One of y'all should peep Dread Delusion. It's an excellent indie "Bethesda-like" with fantastic writing that heavily emphasizes exploration in it's unique world. Also the art is insane looking so that probably means Plante loves it already
I know you have no shortage of indie games to try, but I have to shout this one out. Path of Achra is a classic roguelike that distills the power fantasy and skill/equipment synergies of an ARPG into a 45 minute run. The core gameplay is quite simple, but the fun comes in figuring out how to become incredibly overpowered. Made by a solo dev, it just hit 1.0 in early May.
You guys should check out Master Key. It’s a puzzle adventure game akin to Link to the Past. Very much fits into the recent glut of mysterious indie puzzle games.
Kindly requesting a small segment for Russ and Griffin to talk about what retro game they've been playing and which hardware they're enjoying it on. I've been slowly working through Pokemon Unbound on my MiYoo Mini+, personally. Not technically retro, but it definitely makes me feel those sweet nostalgia vibes nonetheless. Just re ently saw some romhacks for Yellow and Crystal that I may load up on my RGB30 as well.
Check out the N64/PS-era looking indie platformer/time attack game Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom. It has a robust demo with some secrets to find. There is no jump button and it's super fun to traverse levels. Though I'm mostly interested in how Russ will pronounce one of the characters' name. A character who is legally distinct from Mario.
Everyone’s sharing indies, so I’ll go ahead and mention Selaco. It’s not out yet but its demo and promotional materials are very promising. Its pitch is that it’s a AAA shooter made in GZDoom, which gives it a very unique look and feel. It has strong Half-Life and F.E.A.R. vibes.
Also, given that Chris’s absence was not explained, I’m going to assume that he had just gotten his audio equipment fixed up and was about to record but then accidentally spilled another glass of water on it all.
Hi besties! You were talking this past week about learning through video games. I’m a middle school teacher who is attempting to do this now! A few years back, I presented at a teacher conference about the benefits of using “Comercial-off-the-shelf” games in education. I’ve used games such as Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed’s discovery tours to teach ancient Egypt and Greece, A Story About My Uncle to teach literary topics such as setting, storytelling, and writing dialogue, and I’ve made a few RPGs on RPG Maker to gamify various content areas. Next year, I’m teaching eighth graders physics and avionics using Microsoft Flight Simulator and am toying with how I can fit in Kerbal Space Program as well.
Do you all have any games you think might make for an engaging educational experience?
My theory for why Lorelei's control style is so bizarre is that Simogo prides themselves on making games with minimal inputs. The thing that seems to have unlocked their creative potential in the first place was the intuitiveness of touchscreens. A decade ago, their whole deal was making deep interactive experiences that were approachable even to people who'd never held a controller before. They've been vocal about how strange it is that the default control scheme for games is two sticks and ten buttons. So, Lorelei only uses one stick and one button. Trouble is, it's a third-person exploration game with boatloads of menus. So their two-input design minimalism is maybe not up to the task at hand. It's annoying for sure, but that's my guess about the philosophy behind it. Who knows.
The whole time I’m hearing about LatLE’s unique presentation (stuck in a hotel), or various puzzles that are both brilliant and iterative (and pedantic), or the innovative decision by the developer to limit controls (in spite of thousands of games before that use 2 sticks & 10 buttons so well) … I’m left wondering … did y’all forget that “The Witness” was GOTY for EVERY reason people seem to praise this new effort, and yet TW is STILL unequaled in size & inception of using a simple mechanic of 10’ish symbols to make 100’s of puzzles that each improve & challenge upon the last (and also can’t be brute-forced)? Sometimes new isn’t better, it just “is”.
Curious if anyone has played Endless Ocean Luminous. Endless Ocean Blue World is my absolute favourite game and the reason I still have a Nintendo Wii plugged into my TV. I don't have a ton of time or money for games, but Luminous has me thinking about buying a switch just to play.
Regarding the Hades 2 discussion, there is almost certainly more content currently in Hades 2 than there is in H1. It's extremely enjoyable - a great sequel. It's undeniably Hades gameplay but different enough to feel like a brand new experience.
I'm about 90 "nights" in, just over 80 hours, and feel like I've wrung as much out of it as I can in its current state - endgame progression and relationships are capped, and as Justin mentioned, I think a lot of the later unlocks. particularly aspect level-ups, are probably going to be rebalanced. It seems like half of the resources don't have a much of a use at the moment.
I’ve been dying to get into Pico-8 for years and this episode got me to finally bite the bullet and order a Miyoo Mini+. It arrived yesterday and now all I need to do is figure out how to set this all up because oh man I am out of practice with all this PC file management stuff.
Maybe Chris would like this game: I was a Teenage Exocolonist. It reminds me of Citizen Sleeper, so you have to be ready to read a book (but this is decidedly NOT books level boring). You're a 10 year old kid (choose your name, gender expression, and pronouns) born on a space ship. You play month by month until your character is 20. When you start a new game, the protagonist remembers some vital information from the previous playthrough(s). I keep thinking I'm ready for a break, but then a new story arc opens up for me. Highly recommend.
Just spent the last two (2) hours playing Animal Well as the recommendation of the crew. I do not think I have played a worst game this year. Not sure what the appeal of the game was. maybe I just suck at games
Just wanted to give a shoutout to the gang for semi-frequently covering puzzle games in general! The frequent mention of Myst on the pod actually got me to play it, and ignited a love for a genre of games that I never had exposure to before. My puzzle muscle (p-organ??) will forever be grateful.
