What's the best podcast game of 2016?

I wish I could listen to a podcast whilst playing overwatch but the sound is so vital that I am far too scared to turn it down

Grim Dawn is pretty high up there for me. Sound is quite important in Overwatch but I do occasionally play it while listening to podcasts if I'm not in ranked.

Nothing in 2016 for me.

Minecraft still remains the best podcast game for me.

@yesiamaduck: I'm pretty much just playing unranked matches. I play the podcast through my phone's speakers and I can get a pretty good balance between it and the TV. Also I'm playing on PS4 so who really cares?

Mine are NBA 2K and No Mans Sky

IDK how anyone can have something playing in the background while playing a multiplayer game. Im way too focused on the game to even listen to something else. Plus in the two multiplayer games I mostly play right now(Overwatch and RB6) sound is incredibly important.

I think No Man's Sky basically requires a podcast or something else. The soundtrack isn't...bad...per se but it is sort of ambient and uninteresting, and the game requires lots of resource harvesting and mostly consists of down time. It also makes sense within the context of the game that your explorer would have SOMETHING to listen to other than his suit whining whenever its life support gets below 75%. I actually really wish the game had music you could collect or even a pangalactic GTA style radio system (Though I understand why that would damage the tone they are going for.)

I echo others who say that sound is important to gameplay in Overwatch AND that it requires too much focus to also listen well to something else while playing.

Rocket League.

Dat Soundtrack Though!

It's not a 2016 game, but yeah, anything you play for hundreds of hours is going to end up a podcast game kind of by default.

Dark Souls III for me. Running up and down that final bridge to grind for hours was a zen experience with a podcast going.

Kingdom, easily for me. But Overwatch is a close second.

My biggest gripe with playing games with a podcast running in the background, is when there's story involved. I usually don't play with a dedicated player that can play/pause using my keyboard's mediakeys. It either gets super chatty, and i lose interest in the game real fast. Or I have to alt-tab like crazy, meaning i usually need to run it in windowed. Removing the immersion even more.

I don't often listen to podcasts while playing games, but I do put GB stuff on my ipad while playing games. Most GB content has become 75% audio only for me.

Overwatch is good for this setup. Sound is important, but you really just need to be able to hear Ult barks for the most part.

Stellaris was definitely mine for a good while

There is no way can I play Overwatch competative whilst listening to a podcast. I voted Stardew Valley and I haven't even played the game yet. It just looks so relaxing.

I'm not really into watching or listening to something else while playing games, but I did end up listening to the beastcast while playing Evochron Legacy, and that worked out alright.

My actual podcast game tends to be "walking" but if I do play a game alongside that it's probably Clash Royale (for all of 20-30 minutes tops) or Hearthstone. Maybe Dots if I really need something to do while I'm listening and am out of other ideas. I could include Minecraft but I don't really play it all that much any more. Out of those options, I could definitely see No Man's Sky as a pick, or perhaps Stardew Valley (but I'd have to pause the podcast for any dialogue-heavy sections).

Sports games. Always sports games.

No Mans Sky has been a godsend for getting through podcasts, I had the entire second season of Serial I really wanted to listen to but needed a game to play with it and just didn't have anything I wanted to play enough to get me through it, so it sat on the back burner for the last 8 or 9 months. I had also fallen off of my GB podcasts for the most part which bummed me out but I just can't listen I need something to do and it can't be too involved otherwise I'm not paying attention to it and it defeats the purpose.

Needless to say since NMS has been released I've finished Serial and gotten back into the Beastcast...Bombcast solved my problem with the new video option

MLB The Show 16 and No Man's Sky for me. Special runner up to The Witcher 3 when I'm just clearing out question marks or playing gwent.

Twilight Struggle.

Overwatch is definitely not a podcast game. I remember nothing about the podcast when I'm playing games. All my attention is on playing.

Crusader Kings 2 is my go to, even in 2016. Stardew Valley has become a close second, though.

Minecraft has always been my go to podcast game. It doesn't require a whole lot of attention even when playing survival on the hardest difficulty (which I do). As for games that came out this year, I believe Trackmania Turbo was a 2016 release. That was a good one to play while listening to podcasts.

I usually save podcasts for work and commutes.

I'll turn my podcasts off when I'm fighting a monster for the first time, but Monster Hunter Generations (like all MH games) is good for podcasts when you're trying to grind out some armor or completing gathering quests.

