Infinite Cities

2025 was absolute butts! Heck, even a lot of the games in 2025 were pretty butts! That doesn't mean there weren't some absolute masterpieces though, and we sit down in our annual look back to talk through the games that affected us the most: games that were wonderful, surprising, heartbreaking, and sometimes just stupid (positive).

In this episode: movie of the year (it's kpop demon hunters OBVS), the year 202026 is going to be our year, games everyone has to play, tight little 8-hour packages, Gary's narrative agenda, being mad about spoilers (we've blocked any major spoilers though don't worry), t...

It's the end of the year and we (apparently) played so many bird games this year that we gotta finish on one too.

Join us for a rhythm-dating sim with deceptively deep writing.

In this episode: Bumbird, birdenize 'em, I'm not into birds but..., competitive dating, how to get Gary to play TF2, guller sac.

~~~

Our theme music is Glass Half Full by the incredible Cliff, you can find him on Bandcamp!

Want to shout about the episode? Join us in the Infinite Cities Discord!

You can...

This week, we gotta go fast, because we're racing baby! From the snow banks of Finland to the mountainous curves of Japan, we're all over the map this week as we speed around in knockoff rally cars alongside many questionally stereotypical navigators! It's #DRIVE Rally!

in this episode: making it salty, legally distinct cars, finishing the finnish campaign, sims vs arcades, problems with handling, the nature of hating the game, just a kiss from the road, stop putting the AE86 in things, outrageous stereotypes, 

shoutout zone 

GRGT 

the cars of drive ral...

Pentiment's existience feels like a miracle. It's a game that has the deep, super-niche obsession to a specific detail, created by an established double A studio with the backing of Microsoft. A game that wants, more than anything else, to be a portrait of a time. A desire to show an art form (illuminated manuscript) not as the flat, tattered, and dated museum piece but as representative of a living, chaning era.

There's also a mystery! A good one! With some fantastic decisions, both major and minor. Not many games outside of the dating sim space can mak...

Things are a little hectic, schedule-wise, so we're taking some time to chat through games that aren't podcast games! Gary has infinite stories from Outer Worlds 2 (plus Nikke: Goddess of Victory, although gachaslop gets exiled to the shoutouts zone), Karp's holding hands with Swordcraft Story 2 (and still playing Grandblue Fantasy) and Feather's lost in the Noita sauce while also getting absolutely shelled in Foxhole. Also: Cogmind, One Piece, and Pentiment (but only a little)

In this episode: what do you do with a baby, title drops, this game could have been a visual novel, do you want...

Get ready for a short but unhinged episode where we discuss clowns and their impact on the ecology /j.

In this episode: clown-likes, clown-cil, clown music, James Franco's brother, paintbrush plush, "magic fights", Now You Don't See Me, top left ear: Redline

~~~

Our theme music is Glass Half Full by the incredible Cliff, you can find him on Bandcamp!

Want to shout about the episode? Join us in the Infinite Cities Discord!

You can find us on Twitter, and if you want to link to us, you can catch u...

This title could easily have been "Where the Jigsaw?" because this puzzle game is doing mostly anything but jigsaws. It's quirky and delightful, and broken precisely where it needs to be. 

in this episode: 
define jigsaw, no spoilers, it's all spoilers, the hint system, the game is a physical space, everything on the table, this space intentionally left blank, two realizations in order, this part is an idol game, suprise a third time, the blue temple, shape rotation activities, hamburger maestro #3, this is the episode title, the mcdonalds of everything, a ball of any material

...

Absolum is a kinetic, weighty beat 'em up in which it feels so good to build combos and try out different characters. It's also a very delightful, Hades style roguelite, with lots of options for progression and some really cool routing choices across the map. I don't really think I've ever played anything quite like it. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm going to go play more right now. 

in this episode: beat 'em ups, the map and routing, broken builds, co-op, clashes aren't gonna happen that often, too many comparisons to hades, theorizing about th...

Noita is amazingly singular. A game that is fractally deep, yet instantly understandable in its incomprehensibility. A game that is massively frustrating, something that relishes in how little it cares about you, while also letting you impact the entire world down to each precision-modeled grain of sand. There is nothing like it, and honestly, that's probably a good thing because god damn it's past midnight, I have to be at work tomorrow, and after editing this ep there's nothing more I want than to crack it back open and have a cheeky little run.

In this episode: p...

Happy 5 year anniversary, us!

Do you like speedrunning? Do you like replaying stages until you get the platinum medal? Do you like Neon White (gameplay, not story)? Then you should take a listen to our thoughts on this fps-runner that chose to release on the same day as Silksong.

In this episode: cool New York sewers, punching walls, Nina White, vaulting, apologizing, 35 minute silver, grappling hook, hand cramps.

~~~

Our theme music is Glass Half Full by the incredible Cliff, you can find him on Bandcamp!

Want to shout about...

Baba Is You

aba Is You B

ba Is You Ba

a Is You Bab

Is You Baba

s You Baba I

You Baba Is

ou Baba Is Y

u Baba Is Yo

Baba Is You

In this episode: feather is defeat, horse-sized baba, mobile suit baba, the allure of physical media, feather's thesis, solution refinements, sokoban, the importance of waiting a beat, game as code, playing on other devices, fractally nested babas, Baba is Kaizo

~shoutout...

Born too late to be a popcap brain rotter incremental. Born too early to reach "18.254 quattuordecillion". Just in time to be a perfect ipad game for the Wii U.

In this episode: The Tomorrow Corporation, 6/10, retro-indie, flash comparison, feather is a genius who's brain is enormous and also she is cool and even very pretty and you can definitely trust this description which is written by someone who definitely isn't her, more wanking over flash games, the dire wasteland of the Wii U, finally we must talk about the story.

~shoutouts zone~

One o...

Don't you just love driving in -15℃ and being incapable to see more than a few feet in front of your car? Will and Karp sure does, and they're doing their best to persuade Feather and Gary in this episode where we discuss Easy Delivery Co!

In this episode: understanding winter, KK Slider, not understanding winter, cat.wav, VIDEO GAME, huge pizzas, consensual violence, doordashing flowerpots.

