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Episode 77 - 2025 Games of the Year with Casey Explosion!
1.6k Plays19 days ago
WOW! Can you believe it, folks? 2025 is over, and we’re on to a new year. But wait! We have some unfinished business! We can’t move on to 2026 until we RANK THE BEST GAMES OF 2025!
To help us in this endeavor, we bring along content creator and game curator CASEY EXPLOSION! Casey brings all their expertise and charm along to help us figure out our TOP TENs (or TOP SIXes, for some of us).
Come learn about all the best games of 2025 with your pals Matt, PushingUpRoses, and Casey Explosion!
2025 Games Mentioned:
- Asylum
- Bye Sweet Carole
- Easy Delivery Company
- Duskpunk
- CARIMARA: Between the forlorn pines
- Demon School
- The Séance of Blake Manor
- Guns of Fury
- Cabernet
- Promise Mascot Agency
- Dark Queen of Mortholme
- Dispatch
- Power Wash Simulator 2
- Silent Hill F
- KINGDOMS OF THE DUMP
- STRANGE JIGSAWS
- PIPISTRELLO AND THE CURSED YOYO
- ROSEWATER
- BLUE PRINCE
- STRANGE ANTIQUITIES
- THE DRIFTER
- CITIZEN SLEEPER II: STARWARD VECTOR
- DUCK DETECTIVE 2: THE GHOST OF GLAMPING
- ABSOLUM
- HOLLOW KNIGHT: SILKSONG
- ÖOO
- NO, I’M NOT A HUMAN
- OLD SKIES
- CLAIR OBSCUR: EXPEDITION 33
- LOOK OUTSIDE
Other Games Mentioned:
- Scratches
- Snowrunner
- Citizen Sleeper
- Frog Detective
- Small Saga
- Paradise Killer
- Styx: Blades of Greed
- The Darkside Detective: Backside of the Moon
- Perfect Tides: Station to Station
- Esoteric Ebb
Email us! mattandroses@gmail.com
Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/fPv7hRgTeV
Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/saveyourgamepodcast
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Transcript
Comparing 'The Adventures of Briscoe County Junior' and 'Firefly'
00:00:00
Speaker
So who here has seen The Adventures of Briscoe County Junior? it It will be on the test. I have not studied for this test. No. I am about to fail because I have not heard of it.
00:00:13
Speaker
I have heard of it, but i never seen it. Okay. So Bruce Campbell, he's a cowboy. Yeah. That's your hook.
00:00:24
Speaker
That's already, already, already, probably you just won everybody over. i'm in. ah But like, is it a comedy? ti that There is humor to it. It's it's a very, it's it's a bit silly.
00:00:37
Speaker
You know, it's bit, it's 90s kind of humor. But it's very it's a very neat kind of like um steampunk setting. So you got this this kind of Western thing.
00:00:49
Speaker
setting with with a little bit of steampunk in there. It's like kind of Wild Wild West. But if if it was like a TV show in the with starring Bruce Campbell and less giant robot spiders.
00:01:05
Speaker
So the thing about Briscoe County Junior, I'm like looking at it now, it feels like the inverse equation of that show Firefly.
00:01:17
Speaker
haven't seen that either. I'm so undercultured. That was like a it's like a so like a futuristic space show that was also kind of a Western. And yeah the the main guy was, um what's that guy's name?
00:01:33
Speaker
You know, yeah, hi that guy you the guy from the thing. the guy i know na Nathan Philly, Nathan Philly from Slyther, the most guy guy there is Nathan Philly.
00:01:45
Speaker
Yeah, he sure is a guy. He was most recently in that um that new Superman movie with um yeah directed by James Gunn, who also directed Slither, which is an amazing movie that not enough people have seen. It's it's classic. It's brilliant. Underrated. Trust me.
