Plus Grammy award nominations for game soundtracks are announced and Half-Life 2 celebrates its 20th anniversary
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SIFTER is produced by Kyle Pauletto, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Courtney Smith, Adam Christou and Chris Button. Mitch Loh is Senior Producer and Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer. Thanks to Audio Technica Australia and Apple for their support of SIFTER.
KYLE: Hi I’m Kyle Pauletto
FIONA: and I’m Fiona Bartholomaeus
KYLE: Welcome to Walkthrough, SIFTER’s weekly recap on the biggest news in video games. And a big welcome back to Fiona!
FIONA: This week Overwatch 2 and Fortnite go back to the beginning with new retro modes, the Grammy award nominations are in for game soundtracks and a new Lego set has been teased to tie into Lego Horizon Adventures.
Here is the news for Sunday 17th of November. Let’s go!
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FIONA: It’s a bit of a blast from the past for Fornite and Overwatch 2 as they’re both bringing back some of their OG maps and characters.
Overwatch 2 hit rewind earlier this week with the launch of the Overwatch: Classic event where 12 maps and 21 heroes will be available to play across the four original game modes.
These game modes are pretty broken if you look at them with modern eyes, but hey for the old timers who say “back in my day” this is like catnip to them.
The event will also have the No Hero Limits rule meaning you can have 6 of the same character in your team if you really want.
Overwatch: Classic is available now and will run until December 2.
KYLE: Then on December 6 Fortnite is dropping its OG map as a permanent addition to the game.
Players will be able to explore the original map, relive the original seasons and collect any of the older weapons and gear that they might have missed out on.
This isn’t the first time Fortnite has gone back to its original content as they did launch an OG season last year, but this will be the first time they’ve made it permanent.
Right now the game is running a remixed version of Chapter 2, and has started to sell previously exclusive cosmetics from previous seasons so I guess FOMO is NOMO.
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KYLE: The 2025 Grammy awards nominations for the Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media have been announced and there’s an unexpected contender.
Joining the nominated AAA titles is Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord, a remake of the 1980s hit game.
It was definitely unexpected to see such a game up there with Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and Star Wars Outlaws but we absolutely love it.
FIONA: Winifred Philips composed the remake’s soundtrack and isn’t a stranger to the game composing scene, having worked on the first God of War, Borderlands, Assassin's Creed 3 and so much more.
Keep an ear on Lightmap very soon as Gianni is joined once again by ABC Classic’s Meena Shamaly for his take on the best soundtracks of 2024. Always a fun episode.
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FIONA: Not a huge shock this one, but it looks like there will be more Lego sets featuring PlayStation protagonist Aloy and her friends.
As leaked by TheBrickReporter on instagram the new smaller set features minifigure Aloy and Varl fighting a Shellwalker and a Sawtooth enemy.
KYLE: It’s a tie-in set for Lego Horizon Adventures which came out this week, which retells the entire story of the first game in cartoony Lego fashion.
Only one previous set was released, the expensive Horizon Forbidden West Tallneck which has since retired.
Gianni and Mitch just keep getting their way, who will stop them?? I can't, I've tried.sigh
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KYLE: Can you believe it’s been 20 years since Half-Life 2 was released?
The groundbreaking series celebrates the milestone this weekend with a brand new documentary which actually features a little bit of the delayed but never released Episode 3.
The game is free to keep at the moment and includes episode 1 and 2 and three and a half hours of new developer commentary on the making of the game.
FIONA: Half-Life 2 launched two out of three of it’s promised expansions, but for a myriad of reasons the season was left on a very big cliffhanger.
This new doco actually shows off a little bit of this final chapter which is pretty surprising after 20 years, but is this a cruel tease for Half-Life 3?
Half-Life 2 might look a little bit graphically dated these days, but the gameplay still holds up incredibly well and the voice acting is top notch. Give it a spin.
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KYLE: That’s it for the big headlines, here are the games coming out this week
FIONA: Out on the 19th is MySims CozyBundle, the remake/remaster of this spinoff Sims series. If you loved these simple chibi games back in the Wii and DS era you’ll be able to revisit those worlds with upgraded graphics and cute gameplay. You’ll find it on the Switch this week.
KYLE: Take to the skies with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. Expect improved graphics, quality of life upgrades, and a bunch of new missions like aerial firefighting, crop dusting, and mountain rescue. That’s out on PC and Xbox Series S and X this Tuesday.
FIONA: After 14 years in development and a war that took over Ukraine where the studio developing the game is based, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is finally here. If you ever wanted to explore the aftermath of a nuclear meltdown well you’re in luck. This first person horror shooter will be available on PC and Xbox Series S and X on the 20th.
KYLE: Also out on the 20th is Towers of Aghasba, an open world sandbox adventure where you’re tasked with nurturing a mythical island into a vibrant ecosystem. That’s out on PC and PS 5 on the 20th.
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KYLE: This has been Walkthrough by SIFTER, my name is Kyle Pauletto.
FIONA: And my name is Fiona Bartholomaeus, thank you so much for listening.
KYLE: Did you know you can review SIFTER’s podcasts! Spotify, Apple Podcasts or PocketCasts will all take your five star reviews and it does tremendously help a small indie podcast like ours. Give us five stars, leave a review, tell your mates.
FIONA: SIFTER is produced by Kyle Pauletto, myself, Adam Christou, Courtney Smith and Chris Button. The episode is edited by both Senior Producer Mitch Loh and Gianni Di Giovanni who is SIFTER’s Executive Producer and also Walkthrough’s script editor.
KYLE: Thanks to Brian Fairbanks from Salty Dog Sounds for composing the Walkthrough theme tune, and Audio Technica Australia and Apple for their support of SIFTER’s podcasts.
FIONA: We’ll be back with more news next Sunday. See you then.