~~~

Our theme music is Glass Half Full by the incredible Cliff, you can find him on Bandcamp!

Want to shout about the episode? Join us in...

Much like the absolutely horrendous evil killer sun robot at the end of stage 2-1, this game wants to be bigger than the tiny screen it's confined to. A full inventory of this game's design decisions takes about twenty minutes. A technical mastery of the GBA is on display, but as late as it came it - does it matter? Is there room in your life for a forgotten, obsolete, well-crafted retro game? Is there room in your robot heart for love?

In this episode: What is an Astro Boy, every GBA game, person who has only...

In This episode: We played peak! Stamina, Passports, Feather getting shot by a blow dart, Trying to save feather from the blow dart, falling down a hole, cheeky guys, 20 player expedition.

Shoutouts Zone:

Cozy Con online

https://www.mixcloud.com/live/CozyConOnline/

A little less than two years ago, the pod delved deep into the Hallownest, embracing the void in order to push back the Radiance. Now, we're returning to the bug life, weaving our thread of destiny throughout the kingdom of Pharloom. Will we accomplish our climb towards the Citadel, or fall prey to the innumerable bosses that stand in our way? Who knows! All we can really do is, in the words of our protag, git gud. 

in this episode: hype levels, the run button, down slash supremacy, put hornet in smash, crests, tool use, be...

This is a game that lives under a lot of very unkind shadows: the shadow of it's predecessor, What The Golf, a very fun and unique game and one that we played in the perfect environment (as a group, eighteen hours into a twenty four hour stream). What the car is in the shadow of the modern gaming environment, where a game that definitely has twenty dollars of work in it is still twenty whole dollars. And right now, it's also in the shadow of silksong and/or a very unhappy feather's job.

Sorry What The Car...

CW: lots of food talk. As always.

How many eggs have you cooked? How many stingrays? How many cigarettes? We're here to answer all these questions and more, but not the most important question of them all: is this game saying anything?

In this episode: lukewarm icecubes, but I digress, stabbing fish, the She-Ra curse, friction pans, petting a chicken, snack scorpions, 2020's-Itch-house-style, bouncy puffer fish.

~~~

Our theme music is Glass Half Full by the incredible Cliff, you can find him on Bandcamp!

Want to shout about the episode...

We continue on our 80s crime adventure, even against insurmountable odds! (The odds are the fact that this game is like 100 hours long!) We'd have a better chance if we didn't keep getting distracted - still, it's always nice to return to Kamurochō.

In this episode: Locked in the batting cages, the virtues of motorcycles as a melee weapon, the curse of the charismatic autobiography, please let me change clothes these ones are covered in blood theoretically, living in the sidequest dimension, Majima thoughts, who is this guy again? Tier listing all the minigames (number 8 WILL surprise y...

We're taking a break from beating up yakuza to play a quirky little game by the Katamari people. Can you guess who didn't like it and watched a Longplay instead?

In this episode: eye boogers, giraffe cabal, Noby Noby Boy, pineapple juice day, easily befriendable bullies, The Looker, uninteresting jank.

~shoutout zone~

QWOP

~~~

Our theme music is Glass Half Full by the incredible Cliff, you can find him on Bandcamp!

Want to shout about the episode? Join us in the Infinite Cities Discord!

You can...

After a week living Yakuza through baseball games and karaoke, the gang is playing Yakuza. Or, well, we're mostly watching it, so far? Most of us, anyway. 

in this episode: a fiery game full of passionate men, so many cutscenes, how long to beat, aura plays, scummy but flashy vibes, sweet potater soju, hot and heavy, thicc drama, jingle all the way, bacchus, hallway fights, living yakuza, fatt onion order, t poses, welcome to several cities

~shoutout zone~

Yakuza Zero Goro Majima Introduction

~~~

Our theme music is Gl...

You gotta love a roguelike deckbuilder. It's the peanutbutter and chocolate of genres. The randomness and run-to-run differentiation, with the short-loop tactics of building a deck. It's so good together!

Except sometimes you get a peanutbutter guy and then spend the next ten minutes looking for mr. chocolate until you hit the big ugly jelly boss and he blaps you back to the goddamn home screen. 

I'm not mad. I'm not mad! Don't let them tell you I'm mad. This game is too cute for that.

In this episode: misleading art, deckbuilders, out he...

It's the summer, which means the clocks are ticking down and everyone's fucking busy. Except for me and Feather, who are here to yap, as always. It's Citizen Sleeper 2! If you haven't listened to our episode on the first game, you can do so here, but it is not required for this discussion! Join us as we talk about building safety nets, trusting others, transness, and bodies!

 

in this episode: clocks, dice, having your own ship, fucking yu-jin, crew dynamics, the stray is my child, should this be harder, flint, alex jones was right about t...

It's episode 100! To celebrate, we're playing all the games.

Okay, not all the games. Just a lot of games. Just fifty of the games.

And well, we each only played some of those.

But MANG let me TELL you about a game I played!

In this episode: 100 episodes, steelmanning the barbuta defense squad, retro jank, bouncing off bushido ball, what the hell is golfaria, the timelessness of puzzle games, mooncat.

~shoutouts zone~

Shout outs to you! Thanks for being with us over 100 of this dang things.

~~...

Someone's taken our shell, and we're getting it back, no matter who's in the way. Gary and Karp chose to tackle some crabs this week. Hope you like Soulslikes, because we sure do, and this is a great one. 

In this episode: Prawn shop, rubberbanded lobsters, Gary's gonna shoot someone, sea-mmer, shark-grabber, LAWBREAKER, hackey-sack, fish swearing.

~~~

Our theme music is Glass Half Full by the incredible Cliff, you can find him on Bandcamp!

Want to shout about the episode? Join us in the Infinite Cities Discord!

You can find u...

We're kicking of the Summer of Sea with a spooky fishing game. Gary has been obsessed with "number go up" and Will has been taking it easy as we Dredge for spooky fish.

in this episode - feather's bad takes, feeling the call of the sea, number go up, fucked up fish, fish organized neatly, maine vibes, the horrors, eel time, spookylite, the story, squidfuckers, the summer of sea, summer games fest, ah the french

~shoutout zone~

LEGO Voyagers 

Big Walk 

Wildgate 

SpaceCraft 

Sol M...