00:02:04
Speaker
it It feels a little like Nathan Fillion exists in the ah in the tradition of a guy like Bruce Campbell. eat yeah possibly a little more serious but not that much more serious possibly a better actor but yeah and that's that's not to knock Bruce Campbell because you know Bruce Campbell is a very he is charisma he is charisma yeah he is an incredibly charismatic actor i love him in pretty much anything he's been in and he's very rarely in anything where he isn't just playing himself that kind of that kind of bravado and he's he's great at it love him yeah yeah yeah i love him i am most attracted to him in the evil dead movies i don't know what that says about me something strange
00:02:59
Speaker
That's going to be dangerous. making love to Making love to Bruce Campbell in the Evil Dead movies. The man has an implement for chopping down trees as an arm.
00:03:11
Speaker
I'm into it. It's like a thrill ride.
Introduction to 'Save Your Game' Podcast
00:03:37
Speaker
Everyone, welcome back to Save Your Game. I am one of your hosts, Pushing Up Roses, with me, as always, and I do mean that in real life too, he's like always here, my co-host, Matt Aukamp. Hi, Matt!
00:03:51
Speaker
I just sit, I hang out under your, i sleep under your chair. It's really weird. sleep under your chair and you just, i eat the food that you drop. Which is a lot, because as we all know, i I spill my coffee. I'm so sorry about that, by the way. The way the worst, but well, no, it's okay. Once you get your like eighth, third degree burn, you stop feeling them. But the thing about it. only drink iced coffees.
00:04:15
Speaker
The thing about it is i still work in Pennsylvania. so like I have to get out from under the chair, drive all the way, commute to Pennsylvania, then come back and then go back to bed under your chair.
00:04:29
Speaker
yeah Sorry about that, Matt, but I do appreciate your dedication to the podcast. yeah And this is a very special episode because we have a special guest, gaming expert, gaming reviewer, gaming enthusiast, new new time twitcher and
Casey Explosion: Gaming Expertise and Influence
00:04:49
Speaker
YouTuber. Really? like did somebody Is somebody else on coming on here? No, it's you, Casey. oh It's Casey Explosion. I'm not all assed.
00:04:58
Speaker
Just introduce me as cringe. No, no, You have understand. I look at you as like a gaming expert. like I really do. i I am not very good at And maybe people would argue that, but like I look to you for gaming opinions.
00:05:15
Speaker
And then I use those opinions in my thoughts for reviews. I have never followed a recommendation of yours, Casey, that i've i saw that I've seen on the internet and not been like, this game fucking rules. yeah Like every single time you you knock it out of the park.
00:05:34
Speaker
Thank you. i try I try my best. It's it's it's a... um It's a very careful ploy to fool people into a false sense of security. Ooh, okay.
00:05:48
Speaker
And then,
00:05:51
Speaker
when they least expect us, I'll recommend them a bad game. Oh, my God. No!
00:06:02
Speaker
like Roses, hang up the car, hang up the car! No, we're committed to it now. They're inside the podcast!
Revival of Point-and-Click Adventures
00:06:10
Speaker
All do is recommend bad shit to people, so it on a bad shit. No, you don't. No, you don't. You were a large part of how I kind of got into point-and-click adventures...
00:06:26
Speaker
as as ah as an adult because like I played a few when I was a kid. Yeah. Not really, wasn't really my jam, wasn't really my thing. um and I kind of kind of like had some bad experiences where I kind of dismissed the genre and I'd been watching your show for quite some time and I thought like you you're the way you were enthusiastic about those games kind of made me want to try some and it came around when Unavowed came out yes Yeah, I like the look of it. I thought I'd i'd give it a give it a try. And there was another game the same time where I had picked up a copy because I knew some people who worked on the game. It's called The Dark Side Detective.
00:07:16
Speaker
Oh, lovely. So yeah those those games at the same time. So i i had picked up Dark Side Detective to kind of support some folks that I knew who were working on that. And then i thought, OK, if I can get into Dark Side Detective and finish that, then I can then i can buy Unavowed and play that. Nice. So I'd made myself a little bargain there.
00:07:42
Speaker
So got into them and loved them because of that sort of episodic nature they had. that was all it was It was divided up into individual little cases.
Episodic Game Structures: Accessibility and Impact
00:07:56
Speaker
And I found that way more accessible for me personally than some of the bigger sprawling adventures that have that would have played earlier and didn't din't quite vibe with.
