Explore every episode of the podcast The Short Game
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| BALL x PIT | 09 Feb 2026 | 00:56:30 | |
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. | |||
| TR-49 | 26 Jan 2026 | 01:12:02 | |
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.
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| 439: Despelote | 17 May 2025 | 00:54:08 | |
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.
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| 350: UnderDungeon | 06 Feb 2023 | 00:47:07 | |
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!
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| 349: Afterplace | 30 Jan 2023 | 01:02:23 | |
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.
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| Short Game Classic – 99: Pocket Card Jockey | 23 Jan 2023 | 01:03:54 | |
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.
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| 348: Isle of Arrows | 16 Jan 2023 | 00:56:33 | |
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!
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| 347: Tinykin | 09 Jan 2023 | 00:55:44 | |
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:
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| 346: Game of the Year 2022 | 26 Dec 2022 | 00:52:00 | |
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:
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| 345: Chop Goblins | 19 Dec 2022 | 00:50:47 | |
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:
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| Short Game Classic — 10: Portal | 12 Dec 2022 | 01:10:40 | |
This week, we’re revisiting an episode for a game that many of you have probably played: Portal. On December 11, Nvidia released a remastered version called “Portal RTX” with upgraded, ray-traced graphics (fancy) — and if you own it on Steam, you’ve automatically got a copy. This shiny new coat of paint is a great excuse to boot up Portal and remember how very awesome it is. Even back at episode 10, we were convinced the game was a stone-cold classic. Raygan and Shane break down the qualities that made the game so successful, and its widespread impact on gaming in general. Once again, we command you: GO PLAY PORTAL AGAIN! Links for this episode
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:
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| 344: Pentiment | 05 Dec 2022 | 01:18:27 | |
Fans of medieval manuscripts, murder mysteries and marginalia, rejoice! Pentiment is here to fill your Northern Renaissance needs. Raygan and Laura discuss this rich tale of abbeys, intrigue, and 16th century life in the Bavarian Alps. Do we describe the classic book Name of the Rose as “a vibe”? How do we feel about Big Head Mode? Will we accuse innocent people of murder? Dear listener, there is only one way to find out… Pentiment is available on PC/XBox (Gamepass), and is a little on the long side for us at 12-15 hours. 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:
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| 343: Thanksgaming | 24 Nov 2022 | 00:58:08 | |
This week’s episode is a little early and lightly edited, since we are all busy with Thanksgiving. Just a quick, fun conversation about things we were thankful for in gaming in 2022! Back to regularly scheduled programming with Pentiment next week. Happy Thanksgiving! 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:
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| 438: Many Nights a Whisper | 06 May 2025 | 00:57:50 | |
We’re talking about Many Nights a Whisper, a short, meditative archery (kinda!) game from Red Strings Club developer Deconstructeam and Selkie Harbour. The Dreamer has prepared their entire life for one impossible shot that will define a generation. Hear the wishes of your people, and prepare for your one chance to make them come true in this interactive essay on the flight of wishes and the pressure of expectations. In “What’s Making Us Happy”, Nate is playing the classic Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and Raygan recommends an app. An app! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_Mario:_The_Thousand-Year_Door
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| 342: The Entropy Centre | 21 Nov 2022 | 00:58:56 | |
Now we’re thinking with time reversals! The Entropy Centre is a first-person puzzler set in a collapsing space station on the brink of the end of the world. But it’s not all doom and gloom, for there’s a cheerful robot inside your entropy gun to help you rebuild pillars and reheat tea. Expect it to take 8-12 hours, depending on how good you are at brain-bendy puzzles. The Entropy Centre is available on XBox, PlayStation, Steam, and GOG. 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:
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| 341: Card Cowboy | 07 Nov 2022 | 01:01:16 | |
