Hello and welcome home. This is Audio EXP, the weekly podcast from Geek Native. I’m your host, Girdy, and as we kick off a new month, we have a packed episode featuring major streaming news, industry shifts, and some surprising historical revelations. Let’s dive into the news.
[The following is a transcript of Audio EXP: #320]
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We begin with our monthly community update. A huge congratulations to Surbrook Press, who have been voted as the RPG Publisher Spotlight winner for February. It is fantastic to see their work recognised by the community. Looking ahead, voting is now open for March. This month’s candidates include some stellar independent talent, so please head over to the site to cast your vote and help us decide who to feature next.
The five candidates for next month’s RPG Publisher Spotlight are:
In a story that is reframing how we look at martial history, a new British Museum exhibition reveals that half of Japan’s samurai were actually women. Far from being outliers, these female warriors—or Onna-musha—were a core part of the samurai class, participating in sieges and battlefield combat alongside men. This discovery challenges centuries of male-centric narratives and provides a wealth of historical grounding for players looking to bring more authenticity to their tabletop characters.
Continuing that theme of the role of women in society and the hobby, the Women in Games 2026 Manifesto has been released. This isn’t just a statement of intent; it is a direct call for a strategic shift in how the industry handles fairness and representation. It demands transparency in pay, better support for leadership roles, and a total overhaul of studio cultures to ensure the industry is as diverse as the people who play its games.
In other industry news, HBO has greenlit a Baldur’s Gate 3 series with Craig Mazin at the helm. However, the production is moving forward without the involvement of Larian Studios. It is a bold strategic choice that has fans debating how the spirit of the game will translate to the screen without its original creators.
For those looking for something more cinematic, we have a trailer for Steven Spielberg’s The Dinosaurs, which is set to roar onto screens next month. It marks a return to the grand, sweeping scale of filmmaking that Spielberg pioneered with Jurassic Park, but with modern technology and a fresh narrative focus.
Following that cinematic trend, Bronwen has a look at the trailer for Exit 8. This is a movie based on the hit indie computer game of the same name, focusing on the uncanny and psychological horror found in liminal spaces. If you want to dive deeper into that world, there is also a novel by Genki Kawamura currently available for pre-order, which promises to expand on the game’s unsettling atmosphere.
In the world of roleplaying games, the Swedish indie RPG Oceania 2084 has taken home a prestigious Game of the Year award. Heavily inspired by Orwellian themes, Oceania 2084 puts players in the shoes of citizens living under an all-seeing totalitarian regime. It is a hauntingly relevant title that uses its mechanics to explore surveillance, resistance, and the crushing weight of authority.
In new releases, Netcrawl is bringing “cyber dungeons” to Dungeon Crawl Classics. This is a fresh blend of old-school fantasy aesthetics with high-tech hacking themes, perfect for those who want to mix their spellcasting with some digital infiltration.
Finally, for the Shadowdark fans, the Torches Ready bundle is now available. This is a collection of previously released, highly-rated games and supplements now gathered together to help you manage those ever-important light sources in the deep dark.
And if you have ever felt your home was missing a certain cosmic horror flair, you can now adopt a shoggoth. It is a quirky project that provides a fun, if slightly terrifying, way to support independent news, as our anti-Valentine has a shameless share-a-shoggoth feature built in.
Thanks for listening to Audio EXP. For all the links and full stories, head over to Geek Native. Until next week, stay geeky.