I find it hard with most games to do anything else, but I can usually eek out half of what ios being said on any given podcast when playing No Man's Sky. It is actually a problem, even listening to just a podcast on the sofa or at the gym I can sometimes 'tune-out' thus missing what is being said.

For the most part, The Witness is a quiet game, so I suppose you may as well put a podcast on while solving some puzzles.

RimWorld is fantastic for this.

The Souls games have kinda been my go-to podcast games so it'd be Dark Souls III for me. I think the fact that there's usually no music and that you'll be repeating a lot of the same areas over and over is what makes it in my experience.

Monster Hunter Generations is turning into a podcast game for me.

I go with the Rorie's choice WoW honestly. Especially with legion coming out. Although with the new xpac I do read all the quests the first time through, but after that it is great :P

I've been playing a lot of Street Fighter V (to the point where it's almost the only game i play nowadays) and other than maybe missing parts of the podcast here and there during the more intense matches it's a perfect podcast game.

Most MMO's really

I'd say either No Man's Sky (I kind of need to listen/watch something while playing it) or Stardew Valley.

Sidenote: I want that next damn Stardew Valley patch! Soon.

God Eater Resurrection has been pretty great, and I 'll probably just roll right into 2 when that comes out in a week or so.

I'm playing some Monster Hunter tri right now and man, that's a good podcast game. I also think the Dark Souls games work as a podcast game. Fifa is also wonderful.

still die-ah-blow 3 for me. i assume destiny and the division would fill that hole nicely too.

also multitasking to get all of our entertainment jollies in. what a time to be alive.

The only way I can keep track of pod-casts (be they the actual play roleplaying of RPPR or GB stuff) is when I am doing something akin to driving a car. I.e. I can focus on the pod-cast and auto-pilot the activity I am also doing.

Not that I thus crash my car all the time but in the same way you can listen to the radio and drive safely kinda manner.

The only two games I have ever found I am able to do this in is Minecraft, many years ago, and a Android version of Sudoku at a level where I can solve it without thinking and with a number of helps turned on (auto fill possible numbers).

Anything else and I end up losing focus on something. I do have pandora or google play on in the background instead however for most every game I play except those I absolutely know have a good sound track (or are heavily voice-acted).

It might just be my head-space but I don't think I could multi-task a pod-cast and any other game. I just don't play enough of any one game to have an 'auto-pilot' mode for it. I am sure if I played Diablo 3 every season or had 10 years WoW experience, those would count. But I don't so..yup. Its just Sudoku for me. Which I think is sorta unique since i have a mind for numbers.

Roguelikes and roguelike-likes have always been reliable podcast games for me.

For 2016 releases, Enter The Gungeon is my go-to podcast game. It's engaging but not overly difficult, and you don't really need the volume up to play it.

Starbound. Nice to build your cozy base while listening to a podcast.

More actiony games like Overwatch tend to take more of my attention, so I end up tuning out the podcast and missing most of it.

Mine is rimworld. Yea it's not "2016" but I discovered it a month before the quick look on gb so everyone can just mind their business.

Shiren the Wanderer on vita. It's a (mostly) traditional, turn based roguelike, so it makes for a good podcast game.

Incredibly stessful, though.

Tricky Towers

definitely No Man's Sky

Up until Stardew Valley came out the only games I consistently played while listening to podcasts where roguelites like The Binding of Issac, Spelunky, and FTL.

I voted for Overwatch because it is the one I have been using lately, but No Man's Sky seems ideal as a podcast game... relatively slow, doesn't require much concentration, long periods of almost nothing, and podcasts take you out of that soporific music.

Also, I used a lot of Grim Dawn this year. It is like Diablo but slower (a better comparison would be like Titan Quest but Lovecraftian), and after a few hours of character building, it is relatively easy to plow through the game without requiring much focus.

Can you enjoy a game if you listen to podcast while playing as much as you'd enjoy it otherwise, without more info having to pay attention to? If a game is trying to create a certain setting, doesn't a podcast kind of "destroys" it? You're not getting full experience, are you?

@sravankb: Now that I think about Minecraft as podcast game, it might actually be the best so far ...

WoW Legion prepatch stuff. Stardew is close second, NMS would be one but I would have to play that and thats not gonna happen

Adventure Capitalist

The Old Republic Online has been getting some ok expansions and it's been fun to play while I listen to podcasts this year for some reason. The game is about as meaningless as most MMOs are now (in terms of meaningful progression) but there's still some good stories in there.

Factorio. Suddenly, the podcast is done and you can't comprehend how those 2+ hours just left you like that.