Mosey on over to this here podcast fer some of the worst accents this side of the Mississippi — it’s time to cover Card Cowboy, yeehaw! Saddle up to take revenge on the Gunman who killed your dad, wooed your mom, and kicked your dog. Card Cowboy is basically Western mad libs and we’re happy as hornets. Each playthrough takes about 30 minutes. (Yall make sure to pick up the Steam version, which is fully voice acted.) What’s been making us happy this week:
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:
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| 340: IFComp 2022 Part 2 | 31 Oct 2022 | 01:20:29 | |
This week, we pick back up our coverage of IFComp 2022 with seven more games:
Let us know if you’ve got a favorite we haven’t reviewed yet, and we’ll do our best to check it out before judging on November 15! 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:
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| 339: Multitasking & Games | 24 Oct 2022 | 01:18:32 | |
We love a game that respects our time. But what if you don’t have *any* time? Do two things at once, of course! To celebrate Raygan’s return amidst new baby mode, we praise games that let us multitask — whether we’re watching tv, listening to podcasts, or even completing a chore or two. When should you multitask? When shouldn’t you? What sorts of games are good fits? What games require every single bit of your attention? All this and more! 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:
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| Short Game Classic — 117: Night in the Woods | 17 Oct 2022 | 01:25:06 | |
The leaves are turning, the air is brisk, and we are feeling our seasonal feelings by re-releasing our episode on Night in the Woods. This game’s not only giving us autumnal vibes, it also was one of our 2017 games of the year — we even created the inaugural “Dirtbag of the Year” award to capture our love for Mae Borowski. If you’re new to Night in the Woods, it’s a story-focused adventure game about a college dropout returning home to a distressed mining town, Possum Springs. It’s about reconnecting with your friends and finding things aren’t the same as when you left. Also, everyone is a talking animal. 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:
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| 338: IFComp 2022 Part 1 | 10 Oct 2022 | 00:53:35 | |
Happy 28th birthday to IFComp! We’re thrilled to start our seventh year of competition coverage with discussions of seven brand-new interactive fiction games. Nate and Laura open with a brief overview of IFComp for the unfamiliar/forgetful, before diving into individual reviews.
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:
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| 337: Slice & Dice | 03 Oct 2022 | 00:58:58 | |
It’s all there in the title — there’s both slicing and dicing in this turn-based roguelite! Nate, Laura, and Shane take on liches, witches and other classic monsters across Slice & Dice’s 20 increasingly challenging levels. But it’s not all luck — despite a game full of literal dice rolls, there’s a lot of strategy involved too. Slice & Dice is available on itch.io for Windows, Mac, and Android (plus there’s a free demo.) A good run will take about an hour to an hour and a half, depending on your undo button use. What’s been making us happy:
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:
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| 336: Kirby and the Forgotten Land | 26 Sep 2022 | 01:10:40 | |
In Case Of Impending Baby, Break Glass and Discuss Kirby. Raygan is preparing for the birth of his third child this week so Shane and Raygan are discussing Nintendo’s best 2022 release (sorry Splatoon fans) Kirby and the Forgotten Land. It’s a game we mostly played with our kids, so expect lots of discussion of that side of the experience. We also talk about Shane’s newly arrived Steam Deck, and Raygan’s new obsession Dungeon Encounters. 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:
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| 335: Tunic | 12 Sep 2022 | 01:20:56 | |
Laura played Tunic when it launched earlier this year, and has been encouraging us to play it for the show ever since, but it’s a bit long (up to 20 hours for completionists) and the discourse around its launch was that it was perhaps too hard for for some folks, so we put it off. As in all things, we should have trusted Laura. It turned out that this long-in-development cross between Zelda and Dark Souls with a lot of mystery thrown in was just what we needed. 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:
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| 334: Immortality (Part 2, Spoilers & Analysis) | 05 Sep 2022 | 01:55:51 | |
In this special double length episode, we’re revealing all the secrets of Marissa Marcel. (Ok, most of them? Some at least, certainly!) We talk about the meta-narrative of Immortality, break down the plots and production stories of each of the three movies, and debate the ending. If you have questions about Immortality, we have answers! And also more questions! 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:
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| 437: Expelled! Spoilers! | 11 Apr 2025 | 01:08:21 | |
We spent this week playing a bit more of Inkle’s follow up to Overboard!, and made some shocking discoveries!