Editor's note: feather screwed up her audio file and we had to pull the Craig backup! First, big ups to Craig, he's got our back (most of the time). Second, there's a few moments where here audio cuts out for a tenth of a second - it's not too bad, but be aware that it's her and not you.

I'm not sure there's a bigger divide between reality and their fictional representation than when it comes to tunnel boring machines. In reality, they're huge, complicated machines that move maybe a few dozen meters a day. In fiction...

Will is out of town this week so it's up to the rest of us to explore this ridiculous and ridiculously detailed house and watch several generations of a family die in weird and unusual ways. Also crying. A lot.

In this ep: Dear Esther, Tales From The Crypt, return of a classic, The Unfinished Swan, cinematography, sharks rolling down hills, generational grief, Grover House

~shoutouts zone~

Joseph Anderson's video on Edith Finch

~~~

Our theme music is Glass Half Full by the incredible Cliff, you can find him on...

It's a mad week with a wild mullet! We're playing the 2024 boomer shooter, Mullet MadJack and we've only got 10 seconds to live! Give us that dopamine!!

ep 95: Mullet MadJack (2024) - Can You Aim Down Sight?

in this episode: robillionaires, synthwave the video game, gameplay, wildly unbalanced, the shotgun, will needs dopamine every 10 seconds, take a moment, bad tutorializations, silent protagonist, the freshest boots, ohmygoshi, ludonarritive dissonance, the vibes are off, the droizart people, the new pope, why so lime, stardewpilled

~shoutouts zone~

corru.observer

~~~

Finally, we get (most) of the crew together in one place long enough to face off against the evil herobrine!

Through the power of friendship, trapping mobs in corners, infinte respawn, and more than a bit of of creative mode, we successfully defeated herobrine - and his horrible creation, the wither!

Or something. Plot isn't the strong point here. Or gameplay, if we're being honest. Mostly, we're just here to appreciate the wonder this works at all. For all the bugs and flaws, this minecraft adventure mode map is still still a shining victory of t...

I'm tired, we're tired, and if I had to take a guess, you're probably tired too. That's why we turn to games like stardew valley: because they suck and when we're miserable it's nice to just tear into a bunch of loser guys who live with their parents and dare to think they're anywhere near the same league as you, a perfect farming god(dess).

In this episode: being tired, here is your biweekly egg please love me, sauceless losers, harem anime protagonist, how much can one radish cost, ten dollars? He's not that interesting he just...

We needed a short game, and we picked something we could talk for longer than the runtime. Made by Crows, Crows, Crows, "Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, And the Terribly Cursed Emerald" gives us at least 20 minutes of converstaion for you to languish in and enjoy, and we'll be back next week with, well, something!

in this episode: stone busts, secret passges, the emerald room, guards, lasers, the vault, searchlights, a motherfucking tiger...
stealth sections, roleplaying in the stem forum, the trailer isn't real, strikes, davey wreden and william pugh, replay value, fourth wall theories, f...

ite: who should play this, indie devs love stealth sections like [redacted for spoilers] like [also redacted for spoilers], mythos, reality, and reform, trying and failing stay on topic, levels of reality, that's not how the ending goes, ending choices, religion, Will's worldview, Knower and the Guarden, Confirmation and the Sacrements, The Stranger, Parenting, the PRC, Vampire Survivors, Karp didn't click with this, Honk Kong MTR, there is a fascist coup happening in the US dont let them win.  

shoutouts:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_peasant_revolts 
https://www.youtube.com/user/Re...

Important Announcement! This weekend is Taco De Minecraft!

It's our annual community livestream, except way, way more chill - so chill it's just going to be in the voice channels of the Taco Stand Discord. We're going to hang out! We're going to play Minecraft! We might play some other games? The day is full of potential! The only thing that is certain is you should consider donating to the Southern California Immigration Project, here: https://www.socalimmigrationproject.org/donate

"It is easier to raise questions than answer them."
- The Fundamental Law Of...

Sphere to square, sisters. In today's communion we will remember what it was like to play a Visual Novel/walking sim where you explore exactly how bad a cult can get. /hj

In this episode: Steam Workshop asset flip, consecutive apocalypses, the Horse Room, your typical canadian/japanese school, cool glasses, garlic confit, a game made for Feather, having a cake and not eating it.

~shoutouts zone~

Our very own Minecraft server! IP is as follows: mc.theinfinitecities.com

~~~

Our theme music is Glass Half Full by the incredible...

No one's had a chance to really dive into 1000xResist yet, so Gary hijacked the podcast to teach Will/reminisce about Spyro. 

in this episode: comfort food and nostalgia, baby's first collectathon, quality of life improvements, sassy spyro, inspirational photos, this ursine sucks, spyro just helps people, very tongue in cheek, oops it's metroid prime now, switch to switch 2 talk, get a wii u, too blood too borne

~shoutouts zone~ 

Spyro 2 Intro and Outro scenes

~~~

Our theme music is Glass Half Full by the incredible Cliff, you...

What the heck is left to say about "minecraft?". What are we even doing here?

For god's sake, it's so big even microsoft notepad (which has a spellchecker now) knows what minecraft is, inasmuch it wants me to capitalize every instance of the word. I'm manually de-capitalizing this. Capitalization is for corpos, except the title of this episode, becuase while I don't respect trademark laws, I do respect the laws of grammar. Don't at me to tell me minecraft is a proper noun and thus this is actually a law of grammar I'm violating. 

What t...

Turn back your internal clock to when you were ~6 years old, and your sister played impressively built imaginary adventures with you. Time to get the gang back together to do it one more time.

In this ep: trampoline skipping, talking in small letters only, breaking kayfabe, sibling age gaps, big scary whale, every game needs a ragdoll button.