One of y'all should peep Dread Delusion. It's an excellent indie "Bethesda-like" with fantastic writing that heavily emphasizes exploration in it's unique world. Also the art is insane looking so that probably means Plante loves it already
I know you have no shortage of indie games to try, but I have to shout this one out. Path of Achra is a classic roguelike that distills the power fantasy and skill/equipment synergies of an ARPG into a 45 minute run. The core gameplay is quite simple, but the fun comes in figuring out how to become incredibly overpowered. Made by a solo dev, it just hit 1.0 in early May.
You guys should check out Master Key. It’s a puzzle adventure game akin to Link to the Past. Very much fits into the recent glut of mysterious indie puzzle games.
Kindly requesting a small segment for Russ and Griffin to talk about what retro game they've been playing and which hardware they're enjoying it on. I've been slowly working through Pokemon Unbound on my MiYoo Mini+, personally. Not technically retro, but it definitely makes me feel those sweet nostalgia vibes nonetheless. Just re ently saw some romhacks for Yellow and Crystal that I may load up on my RGB30 as well.
Sidenote, the "I'm going to mod a GameBoy" to "I have 37 discrete handheld retro emulation devices" pipeline is real
Check out the N64/PS-era looking indie platformer/time attack game Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom. It has a robust demo with some secrets to find. There is no jump button and it's super fun to traverse levels. Though I'm mostly interested in how Russ will pronounce one of the characters' name. A character who is legally distinct from Mario.
Everyone’s sharing indies, so I’ll go ahead and mention Selaco. It’s not out yet but its demo and promotional materials are very promising. Its pitch is that it’s a AAA shooter made in GZDoom, which gives it a very unique look and feel. It has strong Half-Life and F.E.A.R. vibes.
Also, given that Chris’s absence was not explained, I’m going to assume that he had just gotten his audio equipment fixed up and was about to record but then accidentally spilled another glass of water on it all.
HOW DID YOU KNOW?!?!
Hi besties! You were talking this past week about learning through video games. I’m a middle school teacher who is attempting to do this now! A few years back, I presented at a teacher conference about the benefits of using “Comercial-off-the-shelf” games in education. I’ve used games such as Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed’s discovery tours to teach ancient Egypt and Greece, A Story About My Uncle to teach literary topics such as setting, storytelling, and writing dialogue, and I’ve made a few RPGs on RPG Maker to gamify various content areas. Next year, I’m teaching eighth graders physics and avionics using Microsoft Flight Simulator and am toying with how I can fit in Kerbal Space Program as well.
Do you all have any games you think might make for an engaging educational experience?
You guys missed a fantastic opportunity to come back from the second and break with just Russ
My theory for why Lorelei's control style is so bizarre is that Simogo prides themselves on making games with minimal inputs. The thing that seems to have unlocked their creative potential in the first place was the intuitiveness of touchscreens. A decade ago, their whole deal was making deep interactive experiences that were approachable even to people who'd never held a controller before. They've been vocal about how strange it is that the default control scheme for games is two sticks and ten buttons. So, Lorelei only uses one stick and one button. Trouble is, it's a third-person exploration game with boatloads of menus. So their two-input design minimalism is maybe not up to the task at hand. It's annoying for sure, but that's my guess about the philosophy behind it. Who knows.
The whole time I’m hearing about LatLE’s unique presentation (stuck in a hotel), or various puzzles that are both brilliant and iterative (and pedantic), or the innovative decision by the developer to limit controls (in spite of thousands of games before that use 2 sticks & 10 buttons so well) … I’m left wondering … did y’all forget that “The Witness” was GOTY for EVERY reason people seem to praise this new effort, and yet TW is STILL unequaled in size & inception of using a simple mechanic of 10’ish symbols to make 100’s of puzzles that each improve & challenge upon the last (and also can’t be brute-forced)? Sometimes new isn’t better, it just “is”.
Curious if anyone has played Endless Ocean Luminous. Endless Ocean Blue World is my absolute favourite game and the reason I still have a Nintendo Wii plugged into my TV. I don't have a ton of time or money for games, but Luminous has me thinking about buying a switch just to play.
Regarding the Hades 2 discussion, there is almost certainly more content currently in Hades 2 than there is in H1. It's extremely enjoyable - a great sequel. It's undeniably Hades gameplay but different enough to feel like a brand new experience.
I'm about 90 "nights" in, just over 80 hours, and feel like I've wrung as much out of it as I can in its current state - endgame progression and relationships are capped, and as Justin mentioned, I think a lot of the later unlocks. particularly aspect level-ups, are probably going to be rebalanced. It seems like half of the resources don't have a much of a use at the moment.
I’ve been dying to get into Pico-8 for years and this episode got me to finally bite the bullet and order a Miyoo Mini+. It arrived yesterday and now all I need to do is figure out how to set this all up because oh man I am out of practice with all this PC file management stuff.
Maybe Chris would like this game: I was a Teenage Exocolonist. It reminds me of Citizen Sleeper, so you have to be ready to read a book (but this is decidedly NOT books level boring). You're a 10 year old kid (choose your name, gender expression, and pronouns) born on a space ship. You play month by month until your character is 20. When you start a new game, the protagonist remembers some vital information from the previous playthrough(s). I keep thinking I'm ready for a break, but then a new story arc opens up for me. Highly recommend.
Just spent the last two (2) hours playing Animal Well as the recommendation of the crew. I do not think I have played a worst game this year. Not sure what the appeal of the game was. maybe I just suck at games
Just wanted to give a shoutout to the gang for semi-frequently covering puzzle games in general! The frequent mention of Myst on the pod actually got me to play it, and ignited a love for a genre of games that I never had exposure to before. My puzzle muscle (p-organ??) will forever be grateful.