Ep.26: The Q&A Special

It took six people and twenty-six episodes, but Critical Moves finally turned the mic around. This episode isn’t about a theme or a debate—it’s about questions from the community. Al is joined by Nuno, Joe, Tim, Adam, and newcomer Jack for a sprawling, chaotic, and strangely wholesome chat where they look back on the podcast so far and answer everything you’ve been asking.

There are moments of reflection, plenty of sarcasm, and at least one relationship-threatening moment involving a microphone, a girlfriend, and a 2am gaming session.

Looking Back, Looking Ahead

The episode kicks off with each host sharing what Critical Moves has meant to them. Nuno deadpans that his favourite part is not having to do any work. Joe highlights how good it feels to find like-minded people, even if they all trash Civilization 7 weekly. Adam’s just happy to finally talk about games without torturing his partner. Tim, as always, brings the heart—saying that getting to know each of the team members has been the real highlight. Jack, on his first appearance, says he thought he’d be the smartest guy in the room. He wasn’t.

Most Anticipated Games of 2025

Joe opens with Burden of Command before realising it’s already out. He quickly pivots to the Victoria 3 DLC, specifically the trade overhaul, which he says will add “new realms of dorky economic simulation.” Tim agrees and adds that he’s been enjoying the game with friends nightly. He also has his eye on Tempest Rising, which Al just finished and strongly recommends.

Nuno picks Broken Arrow. Despite not loving the infantry system, he thinks it has a lot of potential for single-player fans and praises the mission design. Jack brings up Endless Legend 2, even though he didn’t enjoy the first game. Adam agrees, saying he’s curious if the studio can finally win him over with the sequel. Al, meanwhile, is still buzzing from Tempest Rising and excited for what’s next. It’s shaping up to be a strong year—at least for people who aren’t waiting on Civ 7 to get better.

The Most Impactful Strategy Game of All Time

This wasn’t about influence or sales, it was about which game lives rent-free in the heads of players. Jack picks Age of Empires II, not just for its gameplay but for how many developers still cite it as the game that made them fall in love with strategy. Joe names Red Alert 2, mostly because he remembers the story and – more disturbingly – Tanya’s dress in the end cutscene. He also mentions Crusader Kings 2 for how it changed the direction of Paradox games.

Nuno agrees with Age of Empires II, saying it’s probably the first game that comes to mind when people think “strategy.” But for mechanics, he picks Company of Heroes as a turning point for tactical depth and innovation. Al goes with Total Annihilation, saying it changed the scale and ambition of RTS. But Tim pushes back, arguing that it didn’t lead to much until Supreme Commander years later. Al concedes—kind of.

Playing the Classics We Missed

Adam recently played Dune II and says it holds up surprisingly well, despite the obvious age. Joe admits he’s never played Age of Wonders or Dwarf Fortress. Tim jumps in to praise Heroes of Might and Magic III, saying it’s one of the few older games he’d still recommend today. Jack technically says no – he hasn’t missed many – but he does revisit classics in remastered form and has a wishlist that includes Sid Meier’s Pirates and Age of Mythology.

The group agrees that nostalgia is a powerful thing, but many old games don’t hold up well visually or mechanically. Nuno jokes that he doesn’t bother with classics he missed, because they rarely live up to expectations.

Regrets, Rewrites, and Rethinks

If they could redo one episode, which would it be? Tim says one of the early ones he hosted—probably the Renaissance episode—because he was nervous and not as sharp as he wanted to be. Al disagrees and says Tim did great. Nuno picks the Morality episode, where he thinks he held back too much and tried to explain things too carefully. Now, he’d just say what he thinks and let the idiots deal with it.

Al would redo the “strategy games that made us” episode. He thinks it was a bit too self-indulgent and unstructured. But everyone agrees: early episodes feel clumsy because they were still finding their voice. That’s just how it goes.

Desert Island Strategy Games

This one came from Dengar98K: if you were stuck on an island and could only take one strategy game, what would it be? Al says Stellaris – 7,000 hours and counting. Jack agrees, saying there’s so much content in Stellaris that even with no new updates, it would last for years. Tim gets philosophical and says he’d take Unity or Visual Studio so he could make his own games. Then he admits it would probably be Distant Worlds. Adam goes with Oxygen Not Included or a Civilization title – anything sandbox and endlessly replayable.

Nuno surprises everyone by choosing FTL, saying he still plays it regularly and never gets bored.

Co-Op Strategy Games: Love or Hate?

Adam plays co-op a lot because he’s bad at competitive multiplayer. He used to play co-op skirmishes in Command & Conquer 3 and now plays the banned game that shall not be named. Tim says he prefers custom co-op maps in games like StarCraft, Warcraft III, and Heroes III. He wants more games to embrace co-op, not just as an afterthought but as a central mode.

Al, predictably, doesn’t play well with others. But even he admits that co-op could be a way into multiplayer without the stress of direct competition.

Final Notes, Last Laughs

There’s a lot of laughter in this episode. Jack gets roasted. Tim is praised for being the nicest member of the team. Joe reminds everyone of Tanya again. And Adam once again worries that his partner will leave him because of the podcast.

There’s also a solid five minutes where the crew tries to come up with a name for Jack’s future Stellaris podcast. “The Star of the Show” gets floated. It is, thankfully, rejected.

Episode 26 might be a bit messy, but it captures the whole point of Critical Moves: passionate strategy game chat, too many opinions, and a bunch of people who genuinely enjoy talking about this stuff together.

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