We have a handful of games to talk about this week, including an excellent new farming game, a so-so story from the creator of Katamari Damacy, and a turn-based RPG about death (no, not that one).

Timestamps:

(00:30) Corndog update

(04:10) Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is the second coming of Harvestella

(24:50) To a T is cute I guess

(40:55) Galactic Glitch is simple fun

(44:10) Danchi Days is delightful and weird

(50:25) The Time I Have Left now lives rent-free in Robin's brain

(57:15) What else have Willa and Robin been up to this week? (feat. Hacks, You’re Wrong About - Coyotes! and Lesbian Seagulls)

Mentioned this week:

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Review: A Bountiful Blend of Life Sim and RPG

To a T Feels Like A Saturday Morning Cartoon’s Rough First Season

Gio’s good post

The Quest To Revive A Summer Festival Is Off To A Strong Start In Danchi Days

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This week, Robin and Willa have a conversation no one will disagree with about a game everyone is being reasonable about. We talk through why Clair Obscur, the FRPG of the year, didn’t live up to the hype for either of us, and inevitably detour into why criticism is good and cool and doesn’t have to make you a killjoy.

Timestamps:

(00:30) Setting le tableau (or, don’t yell at us about Clair Obscur)

(03:40) Prologue: A Very Somber State Fair

(35:00) Act 1: Lost Syndrome

(45:45) Act 2: We Don’t Care That [REDACTED] [REDACTED]s

(53:00) Act 3: Every Frame A Painting

(1:04:50) Epilogue: Blaming Women

(1:18:18) Inspirations and comparisons

(1:29:40) Why everyone is being so weird about this game/why criticism isn’t a dirty word

(1:42:00) What else have Willa and Robin been up to this week? (feat. Gundam GQuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuX, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown)

Mentioned this week:

The best part of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is it explains nothing

Close Reading Is For Everyone

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s style is its substance

I Want to Be Potboy! (with Robin and Tori!) - Into the Aether

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CW: Brief reference to suicide between (01:05:00) and (01:05:45)

This week, Robin and Willa dive into the work of Selkie Harbour, developer of the recent (and excellent) Many Nights a Whisper. We get into the interesting parallels and outliers among the studio’s catalog and come away more excited about ice skating than we ever thought possible. We also completely spoil all of these very short games, so consider taking a couple hours to play through all of them if you don’t want to hear about them first!

Also check out Robin's recent appearance on Into the Aether, where she talks indie deckbuilders and Expedition 33 with Stephen and Press Start's Tori!

Timestamps:

(01:20) X-Men belongs to the dolls

(02:45) A walking tour of Selkie Harbour’s itch page

(6:15) A Message for the Stone King

(12:15) The Well

(19:30) Everything You Didn’t Get To Do

(31:50) Sunset Shift

(40:20) I.C.A. Calendar Photoshoot 2023 (see Robin's calendar here)

(46:10) Rêverie

(51:30) The Anglerfish Project

(58:35) Wrapping up Selkie Harbour

(1:00:40) What else have Willa and Robin been up to this week? (feat. Easy Delivery Co., Apocalypse Hotel, a great piece on Superhot VR, Blue Prince)

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This week, Robin talks to the delightful hosts of the equally delightful Emmi & Annie Talk Indie podcast. We discuss a whole mess of games, with tangents on sexualizing playing cards, furry-friendly pizza restaurants, the games that taught us to type, and learning the name for a group of butterflies.

Timestamps:

(00:20) Introducing Emmi and Annie (who talk indie)!

(14:30) Making dogs immortal in Many Nights a Whisper

(43:30) A food service soap opera in The Chef’s Shift :3

(1:02:55) Christine Mi’s games make us want to make games

(1:23:00) Growing a story in Tiny Garden

(1:26:45) Worshipping the devil after gym class in Expelled!

(1:39:00) What else have Annie, Emmi, and Robin been up to this week? (feat. traumatic YA books, gacha-based disappointment, The Apothecary Diaries, Changes of Heart, Look Back, a 29-year-old calling herself old and instantly killing Robin)

Mentioned this week:

Listen to EATI!

