NOCLIP

About NOCLIP

WELCOME TO DESCRIBING THE SKYBOX! We are a fortnightly, book club-styled podcast in which we attempt to go in-depth on an individual video game and figure out what makes it unique. Episodes are around an hour to an hour and a half long and primarily feature free form discussion on themes and mechanics present in each episode’s titular game. Bear in mind that we are not reviewers, so as far as we critique the games at hand, our intent is not to convince you to play any particular work. SPOILER WARNING: Given the depth at which we intend to cover the games in question, those which feature a story, plot, mechanical surprises, fun moments you may not have heard about or otherwise will be fully discussed, likely at length. Given this, it is advised that you go into each episode with the understanding that these elements will most likely be spoiled. If you are sensitive to that sort of thing, we recommend that you either play the game before listening to the podcast, or skip the episode altogether. (Though the latter option would make us all very sad!)

Publisher

Describing The Skybox

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

19 Apr 2016

Latest episode

17 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

353 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   17 Oct 2026

   Episode 23 - Just Like I Spy Fun House - Alisa

   Let’s figure out what’s wrong with this podcast. Welcome back to the podcast and welcome to the first episode in our spooky Halloween season. Today, we’re talking about Alisa, which is a dedicated Playstation era style survival horror game. And if specifically what you want is a game that goes very far out of its way to make the experience seem like it was originally made in 1996, then Alisa might be the perfect game for you. If you have any other stipulations, well… Alisa has its rough edges. The movement and combat both feel extremely cumbersome, with aiming overly reliant on staring at an icon in the HUD and dodging enemy attacks requiring some mastery over the tank controls, which compounds with the other intentionally rocky mechanics to make the whole experience often more frustrating than challenging. Still, there are some cool ideas in here, largely stemming from the surreal elements of the game world, but the aforementioned dodgy mechanical elements and overall steep difficulty make it hard to appreciate these things or in many cases even get to them to see. We’re going to be talking about the core design and how it butts heads with the way we play games these days, the aesthetic and thematic elements, and how a puzzle made me very, really mad. Thank you for joining us again this week! Sometimes Halloween can be hit and miss and while this appears to be a hit for some people, those people weren’t really us. Still, there are some design lessons to be taken here and things that we did think were cool, so even if you aren’t in the target demographic for this game, it may be at least satisfying to examine from the outside. Did you give this game a shot? Did you grow up with fifth generation games and felt this worked on a nostalgic level? Let us know in the comments or over on our Discord! Next time, we’re going to be talking about Doom 3, awkwardly a bit more modern of a game than this one that came out in 2022, so we hope you’ll join us then.

2. 

   3 Oct 2026

   One Year of Describing the Skybox - The Worst Guys

   Is “Describing the Skybox Day” too wordy of a name? Do we have to give up before being declared a national holiday, despite ten very successful years? Maybe, just maybe, we could keep the old name? The annual celebration of one’s self, or in this case one’s niche video game podcast enterprise, is core to what makes us human, or podcast. The bloopers episode went away last year, and I’m sure to some, this was an omen that maybe under a new name, the podcast would begin to take itself too seriously. I mean, we’re closing in on two hundred whole subscribers, that’s basically the big time. We recognized that error and want to show to you that we are committed to honoring past traditions, invoking nostalgia. A throwback. Maybe we try out the old name again, just to see how it feels. I am trying to sell you on this because upon listening back, I realized I did accidentally say “Happy NOCLIP Day” in the introduction to this episode. Thank you for joining us for another year of podcasts, and I hope this blooper reel can remind you to keep your expectations comfortably low so we can continue just covering the games we want, whether they happen to be some of the largest games of the year or single-developer projects. And if you have any suggestions for us to check out, we love talking to everyone over on our Discord, so come check it out. I have also posted an article talking about the best games I played this year, on or off the podcast, which you can check out along with my Top 100 games here (https://describingtheskybox.com/top100). As always, thank you so much for listening, and we’ll be back next week with an episode on Alisa!

3. 

   26 Sept 2026

   Episode 22 - Toilet Flap Maneuver - Demon's Souls

   Soul of the host, withdrawn from its podcast. Welcome back to Describing the Skybox! Today, and honestly, a bit on a whim, we’re going to be talking about Demon’s Souls! Demon’s Souls has been out for a very long time, and the impact it has made on modern games is obvious, but there is still something fascinating about a game that went from the lesser-talked about older brother of Dark Souls to the big budget remake system seller title. Demon’s Souls is an experimental game, and one that forces the player to be deliberate with their actions. Much less reflex intensive than later titles in the genre, many of the areas and bosses have specific, puzzle-like solutions that ask you to bring certain items or to vary your approach in one way or another, and while it strays from the larger Souls philosophy that says playing well enough can overcome any disadvantage, it has a different kind of charm that will still remind you of your first time through Dark Souls. My larger point here is that if you are someone who was introduced to the series through a later game, I would encourage you to give Demon’s Souls a chance, or another chance if you, like me, tried it (twice!) before and bounced off of it. The frustrating elements of the game, of which there are a few, still help put the whole series in context and further highlight the really innovative things this game did. We’re going to be talking about how impressive this design was in its original context, the perception (and reality) of the “gimmicky” design of the bosses, and how we really love Valley of Defilement. Thank you for joining us this week! Having just played this game through for the first time, we decided to slot this in before Halloween while it was still fresh. Now is the game fresh for everyone? No, it came out in 2009, but that’s basically to be expected from us I guess. Still, this is one of those games that might require a few attempts before you really get into it, but once you do it has a way of making you really fall in love with it. Were you able to get into it on your first time through? Did you come back to it after playing other games in the series? Let us know in the comments or over on our Discord! Next time, we’re going to be talking about Alisa to kick off Halloween, so we hope you’ll join us then!

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

1,626,185

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.4 / 5

14 ratings

Spotify

4.8 / 5

697 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 72 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

71

Social presence

0

YouTube

93

Engagement

91

Contact NOCLIP

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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