The Level Up Times Show - Episode #004 - New Kratos, No Refunds

New Kratos, No Refunds: A god gets a new face, a director exits Bungie just as arguably Marathon's biggest patch launches, and Nintendo tells a US court customers already got "what they bargained and paid for."

In Episode 004 of the Level Up Times Show, Adrian discusses Marathon director Joe Ziegler's departure from Bungie, landing just days before the mid-season patch brings the extraction shooter's first real PvE mode. In TV land, the God of War show is recasting its lead after an on-set injury sidelined Ryan Hurst, and FromSoftware finally locks in real dates for The Duskbloods Network Test.

Plus, it's Nintendo time in the spotlight — this time fighting a US class action over Switch tariff refunds, arguing customers already got what they paid for, even as the case threatens to force those refunds anyway.

What have we been playing? A relatively light week, but Edward Kenway's is on deck in Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced as the naval combat and travel remain a sticking point.

It's a busy one for this week: we're launching our new Long Play format with a deep-dive on Marathon's Vault Breakers, plus Blind Dates on 70s-Style Robot Anime GEPPY-X and Splatoon Raiders.

Got questions? Send them through to us at [email protected]!

Markers

[00:00] Intro & Welcome
[01:32] News: Marathon Director Joe Ziegler Departs Bungie
[06:45] News: The Duskbloods Network Test Dates Confirmed
[10:06] News: God of War Show Recasts Kratos
[14:03] News: Nintendo Hit With Tariff Class Action Lawsuit
[21:51] The Drop: This Week's New Releases
[22:47] Spotlight: Splatoon Raiders
[34:49] Marathon Mid-Season 2 Patch & Vault Breakers
[38:49] What We've Been Playing: Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced
[46:14] Mailbag: Your Questions Answered
[51:48] Coming Up This Week (Blind Dates & Long Play)
[54:19] Sign-Off & World Cup Chat