~shoutout zone~

Wikipedia page for The Floor Is Lava

~~~

Our theme music is Glass Half Full by the incredible Cliff, you can find him on Bandcamp!

Want to shout...

"minit fun racer is a game where you have a lil two stroke and then you die"

In this episode: Hades comparisons, shooting-things-off-a-ramp-alikes, Karp knows truck hitboxes and these - boss, these just ain't it, flame decals, what is going on in this world, the minit minute, speedrunning (it takes about a minute to beat minit fun racer actually).

Also in this episode: WHEELJAM, prequels, failing to understand the Oblivion conversation wheel, when your brain melts so hard you can't beat the only level in your game.

~shoutouts zone~

WHEELJAM

It's time to set these birds straight. Sometimes sideways. Or upside-down. Also, look at all the succulents. Join us for a short but sweet time in Birds Organized Neatly!

In this ep: bird in the bookstore, Computerparts Organized Neatly, setpiece birds, plant noises, stolen bird-valour, Counseling, pandas were designed to die.

~shoutout zone~

Theremin's band, Counseling

Bird in Gary's bookstore

~~~

Our theme music is Glass Half Full by the incredible Cliff, you can find him on Bandcamp!

Want to shout about the episode? Join us...

The team is crashing out this week! It's sort of a nostalgia pick, but it's a remake of an almost 30 year old game and somehow it's worse now?? 

in this episode: daylight savings, 3d platforming, blunderdome time, slapping the bandicoot, one hundred percent charm, this is a pro gex podcast, a lizard platformer,  in this house you commit to the bit, joe piscopo, crash is fragile, the remake deserved better, the worst save menu, feather's so mad, crash 4, emulation, he's cRaZy, yohoho puzzle pirates

~shoutout zone~

Hooja x Mirian Bryant - VEM FA...

You have to admire and respect games that are willing to be themselves so strongly that they turn people off. Nine Sols is willing to give you just a little bit of a hand (amazing difficulty sliders), but if that can't get you over the hump - all of its worldbuilding and art and laser-tight combat just aren't for you. Nine Sols' purity of will is so strong, it can even parry you. 

In this episode: Nerts! NES difficulty, eventually every piece of video game criticism will devolve into pointing at dark souls and grunting, backtracking, being fu...

Karp got rolled up in a katamari and is now a star in the sky, but the rest of us are still trapped here in the Select Plaza trying to help a dog roll up the Sun!

in this episode: you roll stuff up, getting bigger faster, under the sea, the judgement of the king, shit on purpose, pole-vaulting with the katamari, hoping you go the right direction, the worst bird of all time, rolling the sun up for that dog, just do a couple katamaris, welcome to the pompadour zone, significant bulge action, katamari h...

Strange Scaffold's I Am Your Beast made several of our GOTY lists, with good reason. This game feels like a prototype to that, trading Beast's frenetic relentless energy for a drawn out character study. It's not a very good trade, but seeing the strange scaffolding built up in El Paso Elsewhere to later enable Beast is at the very least fascinating. At the very least, you have to respect the art and swagger!

In this episode: wait a minute - I hate Strange Scaffold, I Am Your Beast, wildly divergent game understandings, dives, rolls, and diverolls, enemy...

(haven't we been here before?)
(why are we doing this again?)
(will we really finish this time . . .)

in this episode: repeating bits, learning to talk to your friends, not a Click-alike, spospoiler onionon, just attack, friendquests, so many mysteries, sidequests, loop, wishes, shared trauma, big rock bottom, dark siffrin, no hat siffrin, poke a bird

~shoutouts zone~

Get Ready, Everyone! (Battle Theme)

Meeting the Change God! 

~~~

Our theme music is Glass Half Full by the incredible Cliff, you can find him on...

A BRIEF ACCOUNTING OF (SOME) OF INDIANA JONES CRIMES FROM THE GREAT CIRCLE AFFAIR, AS COMPILED BY WILL:
Desecration of Bodies
Destruction of Sacred Artifacts
Grave Robbing
Public/Civilian Endangerment
Honestly Anyone who willingly uses a loaded gun as a club should go to jail bad barrel management
Destruction of Cultural Sites (Given the number of nazis i've shot in the face im calling this an armed conflict and while i think you could make a case for the fact it was not deliberate i think that going into a  tomb you you k...

[Stardust, you know you can skip the postpod, right?]

In this episode: Adam Sandler's seminal work Click, Earthbound, Nosferatu (all of them), Undertale, your amazing companions, JRPGs gonna JRPG, just run away lol, you jerk ass mf how dare you play the game, skill issues, looping mechanics, wild speculation, Bill Murphy's Groundhog Day.

~shoutouts zone~

Be Careful, Everyone! (Boss Theme)

The Langoliers

~~~

Our theme music is Glass Half Full by the incredible Cliff, you can find him on Bandcamp!

Want to shout about the episode...

In this Episode:

The loudest AC in the world, Pennsylvania Winter, Kickflip dimension, how to buy a grappling hook, Cookie Dinner, Double Barrell 1911, Dragonfly nightmare boss, MLG, Getting over it, Splatoon, and The Straights

~shoutouts zone~

Grappling Hook from Brute Magnetics:

https://brutemagnetics.com/products/grappling-hook

Sonic Air Riders:

https://sonic.fandom.com/wiki/Sonic_Riders_series 

EPN Trailer (Echo Point Nova is on sale until February 5th):

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1836730/Echo_Point_Nova/

Hyperbolica:

https://store.s...

STAY WILD, WILD HEART!

Content warnings: this episode contains non-explicit discussions of drugs and sex toys.

In this episode: best game of all time, ice age voice actors, rez, Gita come on our podcast, the perfect chorus, horoscope AND tarot, Indiana Jones.