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| 333: Immortality (Part 1, No Spoilers) | 30 Aug 2022 | 01:01:41 | |
“Marissa Marcel was a film star. She made three movies. But none of the movies was ever released. And Marissa Marcel disappeared.” Short Game royalty Sam Barlow (Her Story, Telling Lies) is back with a third entry in his not-a-trilogy of FMV masterpieces. This game, Immortality, ups the ante from the previous two in every conceivable way. Explore the unedited, unordered clips from this trio of ill-fated films using a new match-cut symbol mechanic, both more accessible and more mysterious than the previous games. Uncover the stories in front of and behind the camera of these three almost-fully-realized movies. There is so much to talk about with Immortality that we’re dedicating two episodes to it. This first episode will be a spoiler free discussion of the game’s mechanics, production, and surface level story. In next week’s episode we will be diving deep into story and unraveling the mystery of Marissa Marcel. | |||
| 332: Iron Lung | 22 Aug 2022 | 00:53:25 | |
What better pitch than “A short horror game where you pilot a tiny submarine through an ocean of blood on an alien moon?” Iron Lung is an exercise in feeling doomed. Lost in space with all habitable planets mysteriously vanished, you are a convict piloting a blind submarine on a suicide mission, using only a map and a low resolution still camera to navigate. It’s a lo-fi dread generator. It’s also shorter than many horror movies! 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:
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| 331: Haiku, The Robot | 15 Aug 2022 | 01:00:45 | |
Haiku the Robot is a fantastic “adventure-exploration” game (ok maybe that is better than “metroidvania”) that wears its Hollow Knight inspiration on its sleeve, but the quirky post-human robot world has a charm of its own. The focus is on exploration, but Haiku also has very good combat! Really a great game, and more manageable than a lot of other games in its genre at around 6-10 hours. Stick around for a fun What’s Making Us Happy segment! 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:
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| 330: South of the Circle | 08 Aug 2022 | 01:07:31 | |
An Apple Arcade original that is finally making its way out into gen pop, South of the Circle is a film-like narrative game set in the Cold War 60s. It alternates between a climate scientist struggling to survive after an antarctic plane crash, and his memories of the people and events that lead him to this dangerous moment. We start the episode with a pretty lengthy discussion of the state of Apple Arcade, which has just had its first game delistings, and at 34:55 talk about what’s making us happy this week, before our spoiler break at 52:30. South of the Circle is available on all the current Xbox, Playstation, and Nintendo Switch consoles as well as on Steam and GOG on PC. The Apple Arcade version is still available for iOS, iPad OS, tvOS, and Mac. Expect the game to take 3-4 hours to complete. 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:
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| 329: Stray | 01 Aug 2022 | 00:58:04 | |
It’s the cat game everyone is talking about, but it still managed to surprise us. While we had some nits to pick, the charming kitty protagonist and incredible lived-in spaces kept us tapping our toe-beans. 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:
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| 328: The Miyoo Mini, And A Retro Roundup | 25 Jul 2022 | 01:05:49 | |
Prompted by the fact that all four of our hosts recently got the Miyoo Mini emulator handheld, the hosts chat about the device itself and what retro games we’ve been playing on it. 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:
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| 327: Shotgun King | 11 Jul 2022 | 00:55:41 | |
Ludum Dare 50 winner Shotgun King is a wild twist on chess, with dashes of roguelike deckbuilding and a scattering of buckshot. As the Black King, all your subjects have abandoned you. Face off against the White King and all his pieces armed only with your royal shotgun. 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:
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| 326: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge | 05 Jul 2022 | 00:59:58 | |
Somehow the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles became one of the most persistent media properties of our lifetimes, yet it’s been years since a good Turtles game came along. Shredder’s Revenge is reverent of the old Konami turtles games almost to a fault, but it’s lots of fun and fueled a lot of nostalgia even for those of us who didn’t think we were big turtles fans. 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:
