The Short Game – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode of The Short Game, Nate, Laura, and Shane dive into BALL x PIT, a roguelite block breaker published by Devolver Digital. Recorded a couple of months ago, the episode comes out in time for the release of a free DLC adding new content to the game. The discussion covers the game's unique blend of ball-firing mechanics, character abilities, and city-building elements. Does BALL x PIT respect your time? Maybe, maybe not, but it's a good time either way. 

A voice is saying your name. A WWII-era machine, long hidden in a church basement, whirs to life. Through a crackling speaker, a man asks you to find a stolen book. He only knows the title. Time is running out.

Inkle has made a Database Thriller. An Interface Game. Or are we just calling these SamBarlow-likes? And it's a taut 4 hours, and just $7, which is also five bucks.

• (00:00) - TR-49
• (45:34) - Spoiler Break
• (01:09:37) - Wrap-up

A video game memoir by Ecuadorian indie developers Julián Cordero and Sebastian Valbuena, and published by Panic, Despelote takes you back to a childhood in 2001 Ecuador, and the magical grip soccer held over the entire country during the lead-up to the 2002 World Cup.

This is something we have never seen in video games before.

• (00:00) - 439: Despelote
• (01:00) - Soccer Memories
• (08:07) - Despelote
• (14:05) - A long aside about Great Wolf Lodge
• (16:43) - Despelote!
• (21:52) - Another digression about child endangerment
• (24:08) - Despelote!!!
• (41:36) - What's Making Us Happy This Week?
• (41:52) - Nate: A Sandworm's Dream
• (44:26) - Shane: Moms & Myst
• (47:17) - Laura: Jet Lag: The Game
• (52:11) - 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

Afterplace is the first mobile game that has really grabbed me beginning to end in a long time. The game, from solo developer Evan Kice, is a whole-assed open world indie action adventure game, but for phones. It takes a lot of inspiration from games like the Legend of Zelda and Undertale, but brings them to your iOS or Android smartphone with touch-native controls and a world that is designed to be viewed in portrait orientation.

Everything about the game seems carefully tailored for mobile, but it’s also unlike any mobile game I’ve played in years, with charming characters and animation, an involving story, and difficult but fair combat.

Afterplace clocks in at about 6-10 hours, depending on how lost you get during the game’s less directed sections. It’s a steal at $6.99 on the iOS and Android app stores.

• (00:00) - Afterplace
• (40:48) - A Cereal Question
• (45:17) - What's Making Us Happy This Week?
• (45:29) - Laura: Golden Banana of Film Discord
• (51:13) - Shane: Infinity Pool
• (54:30) - Raygan: omg.lol
• (59:56) - Outro

Pocket Card Jockey is a weird footnote. A lesser known but beloved 3DS side-project by Game Freak, the creators of Pokémon. It‘s a brilliant and hilarious mash up horse racing and solitaire, first released in Japan in 2013, and in the US in 2016 when we covered it for The Short Game. 

Now the game has been remastered (or remade?) for iOS! Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On! is available now on the Apple Arcade subscription service.

We’re taking this opportunity to rerelease our original episode on the game. Laura and Shane kick things off with a brief intro before we jump into episode 99 of the show.

• (00:00) - 2023 Intro
• (10:55) - 99: Pocket Card Jockey

We haven’t covered a mobile game, or a tower defense game, in quite a while! Isle of Arrows comes from Gridpop, aka Daniel Lutz, best known as the creative director of Hitman GO and Lara Croft GO, and this game brings that aesthetic and polish to the venerable tower defense genre while freshening some things up with a touch of roguelike and board game mechanics. It’s a total bullseye.

The Short Game is supported directly by our listeners on Patreon! Supporters at any level get access to our Discord, where we discuss games, plan episodes, and talk about what we are playing in real time. You can also support us by writing a review on Apple Podcasts!

• (00:00) - Intro
• (04:01) - Question: What old gaming genre would you bring back?
• (14:07) - Isle of Arrows
• (55:01) - Outro

We absolutely love stuff where little guys go around, the littler the better.

Tinykin upended our expectations around 3D platformers, and manages to out-Pikmen Pikmen. It’s about 6 hours, and is on Switch, Steam, PS4/5, and your various Xboxeees, and is included with GamePass.

The Short Game is supported directly by our listeners on Patreon! Supporters at any level get access to our Discord, where we discuss games, plan episodes, and talk about what we are playing in real time. You can also support us by writing a review on Apple Podcasts!

You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame

Your hosts this week were:

• Raygan Kelly – @raygan@bird.rodeo
• Shane Kelly – @8bitShane

• (00:00) - Intro
• (01:25) - Peppa Pig and Elden Ring
• (05:43) - Tinykin
• (08:28) - Mandatory Banter Segment
• (18:03) - Tinykin
• (32:23) - What's Making Us Happy This Week
• (32:38) - Raygan - Scale by Greg Egan
• (41:05) - Shane - ChatGPT
• (51:53) - Outro

It’s been a great year, and we played some great games. It’s our Game of the Year special for 2022! 

In addition to our Game of the Year, we’re handing out lots of honors and superlatives, some returning like our coveted Dirtbag of the Year award, and some new that you’ll need to listen to discover!

Patrons also have access to our unedited planning session, if you want to hear how the sausage was made for some reason.

Happy New Year!

The Short Game is supported directly by our listeners on Patreon! Supporters at any level get access to our Discord, where we discuss games, plan episodes, and talk about what we are playing in real time. You can also support us by writing a review on Apple Podcasts!

You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame

Your hosts this week were:

• Raygan Kelly – @raygan@bird.rodeo
• Shane Kelly – @8bitShane
• Nate Heininger – @natestl
• Laura Nash – @laurajnash

• (00:00) - Introduction
• (01:13) - Raygan Asks
• (05:08) - Format
• (06:32) - Game of the Year
• (12:45) - Best Puzzles
• (14:59) - Best Choices
• (16:48) - Best Writing
• (20:39) - Worst Location
• (23:16) - Best 10 Year Old Game To Come Out as a Remaster But Is Secretly A Whole New Game
• (26:16) - Late to the Party
• (29:34) - Most Replayable
• (35:59) - Best Slicing & Dicing
• (38:13) - Best Mario
• (40:19) - Dirtbag of the Year
• (44:20) - Best Galerius
• (48:51) - Most Radical Tune
• (50:31) - Outro

BANG! BANG! CHOP! CHOP! In this single-sitting first-person shooter, you gotta chop some goblins before they chop you. Other times you gotta shoot, stake, shotgun, or impale them. Because once chop goblins are loosed across time and space, someone’s gotta stop ’em. And that someone is you. (Because you set them free in the first place.)

Chop Goblins was a surprise end-of-year release by the creator of Iron Lung, DUSK, and Squirrel Stapler — and it’s available now on Steam for Windows. The game takes 30 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on your skill level.

The Short Game is supported directly by our listeners on Patreon! Supporters at any level get access to our Discord, where we discuss games, plan episodes, and talk about what we are playing in real time. You can also support us by writing a review on Apple Podcasts!

You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame

Your hosts this week were:

• Raygan Kelly – @raygank
• Nate Heininger – @natestl
• Laura Nash – @laurajnash

• (00:00) - Intro
• (01:22) - 404: New Segment Name Not Found
• (10:23) - Chop Goblins
• (37:29) - What's Making Us Happy This Week?
• (37:42) - Laura - Laura's Book Corner
• (43:48) - Raygan - 💩
• (45:35) - Nate - Age of Empires 2
• (49:17) - Outro