~shoutouts zone~

Rez, just like in general

PC Gamer: Ultrakill now has official sex toy support

~~~

Our theme music is Glass Half Full by the incredible Cliff, you can find him on Bandcamp!

Want to shout about the episode? Join us...

We are all so eternally grateful that so many of you have stuck with us through the past year, despite the end of blaseball and the shift from ICB to Infinite Cities, it's thanks to listeners like y'all that we keep doing this. And yeah, sure, we'd probably still be friends and we'd probably still keep playing games if the podcast didn't exist, but it's all because of your suggestions and recommendations and conversations that spin out of the games we play that motivate each and every one of us to keep going week to week. We played over 40...

For the final game of 2024 we are completing a promise both in game and in real life by playing The Return of the Obra Dinn (2018). Tied with Ghost Trick for Episode 50 we are finally playing the other game about a time travelling detective. With Feather and Karp enjoying a break this week we invite Hen on to talk about this game with us.

In this Episode:

Flubbing intros, Hen is here, Feather and Karp are gone, Insurance, Memento Mortum, Cultural Insensitivity, Big Fork, Crab People, The Second Mate Sucks, The Captain Did It, V...

It's holiday season and we decided to be festive and play a holiday game. Unfortunately, The Grinch showed up to steal away all of our joy for the holiday season with this rather miserable movie tie in game!

in this episode: the grink, defining christmas games, stealth pacman, christmas cars, sexy grinch

~shoutouts zone~ 

the grink know your meme 

~~~

Our theme music is Glass Half Full by the incredible Cliff, you can find him on Bandcamp!

Want to shout about the episode? Join...

Just finished editing this episode! Time to switch from my editing outfit (stylish cyan and blue headphones, soft hoodie with waveform motif, loose cargo pants, audio cables worn as loose necklaces, audio mixer worn on my belt as an accessory, laptop bag, color-coordinated athletic shoes, cropped but fluffy hair) to my copywriting outfit (thick glasses, woven cardigan, quill pin hairclip, cursive-inspired swirl earrings, long soft blue ponytail, letter print dress, practical navy heels)

WAIT MOMO PUT DOWN THE CAMERA I'M STILL CHANGING

In this episode: over-tutorialization, writing chops, genshin, my running around town outfit is d...

Headshot x4 [-0.5s]
Banger Soundtrack [-0.8s]
Sweet Hitmarkers [-0.5s]
Solid VO [-0.4s]
Neat 2 Hour Runtime [-1.0s]
Final Rank: S

I Am Your Beast slaps you in your face and doesn't really stop. It's a perfect two hour shooter, contained perfectly in its runtime. All the speed of Neon White, with none of the anime. It's great. You gotta play it.

In this episode: strange scaffold, cinematic typography (sic), this game is too good to stay on topic, HE'S STICK WIELDING, speedrunning games, pistol hitboxes, the...

We decided to prove everyone wrong by showing that Netflix Games actually has good games in its library. This is a short and sweet puzzle game that you should download right now because we know that you have a Netflix account anyway. Seriously, Don't sleep on this one.

In this episode: moving the grid, can't pick up anything, stealing Gary's last name, game so demanding it crashes your phone /j, cancel the horse, killing all the birds on twitter, playing a lot of games in a year makes it hard to decide a top 5, huh?

~~~<...

Prepare yourselves to the spoiler onion of a lifetime! We're back to finish our coverage of Prey (2017) and oh boy, the way our predictions turned out was a shock to all of us!

in this episode: will's disatisfaction, the mod tree, accidental hacking, passive aggressive turrets, smacking shit with a wrench, the big fluffy midgame, alex yu's plan, this bad boy can fit so much fucked up in it, the endgame, the most accurate predictions, alex yu is sans undertale

~~~

Our theme music is Glass Half Full by the in...

In space, no one can tell you how your wrenches should look... Except for Feather, who hates wrenches /j

We're tackling an excellent immersive sim that got overlooked by many when it came out, and we recommend that you do too. It's Prey (2017) (no relation to Prey (2006) (other than it was supposed to be a sequel)).

CW: there's some food talk in the postpod

In this episode: designer wrenches, push the fat guy, what if this was a roguelike, the thing that goes "whoomp" over and over, turrets are my friend, person who...

sometimes it's nice to just like, tune out and organize shit. or stress about deadlines and organize shit. or be overwhelmed with deliveries and still have to organize shit. It's Wilmot's Warehouse!

in this episode: so many boxes, this is just gary's job, genre catagorization, stock take, the phases of the game, vestibulization, fog of war(ehouse), so many finches, endless mode speculation, the upgrade system, copy that, dungarees, thanks borky, feather's robot story, no one should work in a warehouse, the best date game, the gary bomb, he's blorky now, he craves blood

Is it enough to be quietly good?

If a game drops no notes and has no flaws, how can you hate it? Perhaps more importantly: you play as a bird, how the eff does Feather hate this one?

(One: I promise it's strictly coincidence all the bird games are also the best games. I have no bias here. Also: I disliked fall of porcupine, so nyeh)

(Two: I don't even hate this one! This is a perfectly fine game! That's the point!)

Anyway, Death's Door is cute and smooth and fun...

It's Halloween week, and in an attempt to be spooky, we chose to play a spooky game about a man on an oil rig in the middle of the North Sea in the 70s. Some spooky shit happens. And everyone except Gary noped out at the first stealth section. Of course, instead of being scared, I cried, so y'know, you win some, you lose some. 

in this episode: spooky vibes, oil rigs, walking sims, yellow paint, a gooey guy, different flavors of phobia, being scared, being spooky, being scottish, phenomenal voice acting, a different kind of...

vivid/stasis mentionnnnnnnnnnnn

For a game that was recommended in the comments of a mostly/unrelated meme, this was actually a pretty/banger game. Kind/of. It's definitely a peak rhythm game, with great tracks, great maps, and simple mechanics used extremely interestingly.

Unfortunately, that's not all that's here.

Also: this one's more of a sickos mode than anything because feather hogged the entire game to herself :3 clocking a dumbass 17 hours in over the course of the week! Let that be a review and/or warning!

Join us next week as we...

HELP, the Seethe is approaching! 
Was this made in 2024 or 2004? Feather doesn't know. It sure is pretty, though. And the music's great. And the gameplay feels just like it did in the early oughts (in a good way). Join us in looking at overly detailed traditional japanese sweets and read all about their history while tensely awaiting the arrival of Gary's groceries.

In this episode: Taiko, Good tutorials, Samurai Crabs, Bonus Objectives, Karps absolute lack of inhibitions, Spooky-ass hands, Replaying the first stage over and over, The Demon Seat.

~Shoutouts zone~

The D...