00:08:12
Speaker
I think that makes sense. I think there's a lot of point and clicks. I think that's one thing about starting a point and click is you know you're in for, you know you're in for a kind of a long time. You know you're in for a sort of long yeah ah long adventure without without sort of ah one of those loops that keep you hooked in other types of games.
00:08:37
Speaker
It's like sitting down for a nine hour movie or something. Yeah. So like I can could totally understand why playing a shorter, like a bunch of shorter.
00:08:48
Speaker
Like vignettes almost. Yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah Would be a better, like a good entry point. I think Wajidai very good at that too. They're very good at segmenting their game so that you're just not overwhelmed and bombarded. Because that's that's really, point and clicks used to be very overwhelming, no matter how rudimentary we think they look today. you know, look at the first King's Quest. You're just thrown into a world with no instruction.
00:09:16
Speaker
And that's it. you know You just kind of have to figure it out. Whereas I think today, you know things are a little more sectioned, very much more accessible. Nobody's putting in a soft block. I hope not. I hope no one's putting in a soft block in their game these days. I think this this there is probably an audience for that.
00:09:35
Speaker
It might be me. i might be the audience for Softlocks. I'm not sure. But yeah, Unavowed is a good one to start. Darkside Detective. I played that because I saw you recommend it, Casey. I think I bought that for you.
00:09:51
Speaker
I think you might have. And I was like, so i was so into it. I did a video review on it. Just really brilliant. I love those games. There's a new one coming out, too. Yeah, i was very excited. Because so I mentioned that I know some of the people who worked on that. I know the artist Paul, who who did all the pixel art and everything on there. So we're chatting to him at over the Christmas. I was very excited to hear that they'd they just announced us. And yeah, very happy to see that because they're they're The first two Dark Side Detective games, very fun.
00:10:24
Speaker
lot of dry humor. A lot of my my kind of humor. Very very putt punishing kind of, you know? and Sorry. p You never have to ah apologize for a pun here. You're in the right place.
00:10:41
Speaker
So... Roses, yeah why did we get such a ah cool and knowledgeable guest for this episode? What are we doing
Top Games of 2025: A Difficult Selection
00:10:51
Speaker
today? Because this episode is our Game of the Years episode. Games games of the Year episode. Yay! Yay, we did it! Look, it took a minute, but we got there.
00:11:07
Speaker
It's 2026, y'all. Happy New Year. There are a lot of games and we want to talk about them. Holy was 2025 chock full of games. Oh my gosh. Absurdly stacked.
00:11:19
Speaker
I've never experienced a year like ah like that that last year in the world of games. I know. i know. So imagine... Me thinking that again this year. like This year, it's one of those years where like it's so hard to come up with your list of like top 10 games or top five games or whatever. Even top 20 games. Top 25 of 25. I could easily do it.
00:11:48
Speaker
Do it. Easily, though. Easily, though. like ah you Oh, easily. um I'm narrowing it down to 12. So I have in front of me a list of 25 games and like trying to narrow that down into 10 has been nearly impossible. Like so some of these games are so, there's just been so, so many innovative, brilliant games this year. And I didn't even get to play all of them. Like I, I, I didn't get to play hundred, the hundred line last defense academy. i didn't get to play ah some other stuff.
00:12:22
Speaker
so Very good, Matt. Thank you Thank you. I didn't get to play like... um It's okay. It's okay. I didn't get to play some other stuff either. i didn't get to play... i didn't really get to spend any time with Q-Up. I didn't get to play... ah i didn't get to play Foolish Mortals yet. I feel pretty bad about that one, actually.
00:12:42
Speaker
there's it's just It's just so much. So what we are going to do... Casey, I believe you and me, we have... extensive extensive lists in front of us it's it's a loss and i have tried to i have tried as best that i can to tri to trim some of this down and it's um like some it's like it is it is a massive list and i've just been trying to like just just narrow it down a little bit further than than i had and no
00:13:14
Speaker
Nope. No. So here's here's my thought. we We don't really have a structure for our Game of the Year episodes. So we're just kind of making it up on the fly. So here's what I say. So, Rose, you have, if I'm right, a top six, correct? I do. And and I want to say this. I do want to say something to my defense here.