Follow Emmi, Annie, and EATI on Bluesky

Annie, Emmi, and EATI’s websites

A very good Christine Mi comic

Dotzip on Worm Girlfriend Dating Simulator

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Like everyone else, we’re still reeling from the destruction of Polygon and Giant Bomb, but trying to do more than curl up into the fetal position about it. After the most constructive takes on games media we can muster, we talk through a few great games Robin's played recently, put a pin in a not-great one, and check in with Willa’s three favorite things (the Mets, weird New York lore, and gay mutants).

Timestamps:

(00:20) Meet today’s guest, Willa Rowe

(01:20) The shocking delay of GTA 6, which no one saw coming

(06:00) RIP Polygon and Giant Bomb

(12:30) The future of games media, if there is such a thing

(21:21) Navigating games journalism in its death throes

(25:20) You don’t need to pay $80 for games

(30:10) Many Nights a Whisper

(36:30) Ending spoilers for Many Nights a Whisper

(38:00) StarVaders fuuuuuucks

(40:05) We will talk about Clair Obscur at a later date

(41:05) Brief LudoNarraCon shoutouts

(43:30) Surprise Mets/Astoria the turkey update

(46:30) What else have Willa and Robin been up to this week? (feat. The X-Men, Super Cub)

Music:

Street Food by FASSounds

Mentioned this week:

Selkie Harbour

Many Nights A Whisper Lets You Decide What Wishes Are Worth Granting

I Can’t Believe How Good StarVaders’ Deckbuilding Riff On Space Invaders Is

Willa’s deranged Clair Obscur thread

LudoNarraCon talks

The Senga Genesis post

Hazel’s Anime Countryside video

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This week, critic and essayist Autumn Wright joins Robin to talk about Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, a game about growing up as a queer woman that’s just as messy as the real thing. We discuss how the game still works even when it’s fraying at the edges and wonder whether the mid-budget talky game can survive even if Don’t Nod doesn’t.

Timestamps:

(00:20) Welcome Autumn!

(24:50) Tape 1 ending spoilers

(29:10) Tape 1 Spoilers end/Tape 2 spoilers begin

(38:25) Tape 2 ending spoilers begin

(1:17:05) Tape 2 spoilers end/Don’t Nod and conversation games broadly

Music:

Street Food by FASSounds

Mentioned this week:

Autumn on Bloom and Rage Tape 1 and Tape 2

Robin on Bloom and Rage Tape 1 and Tape 2

Follow Autumn on Bluesky

Read Autumn on Unwinnable

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This week, we played a bunch of different games and now we’re gonna talk about them. I don’t know what else you want.

Timestamps:

(01:25) News we don’t care about and jokes we do

(03:00) Sunderfolk

(21:10) Mandragora

(29:30) Shadow of the Colossus

(35:50) Metroid Prime

(44:30) What have Willa and Robin been up to this week? (feat. Season of the Witch, The River Has Roots, Taco Bell Quarterly)

Music:

Street Food by FASSounds

Mentioned this week:

Sunderfolk Is An RPG Everyone Can Enjoy, But It Might Be Hard To Love

Mandragora Is The Most Infuriating RPG I’ve Played This Year And I Can’t Put It Down

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The worst February of our lives continues with the release of Hogwarts Legacy. We discuss how the media failed to take its significance seriously, why our reactions are about more than just a game, and why, yes, supporting it does make you a bad person.

We cap off this week’s fun-filled episode with a genuinely much cheerier segment recommending some great games by and about trans people that you should be playing instead.

This episode touches on transphobia throughout. While there's no detailed discussion of any particular transphobic comments or acts, please proceed with caution.

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

(04:40) The Flaco Report

(07:35) Hogwarts Legacy or: Why your trans friends seem so mad lately

(57:15) Robin tries and fails to recommend a game

(1:00:00) Oh god no we're talking about Harry Potter again

(1:03:40) Trans games you should play instead of Hogwarts Legacy

(1:11:30) What have Willa and Robin been up to this week?

Music:

Street Food by FASSounds

Mentioned this week:

Five key takeaways from Supreme Court ruling

UK Supreme Court Rules That Trans Women Aren’t Women under the Equality Act 2010

Mermaids

Gender Intelligence

Stonewall

Hogwarts Legacy does not deserve to be reviewed on its own merits - GamesHub

There Is No Magic in Hogwarts Legacy - Wired

Trans Witches Are Witches bundle

Trans game recommendations

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