BREACH! Tactical Breach Wizards is a turn based tactical combat puzzle game, driven mostly by its excellent character writing and humorous story telling. This game pulls you in with incredibly well designed levels mixed with its style and banter. Please go play this game its truly excellent

In this ep, we mostly gush about how truly excellent this game is in design and writing. Other gridbased tactical combat games, Our favorite wizards and their corresponding dumbass dipshit enemies, Chronomancy, a bad retelling of the story, Anxiety dreams, Rewind features, Confidence Cosmetics, The Single Best DS game, Apples<...

Have you ever played the tutorial of a game and gone, "damn, this is gonna slap?" Chants of Sennaar pulls off a magic trick right from the jump, not only inviting the player to manually type in what they think a symbol might mean in a language they cannot understand, but also providing a generous mechanic for the player to "lock in" the correct definition to help with future puzzles. It's a mechanic Feather deliberately avoided participating in, and, she might have been right?

in this episode: language is fascinating, will takes on languages, stupid f...

gear one: drill dozer is one of many games that have charm and execution and cool mechanics but in the end was largely neglected and forgotten because it released after its console's successor was released. like second-greatest nes platformer ever kirby's adventure, this used the console's capabilities to the absolute max - and then some, bolting on a rumble pack to push the tiny little handheld even further.

HIYA! Second Gear! Drill Dozer is an extinct kind of game, the perfect Jank-Ass Platformer that would live in the back of your game case and you'd return to ov...

Sometimes, it's okay to give into nostalgia. Let the bitcrunched trumpets and adorable sprites take you back to your childhood, away to a world full of potential, one full of exciting people and wonder and amazing critters who you can love and travel with and villains who want to kill everyone but are still easily defeatable by fourteen year olds.

In this ep, we speculate what happened to pokemon. Honestly, I'm not sure anything happened to it - I think that instead, something happened to us. I think we grew up, and the world grew up with...

Will and Gary are hijacking this week to give us more time with Drill Dozer and also get out our first impressions on Star Wars: Outlaws! I have a feeling we'll probably be getting together about this one again in the future, but don't hold your breath, y'know?

in this episode: intros, syndicate relationships, earnest kay, abilities, speeder bike horse, auto save failures, the worst imperial station, cool little guys, guard aggression, nix, kay's mom is a piece of shit, sliro, the heist, the core, petting critters, cosmetics, star wars is incredibly dumb, bad writing, space combat...

If you die in the dream you die in real life. Only you can't die in this dream. Just pick up cans and chess pieces and put them down again. And walk on cheese wedges. It's a great game.

In this episode: No Will, worse Portal, looking at things from a new angle, soup minute, infinity mirrors, domino doors, playing with expectations, sudden change in what the next game will be.

~shoutouts zone~

yayoi kusama infinity mirrors

Peasoup Andersens

~~~

Our theme music is Glass Half Full by...

Jusant, a French word which translates to the English word "ebb" aka the movement of the tide out to sea. The ocean has receeded, bit by bit, until nothing was left but the Great Basin. And emerging from that basin, one valiant climber and their adorable little guy. Where are they going? Why are they going? What's even up there? Who knows! Find out with Karp, Will, and Gary as we travel up The Tower!

in this episode: no feather, climbing buttons, a desert full of boats, the bestest little guy, gary's folly, an indominable se...

GHOST TRICK MONTH, BABY. play it play it PLAY IT

To cap this game off - and really bury it - we've brought on resident Ghost Trick expert Bluey (they/them)! The world is not ready for our combined powers, and Ghosts are everywhere and they won't stop Tricking! Things get wildly out of hand, disasters happen, people die, we travel through time, and also we talk about Ghost Trick!

Editor's note: there's so much crosstalk in this one holy hell I edited out so much crosstalk but even then there's only so m...

It's always fun, following up on a game we've already done an episode about, and because we've already declared it The Month of Ghost Trick, Will and I are here to talk about the second-third of the game. Ghost trick is a game of puzzles, and ghosts, and tricks. We zoom around the screen and lament that we aren't using the original DS stylus to do so. We rewind time again and again and suffer through slow walk cycles and devestated justice ministers. We fight the oppresive nature of photo albums that don't quite reach our ghost grasp. And...

Have you ever been ghosted? tricked? bamboozled? Well get ready, cause this week we aren't talking about Ghost Trick after all! Karp is away, so Feather, Will and Gary decided to spend some time with an adorable little game jam game recommeded by our friend Sins. It's Updog!

in this episode: walking dogs, filling the doggy dex, inner and outer loops, a very feather-coded dog, way too many dogs, build your own difficulty, trombone champ sidebar, bag vodka, too many ewoks

~shoutouts zone~

Updog! 

~~~

Ou...

Ghost trick was a commercial failure, or at least not enough of a commercial success to make Capcom happy. But I think they knew what they had - that's why they ported it eight times - including two separate Android ports. A large part has got to be that it's a lot weirder and harder to explain than it's more straightforward Pheonix Wright cousin, with strange spatial puzzle elements. Personally, I think they released it too early - if this had come out in 2020, gifs of it would have done numbers. Thankfully, just like our hero in the game, Gh...

You wake up in a stack of hay.

The innkeeper lets you have some leftovers for breakfast after you wash yourself in the river.

In the neighbouring village there's strong men who are willing to help you remove the fallen tree, and another town has bandit problems. A third town has undead problems.

There's 10 days left of summer.

What do you do?

In this episode: Feather is once again alone in her opinion, a great book, incredibly shitty Tumblr memes, talking to everyone without listening, savescumming as if your...

Helldivers! We (Will and Feather, at least) are not immune to propaganda, and so we're taking a break from our break from our regularly scheduled content to chat about a game that is both stupider and smarter than it first appears.

BAH

  BAH

     BAH

        BAAAHHHHHHH

In this episode: other games, don't read the forums, the Joel, helldivers lore is great, I hope you like fire tornadoes dumbass, I forgot to mention it but we did turn a planet into a black hole once, extremely cinematic explosions, you are not immune to be...

Your travels take you to a crossing.

To the east, a narrow path cuts through tangled brush and snarling thorns.

