The Short Game

Laura and Raygan discuss a lyrical puzzle game about a jazz band preparing for a farewell concert for their lead singer, and about that singer’s spirit as she explores the mental landscapes of her band-mates helping them move on. It’s way less of a bummer than it might sound! Stick around for a great What’s Making Us Happy segment about Dog Beach and the Tetris movie. (00:00) - The Forest Quartet (23:44) - What's Making Us Happy This Week? (24:10) - Laura - Dog Beach and Slow Horses (28:16) - Tetris Movie Digression (32:06) - Raygan - Curse Crackers: For Whom the Belle Toils (36:40) - Outro

We learn to love all the sh*tty friends in this weirdly-not-just-a-joke release from the Sonic the Hedgehog social media team. The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog was a surprise release for April Fools 2023. In this visual novel point and click adventure, you play as YOUR_NAME_HERE the Quokka, waiter and microwave operator to the Sonic crew, as they celebrate Amy Rose’s birthday with a murder mystery dinner party aboard a robotic train. But what’s this? Sonic’s been… murdered?! Help Tails solve the mystery, and rub elbows with the entire sh*tty friends squad in this warm and funny tribute. This game is FREE on Steam for Windows. Expect it to take 2-3 hours to complete. (00:00) - The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog (42:13) - What's Making Us Happy This Week? (42:37) - Nate - Baseball is Back! (44:29) - Raygan - Sleep! (50:29) - Shane - The Scholomanse Series (54:06) - Outro

This week Raygan reveals his complete lack of knowledge about the various planetary moons of our solar system as we talk about Titan Station, a “walking simulator” set on a space station in the far future year of 1999. This is a game by friend of the show Joakim Larsen, who has managed to create an incredible photorealistic environment for what Nate describes as “a story about poor password hygiene.” Titan Station is available on Steam and GOG for Windows PCs. Expect it to take about 3-5 hours to complete. (00:00) - Titan Station (55:48) - Spoiler Break

A chat between Raygan and Shane about the “Fitting Games Into Your Life” aspect of The Short Game. We talk about what’s working and what’s not in terms of our gaming setups, our schedules, and ourselves. (02:43) - Schedules and Stuff (11:54) - The Playdate (16:59) - Steam Deck Improvements (20:26) - Get Out Of My Office, Kid (34:26) - An Unnecessary Digression About Soldering (38:10) - Moar Elite Gamer Roomz Stuff (42:53) - An Xbox For Every Screen (48:19) - Sofa App (52:43) - Not Working: Game Streaming (56:45) - Not Working: Social Gaming is Still Hard (01:00:12) - Thanks, patrons!

Storyteller won the IGF Nuovo award in 2012 (!!!) and finally releases today, making it the longest in development game we’ve ever covered. Finally emerging from development hell and partnering with publisher Annapurna, developer Daniel Benmergui has delivered a charming and intuitive “continuity simulator”, in which you build a simple comic strip from drag and drop actors and scenes, trying to produce a specific ending.  Storyteller launches today on Steam and Nintendo Switch. Expect it to take around 2-5 hours to complete. (00:00) - Storyteller (38:52) - What's Making Us Happy This Week (39:01) - Laura: Never Let Me Go (45:32) - Raygan: The Murderbot Diaries (53:01) - Outro

Hi-Fi Rush was a surprising January “shadow drop” (is that really what we’re calling these?) from previously horror focused developer Tango Gameworks. Part beat ’em up, part music game, part Saturday moring cartoon, and a whole lot of fun if you can jam to its dad rock soundtrack. Hi-Fi Rush is available on PC and Xbox consoles, and via Game Pass. Expect it to take around 11 hours to complete. (00:00) - Hi-Fi Rush (06:12) - Mandatory Banter: Breaking In Your Headphones (10:20) - Hi-Fi Rush (47:52) - What's Making Us Happy This Week? (47:58) - Shane: Sons of the Forest (55:51) - Laura: Nonsense Musicals (59:40) - Outro

Solve a string of bizarre historical murders in this extremely clever deduction game.  Previously if you liked Return of the Obra Dinn and wanted to play something with a similar deduction mechanic, your options were basically zero. Now they’ve increased to one! Golden Idol has a very different presentation, art style and structure to Obra Dinn, but feels like it builds on that game’s excellent game design in some great ways, producing a game that is a bit less ambitious but far more accessible. It left us feeling like geniuses. Golden Idol is available on Steam and GOG for Windows and Mac. Expect it to take about 6 hours to complete. Find links to all our socials at shortgame.fm Support the show and join our Discord community at Patreon Buy The Short Game Logo Tee at Cotton Bureau (00:00) - Case of the Golden Idol (36:06) - Laura: Northern Exposure (40:32) - Raygan - Shrek, lol (47:27) - Outro (50:27) - Spoiler Break

Is Pizza Tower a revival of one of platform game design’s most fascinating evolutionary dead ends, or something new?  Is it, as Shane put it, “Celeste for Weirdos?”  Pizza Tower is available on Steam for Windows. Expect it to take about 6-8 hours to complete, but with a lot of room for additional score attack and speedrun challenges. (00:00) - Introduction (01:04) - Mandatory Banter (06:15) - Pizza Tower (54:18) - What's Making Us Happy This Week? (54:31) - Nate: Scythe Video Game Conversion (55:20) - Raygan - Case of the Golden Idol (56:04) - Shane - Minecraft, Baby! (01:00:52) - Outro

Luck be a Landlord is a roguelike deckbuilder (hello Nate!) about using a slot machine to earn rent money and defeat capitalism. This strange but compelling game recently emerged from early access and has started finding an audience, so we checked out out! Nate really checked it out. (00:00) - Introduction (02:13) - Mandatory Banter (07:33) - Luck Be A Landlord (49:20) - What's Making Us Happy This Week? (49:51) - Nate: Scythe (52:25) - Raygan: the Pinecil Soldering Iron (58:08) - Shane: HeroQuest (01:05:34) - Outro

This week Nate and Raygan are talking about UnderDungeon, a game with awesome 1-bit pixel art that somehow seemed like less than the sum of its parts. Not, ultimately, a recommendation, but a good discussion! (00:00) - UnderDungeon (34:27) - What's Making Us Happy This Week? (34:34) - Nate: Star Trek: Lower Decks (41:02) - Raygan - Hot Water! (44:58) - Outro