The Short Game

Oh-oo-oh, we’re Talkin’ ’bout Bugsnax. We covered Young Horses previous game, Octodad: Dadliest Catch way back in 2014, and here in 2021 they’re back with a new and even weirder game. Bugsnax sends you on...

Eliza is a near-future sci-fi story about the culture of tech, mental health, and the moral and ethical questions around the creation, use, and misuse of the eponymous AI counseling program, Eliza. It’s one of...

We loved Carto, a friendly little puzzle adventure from developer Sunhead Games. It’s a breezy adventure that combines Carcassonne-style map tile laying puzzles with a cute adventure story full of sweet characters in a very...

In this “Narrative Exploration Game” by Gareth Damian Martin you play as an AI that inhabits an advanced dive suit worn by scientist Ellery Vas as she explores a distant planet and encounters alien life...

Transistor was The Short Game’s first Game of the Year, all the way back in 2014. This week we are re-releasing that episode, with some fresh Making us Happy in the intro. We’ll be back...

Thanks for sticking with us in 2020. We can’t wait to see what next year brings. 00:03:20: Game of the Year 2020: Kentucky Route Zero00:12:44: Shane’s Pick: Streets of Rage 400:20:37: Shane’s Bonus Pick: Grindstone00:28:04:...

Reigns developer Nerial worked with interactive fiction luminary Emily Short to adapt George Orwell’s classic allegory of the Russian revolution to video game form. But is it a farming simulator? Animal Farm is available for...

Abzu developer Giant Squid and publisher Annapurna Interactive released The Pathless last month, in a strange launch that positioned the game as one of the first “next-gen” indies while quietly also making it available on...

Hades isn’t short! But we’re covering it anyway because we’re Supergiant Games superfans. We’re joined by friend of the show and Hades speedrunner Robert Hawks aka Rubella aka The Patron Saint of Bird Week, who...

We needed a low-prep episode for this holiday week, so we’re taking your questions! Thanks to our patrons and listeners who sent in their questions. We’d like to make this a recurring feature of the...