The road north is clear, but you heard rumor horrific goblins wait in ambush.

The west is open plains - clear, but in the distance you can make out the most horrific animal of all: packs of terrifying beasts known as "horses".

Better chance the goblins and the thorns.

In this episode: horses, literal magic, encyclopedia games, we describe a lot of systems but really the game isn't that...

"Walking Sim" as a genre is a bit of a perjorative, but really - that's what we have here. You walk places, and things happen! That's the game. But even in that, there's a ton to talk about. Why is this game about being alone, so full of chatter? Can you find yourself in those dark woods? And perhaps most importantly, why is this walking sim so bad at walking?

In this episode: flapjack, game of telephone, taking care of your knees, not a metroidvania, Lichenland, shoutout to the secret ending, superfire, QWOP.

~shoutouts zone~<...

Pow! Bang! Bop! This week we're FIGHTING! Or, well, we're talking about the potential of fighting, but really we're mostly commiserating about the state of Guilty Gear's story mode. Fighting games are hard and have a high barrier for entry, which is why we basically dance around the idea of it for an hour before throwing in the towel. If any sickos really wanna talk to Feather about fighting games though, you know where to find her. 

in this episode: lets rock, fighting games, feather blaming the beasts, divekick, training dojo, gary's glossary, subspace emissary, sh...

Podcast goes round and round. Why? It does not matter. Numbers go up. Hero goes around. In this cold black space, you can only smell the acidity of Salt.

Can you remember samsara?

In this episode: bad hooks, how do we explain this, "fortnite" style colors!??, what are we doing here, cheese strats, idle game comparisons, come before Feather for judgement, this chair gives me health, breakdowns, every game needs a persona-style relationship system.

~shoutouts~

There is nothing here. Perhaps you can remember something someday?

~~~

Our theme m...

The city might not be very big, but wow did they really kitty this kitty!

In this episode: a short hike-alike, feather's list of bugs and grievances, ducklings, the absolute conksuckiest map of all time (positive), genuinely how does this game have such a bad photo mode, TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS, is this a kids game, is being a kids game a cope, wayfinding via lizard, spelling maieaou, a very special guest in the postpod (it's Gary!)

~shoutouts zone~

I'm wearing my hater hat

~~~

Our theme music is G...

Hello Daniel Mullins. I know you are reading this. You have fallen into my trap, the trap of episode descriptions. Here, you will.. uh... one second.

I'm getting from my producer that I've done a fourth-wall-break ep description before? And it's, quote, "not nearly as fun the third time". Hmm.

I'm sure that's not relevant to my favorite fantastically balanced horror roguelike deckbuilder set in a spooky cabin! I love that good ol' card game.

What's that? Sorry, I'm hearing from my producer again...

Spoiler warning: extended discussion of Inscryption spoilers...

We're playing Inscryption this week, and before we get into it, Big Thanks to everyone who never spoiled this game for anyone playing. If you haven't played Inscryption before, what are you doing here? Go play and come back, seriously, we're spoiling stuff that you're better off not knowing when you go into the game!

in this episode: not the whole onion, roguelike deckbuilders, creating cards, boss puzzles, escape room mystery, teeth teeth teeth, slay the spire, so many bones, a wall of flesh, get squirrelled idiot, new game mode, Luke Carder, gba color inscryption, t...

We finally return to Spiritfarer to send off every last animal on this boat, whether we want to or not.

WARNING: Full Spoilers Ahead!

In this episode: Will disappears - will you notice it?, I cant believe Atul would do this, is a basilisk just a lizard, The Character Door, perfectly timed Wilhelm Scream, the only thing that makes Karp sad, Feather rants/gushes about Eve Online

~~~

Our theme music is Glass Half Full by the incredible Cliff, you can find him on Bandcamp!

Want to shout about the...

Thank you to everyone who joined us for Taco De Mayo 4ever after! If you missed it, we took a second run down King of the Castle, a very excellent stream / party / role-playing(?) game where one person (Feather) got to rule a kingdom with an iron throne while a bunch of wretched losers (Karp, Gary, Will, and friends) all tried to harsh her vibes and ruin her chance at wonderful tyranny.

Anyway, it's a good game, and good games are what we do here! So we're sitting down to talk about it!

In this episode...

[click]

Mr Coo gestures towards a strange play button

[click]

Mr Coo pushes the button; chaos ensues

in this episode: hoping for more pieces, point and click, freddi fish and pajama sam, leaning into weirdness, driving mr coo, menus, bugs, a wiggly boy, distinct personalities of pieces, hints, goblin guy is cool, distilling it down, the plunger bike seat, cw alcohol: the wine pairing, mr coo: the wingman, la linea, big nose the little man, our weekly scheduled interrupting will time, the final puzzle, shoutouts to frog detective, taco d...

TERMINAL IC39 - RESTRICTED ACCESS

[SECURITY LEVEL 1]

>>QUERY(COGMIND)

Hot dang, Feather's writing the episode description and that means she gets to talk about how great this game is. So great, she procrastinated editing this episode to play more cogmind. Nevermind she procrastinated editing the last episode to play cogmind. 

What other game makes sensors so fun? How is rolling up on some dudes with quad rocket launchers both incredibly powerful and impeccably risky? Should I risk this entire run on these wings I found? (No, you should not, but you're go...

Spiritfarer is an adorable little game, that on first inspection, looks like a fun, cozy little friend-em-up like Stardew Valley and friends. This is a lie. Spiritfarer is actually a coldly calculated trap, designed to lure you into making friends with friendly, interesting, deep characters explicitly so it can take them away from you, and then remind you what you've lost.

The hug button isn't a cute fun thing - it's a necessity.

Content warning: discussion of death and loss, spoilers for the general gist of spiritfarer throughout, extended discussion of the backstory of the...

This week we're still in the mid-aughts, and this one's a real doozy. Generally considered to be the best movie tie-in game ever, we've got opinions.

In this episode: King Kong Points, Feather doesn't know her own age, the Worst Shotgun In a Videogame, Megapedes and V-Rexes, JAAACK!

~Shoutout zone~

How to install a PS2 emulator and King Kong circa 2005

Random video that Will shared in the postpod

Longplay of King Kong for mobile phones

Noodle's video on King Kong

~~~

Our theme music...