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| 325: Citizen Sleeper | 27 Jun 2022 | 01:02:15 | |
This week we played Citizen Sleeper, the second game from In Other Waters developer Jump Over The Age, solo developer Gareth Damian Martin. Citizen Sleeper is a narrative game with mechanics inspired by tabletop games and visual novels. It tells the story of a Sleeper, a human consciousness in a robot body, who has escaped their corporate masters and washed up on a lawless post-revolutionary space station. It’s a great story of disability, community building, and transhumanism, and it’s one of the best games we’ve played this 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:
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| 324: Deltarune Chapter 2 | 13 Jun 2022 | 01:09:22 | |
Now’s your chance to be a big shot! We‘re all caught up on Deltarune, and now we have to wait forever for the next chapter just like everyone else. Torture! 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:
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| 436: Trash the Planet | 01 Apr 2025 | 00:46:59 | |
This week, Laura and Nate dive into Trash the Planet, a free, browser-based resource-management game that subverts clicker mechanics to serve its narrative. You play as a group of raccoons who start out collecting trash and, through a rapid evolution of society, end up ruling the planet—manipulating the stock market with absolutely no consequences. Stick around for the return of What’s Making Us Happy This Week.
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| 323: FRANKEN | 06 Jun 2022 | 00:59:59 | |
FRANKEN is a short, free RPG parody from solo indie developer splendidland, and at least to my taste it’s one of the funniest games I’ve ever played. You owe it to yourself to Jordan Starkweather from the excellent Pocketoid podcast joins us to talk about the game and how it lovingly comments on the RPG genre. Laura is away this week due to an apartment move (congrats!) and Shane is out due to injury (ouch!) so thanks to Jordan for being a pinch hitter! (See Nate, I can make sports metaphors too!) 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:
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| 322: Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion | 30 May 2022 | 00:49:34 | |
Turnip Boy is an immediate contender for our dirtbag of the year award. This game packs a lot of jokes into its 2-ish hours, some of which are even funny! Check out the game on Nintendo Switch, Windows/Mac, iOS, Xbox One, and the Xbox Series S/X platforms, where it was recently added to Game Pass. 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:
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| 321: Playdate | 23 May 2022 | 01:43:30 | |
Since the 90s, Panic has been known as a creator of playful, functional software. Then, nearly two decades into their existence they took an unexpected swerve into video game publishing. During that time they also managed to somehow grow a weird idea for a corporate gift into a brand new handheld video game platform. The Playdate! The Playdate is a tiny handheld video game console, kind of like a quirky modern Game Boy, with a crank on the side. It feels like a strange merger of retro and modern, with a high resolution 1-bit black and white display, and a “Season” model for game distribution where every Playdate receives new games automatically over the internet, two a week for 12 weeks after you unbox it. It’s really neat. Short Game Bird Correspondent Mark Bramhill joins us for this episode. Mark interviewed the Panic team about the history of their MP3 player application Audion for his incredible Welcome to Macintosh podcast (it’s a great listen!) and talks about seeing prototype Playdate hardware all the way back in 2016! 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:
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| 320: Deltarune Chapter 1 | 17 May 2022 | 01:16:50 | |
Thank you to the listeners and patrons who kindly kept asking us when we were covering Deltarune. The answer is NOW! Thank you for your patience these last… checks watch… nearly four years! Deltarune is the sequel follow up (?) to Undertale, a game whose seismic impact is still being felt today. Developer Toby Fox took a different approach with Deltarune, breaking it up into chapters and releasing them over time, with the first chapter having been released in 2018 and the second chapter last year. We are covering Deltarune Chapter 1 this week, and will probably cover Chapter 2 in 2-3 weeks. 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:
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| 319: The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe | 09 May 2022 | 01:25:20 | |
