What Makes Fake Games Compelling

On this week’s episode, Nathan, Gita, and Chris are joined by the one and only John “Super Eyepatch Wolf” Walsh, YouTuber extraordinaire and, now, author of The Bizarre World Of Fake Games, a book about exactly what it says it’s about: meticulously crafted settings and rule sets for games that don’t actually exist. Walsh explains his fixation with fake games and how, as he sees it, they broaden the landscape of who can create and imagine games in the first place. He also gives us a history lesson about proto-fake games like the almost unnervingly strange Codex Seraphinianus. Then we discuss more modern, regrettably AI-driven fake game trends like Bird Game 3, which has become a bonafide TikTok sensation. After that, we move on to the week’s biggest video game news: Horses, an otherwise off-the-beaten-path art game from a small indie studio, got banned on Steam for reasons that remain unclear, causing a series of cascading impacts on other stores like Epic and Humble. What does it mean for a single storefront to essentially have sole say over what and what does not constitute acceptable art? And why is everyone losing their minds over a game that, according to Chris, is actually pretty tame? Lastly, we share our wild animal horror stories.

Credits

- Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Gita Jackson, Chris Person, & special guest Eyepatch Wolf

- Podcast Production & Ads: Multitude

- Subscribe to Aftermath!

About The Show

Aftermath Hours is the flagship podcast of Aftermath, a worker-owned, subscription-based website covering video games, the internet, and everything that comes after from journalists who previously worked at Kotaku, Vice, and The Washington Post. Each week, games journalism veterans Luke Plunkett, Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, Riley MacLeod, and Gita Jackson – though not always all at once, because that’s too many people for a podcast – break down video game news, Remember Some Games, and learn about Chris’ frankly incredible number of special interests. Sometimes we even bring on guests from both inside and outside the video game industry! I don’t know what else to tell you; it’s a great time. Simply by reading this description, you’re already wasting time that you could be spending listening to the show. Head to aftermath.site for more info.

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