April fool's is Shrek season. I'm not sure why, I didn't make the rules. It came to me in a dream. April first is when you Shrek, ok? You Shrek. Tradition is important.

This is an April fool's episode. The episode is not the April fool's prank. It's a relatively unhinged, but still ICB, minisode with Will and Feather. The April fools are Will and Feather, who played this game, and especially Feather, who played a lot of this game. Relatively speaking. On April first. And then Will went entirely AWOL because of a discord bug, meaning...

ITS PEGGLE

In this episode: "I do not like peggle"

This is it - the high water mark of a once-great franchise, the twenty-second game out of twenty-two Mega Men, not counting the many, many, many, many spin-offs. Past this point, just about everything got packed up and cancelled.

What happened? Did Keiji Inafune sleep with someone's wife? Or did it just play out the same old tricks over and over, until a few half-hearted attempts to shake things up just felt awkward and sad? Let's find out!

In this episode: surprise! the person who suggested mega man is a fan of mega man,  the l...

We're the second-best detectives in town, and we're gonna help you with whatever random errand you need. We're also gonna laugh a whole lot. I'm sorry, I didn't mean that.

In this episode: Just... so much giggling, Being a sticker-person, I'm sorry, I don't know why I said that, Lobster Cop, Happy bugs, Real-life animals, Spoiler egg, The mouse is the correct option, Pirate hooks, Books are, without exception, factually inaccurate.

~~~

Our theme music is Glass Half Full by the incredible Cliff, you can find him on Bandcamp!

Want to shout...

The gang's all here this week, and we're finishing up our discussion of the zippiest, swooshiest, grapplyest indie of last year, Sanabi!

in this episode: please imagine airhorns, landing the mystery, so much talking, high jank tolerance, fuck that car, cool speech bubble effects, endgame theories, heaven and hell, the john wick of robots, flashbacks galore, harmonica questions, somehow pedro pascal is here, chain arms are cool

~shoutout zone~

the bad ending 

~~~

Our theme music is Glass Half Full by the incredible Cliff, you can find hi...

Nyooom whoosh zoop zwaam zoop woooop woosh woosh woop

Nyoooooooom zoop woosh wow wow zooop...

It's SANABI! A totally hidden gem that's delivering enough beautiful movement and incredible pixel art to make up for some seriously long dialogues. 

Eventually, we'll know what happened in Mago City.

in this episode: spiderman should have a mid swing boost, the joy of intertia, instagibbing robots, speedrunning, a lot of chatter for a fast paced action platformer, kinda weird dialogue, where is it going (and hoping it gets there), predictions, electronics.

~s...

We're back for another short little indie game, it's Chicory! Feather and Gary have a delight coloring in the world, while will finds himself stuck painting stars everywhere. 

in this episode: art, painting, it's on the map, feather's square era, spooky trees, dad hints, magenta paint bucket, chicory the welder, oops, all hats,  you shouldn't be so hard on yourselfa

~shoutouts zone~
explorable, interractive map of chicory 

Dunkey's Yakuza video 

Best Game Animation of 2023

~~~

Our theme music is Glass Half Full by the incredible Cliff, you can...

Is this it? Did we find a game that everyone enjoyed (minus Gary, who wasn't present for the recording)? Or is it just that building a town is fun for the first 2 hours, every time? Join us as we untangle why Against the Storm might be the perfect cozy game for three of us.

In this episode: Warcraft 3 is retro, it's (not) Rain World, Mario Kart rubberbanding, 3x speed vs 1x speed, sucking up bricks, Dwarves/beavers, city-builder boss fights, Aunt Lore-i.

~shoutout zone~

blame Feather for this

~~~

Our...

Maybe it's because Feather's PC is nearly old enough to qualify as retro, or maybe it's because Against The Storm reminds us of PCs classics like Warcraft 3, or maybe it's just because Will, Karp, and Feather are all retro hardware nerds, but whatever the case - we're talking through the history of video game consoles, starting from the very beginning!

In this episode: play pitfall I guess, more bits means more better, we get stuck in pits repeatedly for our own edification, ironically I enjoyed ET more than pitfall but that's because I am a broken human...

HEY ITS REKKA HERE TO WRITE THE EPISODE DESCRIPTION

HI FI RUSH IS A MONSTER OF A GAME! YOU WANT MECHANICS? ITS GOT TWICE AS MUCH MECHANICS AS THE NEXT GAME! YOU WANT STORY! YEAH THERES A STORY! YOU WANT MUSIC? WELL FUCKIN' GOD DAMN THERES MUSIC. YOU WANT PLATFORMING? WE MADE THE PLATFORMING SO BAD YOU GET TWICE AS MUCH PLATFORMING PER PLATFORM!

THE ONLY PODCAST THAT CAN HANDLE THIS MUCH GAME IS THE KIND OF PODCAST THATS LOUD, CHAOTIC, AND FULL OF TOO MANY IDEAS ALL AT ONCE COMPETING FOR YOUR ATTENTION! JUST L...

Old-school roguelikes have a long and rich history of being some of the earliest games that are updated to this day, so there's some things to talk about. Join Karp and Feather in this mini episode!

In this episode: The Berlin Interpretation (is a meme), the potato chips of conversations, don't spend $3 on Rogue, Nethack, Dwarf Fortress, the schoolyard-rumour-game of the 80's computer science scene, being in development for 40 years, Crawl, 7-day Roguelike Challenge, degenerate strategies, Noita, Mystery Dungeon.

~Shoutouts Zone~

DoshDoshington - A Game Called ADOM and the Legacy of Roguelikes

Fall of Porcupine is a story about being a doctor that hits all the beats you might expect. The angry jaded old mentor, the competent and hardworking nurse, the first death on your watch, the finding a place in a small town. It's not humerous (like Scrubs), or charming (like Scrubs) or even super compelling (like Scrubs), but maybe there is something in its gentleness?

It is also, notably definitely and absolute not Night in the Woods. The comparison diminishes both games. Which is why we talk about Night in the Woods about eight times per minute...