More than a re-release, The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe is a massive expansion of the original game, with new endings, new jokes, and a bucket. This episode features light spoilers for the original Stanley Parable before the spoiler break, then new content and ending spoilers afterward. 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:
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| 318: Norco | 02 May 2022 | 01:11:16 | |
NORCO describes itself as a “Southern Gothic point & click narrative adventure that immerses the player in the sinking suburbs and verdant industrial swamps of a distorted South Louisiana.” It’s full of vivid characters, beautiful prose, and uncomfortable near-future sci-fi psychedelia. 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:
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| 317: Steam Deck | 25 Apr 2022 | 01:45:51 | |
Raygan has had his hands on a Steam Deck for about a week, and so we decided to chat about the device and what it means for our corner of the gaming landscape. Turned out to be a longer and more interesting conversation than we expected! 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:
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| 316: Game Boy Homebrew & GB Studio | 18 Apr 2022 | 01:17:53 | |
This week we played several Game Boy homebrew games, all made using the free game making tool GB Studio. All these games can be played on the web, in a Game Boy emulator, or on actual Game Boy hardware, and all are short and interesting! We also had a lengthy and sometimes disturbing digression about opossums. 00:00:00: Intro to GB Studio 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:
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| 315: A Memoir Blue | 11 Apr 2022 | 01:09:49 | |
A Memoir Blue is the latest release from publisher Annapurna, and first from developer Cloisters Interactive. The developer describes it as “interactive poem” in which an olympic swimmer reflects on her childhood and her relationship with her mother, told via dreamlike metaphorical scenes, contrasting 2D and 3D characters and scenes. While not our absolute favorite thing, this game prompted a really interesting discussion! 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:
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| 314: Vampire Survivors | 04 Apr 2022 | 00:52:46 | |
Raygan and Nate are a little late to the party with this chat about the virally popular casual bullet hell Vampire Survivors. Plus a lengthy digression about popcorn! 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:
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| 435: FlyKnight | 26 Mar 2025 | 01:03:14 | |
Shane and Nate were buzzing about FlyKnight, a $5 indie dungeon crawler that surprised us with its humor and depth. In this episode, we break down what makes this tiny first-person RPG so fun, from its retro aesthetic and first person Souls-like combat to its great co-op potential. Should you bug your buddies to play it? Let’s find out!
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| 313: Beast Breaker | 28 Mar 2022 | 01:08:26 | |
Nate, Shane, and Laura discuss the mouse-bouncing tactical pachinko RPG Beast Breaker, from Asher Volmer’s studio Vodeo Games. Beast Breaker is available on Nintendo Switch and on PC via the Epic Games Store. Expect it to take around 10-12 hours to complete, depending on how the mouse bounces. 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:
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| 312: Itch.io Bundle for Ukraine | 21 Mar 2022 | 01:11:06 | |
The Itch.io bundle for Ukraine (organized by Necrosoft Games) included a ton of great stuff. We spent some time this week combing through the nearly 1000 games and other works in the bundle, and have come back with a few suggestions! (To browse or filter your bundle games, try https://randombundlegame.com) 00:10:54: Games We Have Previously Covered 00:27:26: Combo Postage 00:32:44: Sunlight 00:35:42: Cecconoid 00:37:55: Cloud Gardens 00:39:00: The Mortician’s Tale 00:42:44: GoNNER 00:46:54: Landlord of the Woods 00:50:25: Welcome to Elk 00:51:50: Death and Taxes 00:54:01: Dépanneur Nocturne 00:55:01: Bard Harder 00:55:43: [SPEER] 00:57:48: Toree 3D and Toree 2 00:59:03: Grapple Force Reina 01:01:07: Dumpy & Bumpy 01:02:52: Kuso: Love 2 01:04:51: ZeroRanger 01:06:44: CrossCode 01:08:16: Outro 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:
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| 311: Far: Changing Tides | 14 Mar 2022 | 01:33:14 | |
The sequel (or “sister game”) to 2018’s Far: Lone Sails returns us to a world in which driving a train/boat requires an awful lot of running around. 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:
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