The Short Game

As we close in on Episode 400 (where did the time go?) Shane and Raygan are talking about weird-horror phone bank simulator Home Safety Hotline. Is that caller suffering from bedbugs, or Bed Teeth?Tagspodcast (00:00) - Introduction (28:50) - What's Making Us Happy This Week? (28:59) - Shane - Shogun (40:53) - Raygan - Delicious in Dungeon (52:56) - Outro

This week we go rogue and chat about a whole bunch of games — Super Mario Wonder (short to mid-length), Helldivers 2 (long!), and an assortment of “daily games” (seconds to minutes!).

A card based roguelike that is arguably related to Poker has been blowing up recently, so naturally we gave it a shot. Turns out, yeah, it’s good!

Debatably a short game, but indisputably a classic. Raygan has played SotN many times but the rest of the crew is experiencing it for the first time. What will they make of this revolutionary 1997 PlayStation game?

Golf + pool + the developer behind holedown? Be still our hearts. Subpar Pool brings polish and charm to the (pool) table, with tons of variations and challenges to keep it fresh — we highly recommend you pick it up on mobile, Switch, or Steam. Plus, a tour of your hosts’ various attempts to play games in bars. 

When inkle drops a surprise release, we dive in — and this time, we dove into a maze of art from museums around the world. The Forever Labyrinth is a totally free, browser-based “replayable narrative rogue-like adventure” made in collaboration with Google Arts & Culture. In addition to reviewing the game, we took this as an excuse to talk about our favorite museum-going experiences and our feelings about corporate-sponsored games. (Encarta may also come up.) Expect each run to take about twenty minutes, with multiple trips through to uncover more secrets. (00:00) - Introduction (01:02:35) - What’s Making Us Happy This Week? (01:02:44) - Laura - Starter Villain by John Scalzi (01:05:07) - Shane - Grand Tour Legends (01:08:33) - Nate - Cheek Face (01:11:55) - Outro

Turns out all of us skipped the tutorial and (whaddayaknow!?) had a really hard time with the early hours of this retro action platformer. Don’t be like us! In the end though we all had a blast with this indie spin on Mega Man. (00:00) - Gravity Circuit (47:02) - What's Making Us Happy This Week? (47:11) - Nate - Español! (52:09) - Raygan - Void Stranger (57:47) - Shane - Mudkip and the Uniball One P

I can’t believe it’s been almost two years since we last talked about the Playdate, the cute little console with a crank. We start with an update on if/how we’re still playing out Playdates, and then talk about some of the games that have been turning our cranks lately. (00:00) - Intro (01:48) - Panic & Teenage Engineering (06:23) - How's it holding up? (14:34) - Root Bear (17:16) - ✨ Catalog ✨ (22:44) - The Playdate Niche (26:31) - Recommendation Dog (29:05) - Real Steal (32:47) - Space Rat Miner (36:34) - Under The Castle (39:03) - Ratcheteer (45:41) - Demon Quest 85 (48:33) - Upcoming: Mars After Midnight (50:40) - Spellcorked (53:02) - Snak (55:38) - Zipper (58:08) - Omaze (01:00:22) - France Horn (01:01:31) - Paku Paku (01:04:17) - Outro

The famous Roottree sisters and their parents, heirs to a billion dollar candy empire, have suddenly died in a plane crash. The inheritance is in question, with a massive family tree full of potential beneficiaries.  Fortunately, it’s 1998 and you know how to use the internet. We discuss this exciting free entry into the Obra-Dinn-like mystery game sub-genre.  You can play the game for free on the web at the developer’s itch.io page. Expect it to take between four and eight hours depending on your research style, and whether or not you have a smart friend like Laura to help.

This week Nate and Laura cover Jusant, somehow our second 2023 tower game and our second 2023 climbing game — but micro-genres aside, Jusant’s got plenty of charms of its own. Don’t Nod, the creators of Life is Strange, blend a rock-solid control scheme with scenic vistas and meditative vibes. Expect it to take about 4-8 hours, depending on your route planning and completionism.