For myself and Nate the themes include sadness and drudgery. But there's good news, because Nate has remembered to make me a Cavern Of Lies this week! Hooray!

You can listen on Spotify, or above, or go straight to Soundcloud where you can download it for later. You can also now discuss the episode on our Discord channel, which has a dedicated room for podcast chat.

You can also get the RSS feed here or find it on iTunes, Stitcher or Pocket Casts.

Music is by Jack de Quidt, who is too extraordinary to be relatable.

Links
We theorise that Matthew would think of himself as a Yakuza character, we're just not sure which.

Nate goes to the Horizon Zero Dawn well and draws up sad bro Erund, who is a nice man just getting through it.

In terms of job drudgery I talk about Papers, Please and the slightly less grim Wilmot's Warehouse, where you can sort of make your own fun and job satisfaction while carrying out rote tasks.

Who would you most relate to out of the cast of Hades? I went for either the posh boy who doesn't get on with his dad, or the anxious head-monster. Nate said Hades, for a nuanced reason.

In other dad news, Nate doesn't want to labour the God Of War point. And in semi-related talking points, he does like the sad giants in The Banner Saga.

Arguably there are some relatable moments in Crusader Kings when someone unexpectedly has to take over the throne when they just wanted to be a nice European weirdo spare royal.

I related to sad young adults like the protagonists in Life Is Strange or hell-drinking sim Afterparty

I sort of don't relate to the characters in Saturnalia because I would just hide inside by the fireplace until everything had blown over.

In general, though, we relate quite a lot to the grim NPCs trying to grow cabbages or what have you in RPGs like The Witcher 3 or Bloodborne.

Recommendations this week are Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet Of Curosities, with particular reference to Crispin Glover's extreme Crispin Glovering in episode five, and All Quiet On The Western Front - both on Netflix.