00:13:34
Speaker
i No one's asking you. No one's asked for this, but it's happening. No, okay, yeah. You're not on trial here. Exactly. yeah Or are you? Guilty. Oh. ah i have Bring out the jury.
00:13:48
Speaker
oh my gosh. You stand before this court accused of heresy and witchcraft. How do you plead? Oh, well, I'm guilty of that. That she's that he's guilty of. But not playing enough games is that... is a dick i have I have played more than 10 games this year for sure. But i i find that I get extremely passionate about certain games, like extreme to an extreme, to extreme degrees, I obsess. So I have narrowed down my list to kind of almost a top five with an honorable mention. Okay. Because these are the games that...
00:14:26
Speaker
I just couldn't. In fact, I played them more than even playing a new game. Like I truly, truly was into them, truly obsessed over them more than the other games that I play. And and I could do a top 10, but I really want to speak passionately about the ones that I chose. Yeah.
00:14:44
Speaker
So what I think we should do is Casey, me and you, why don't we just start we'll just as as rapid fire as we can i say that because i don't know how good we're gonna be at being quick but as rapid fire as we can let's try and throw out uh some of our like honorable mentions and then as we start to run out of those then we'll start our top tens okay and
00:15:14
Speaker
Then, as we get to number six, that's when roses will start listing hers. Okay. Does this all sound like a good idea to you guys? Yeah, I'm down.
00:15:25
Speaker
Okay, cool. I'm up first. Casey, do you want to start? What's one of your honorable
Atmospheric Games: 'Asylum' and Myst-like Experiences
00:15:30
Speaker
mentions? Asylum. Asylum. Asylum. Have you heard of this game at all? Is that the Scratches developer? Yes. It's the same developer as Scratches. Yes. Oh my gosh. Really, really, really cool game.
00:15:44
Speaker
So if you've not heard of Scratches, which, you know, a lot of people might not have heard of, that's fine. um It is a first person point and click adventure.
00:15:57
Speaker
and Asylum is like this this long-awaited spiritual successor from from the same developer you know how this the same type of game and it is kind of Myst like I suppose yeah I think that's a that's a good comparison I never played Myst back in the day so I don't know Hey Casey, Casey I beat Myst No you didn't I did it she didn't i consider Scratch as probably the scariest game I've ever played Very scary, yeah It is pretty scary It's atmospheric more than anything else I think It has a very specific kind of vibe to it that I just i'd love Oh, it's good
00:16:45
Speaker
I mean, I loved Scratches, and I worked with the the developer. Augustine is the main developer, I believe. And I did some voice work for him on a game. It's a free game called Serena. And if you want a kind of a taste of the the developer, Serena is short. It's free. And if you like that, you might like Scratches and Asylum.
00:17:06
Speaker
Let's see. My first honorable mention, I think I'm just going to go with By Sweet Carol. okay It's a good one. We have, we talked about it on the show a little bit before. It is this beautifully animated ah game the The gameplay itself is kind of like but just a side-scrolly puzzle platformer. Yeah. A little like maybe a slightly more rudimentary version of say Little Nightmares or something like that.
00:17:34
Speaker
yeah but i want I know the game. I wanted to pick it up and I wanted to play it, but I just couldn't. There were too many games coming out at the same time that I just yeah unfortunately did not...
00:17:47
Speaker
the the developer's little sewing machine um i think it's this is their first game i believe and it is it looks like at at points it looks like a don bluth movie at other points it looks like a disney movie it is it it is just beautifully beautifully animated feels like you're playing one of those classic vhs's from your childhood um It's very fairy tale. It's got some kind of earnest kind of studio Ghibli moments going on. It's a feat, honestly. In yeah in artistic merit, it is a feat. It looks absolutely gorgeous. It didn't crack my top 10 just because, you know, the story's a little bit muddy and the the gameplay is not stellar. But man, I couldn't not mention it with that that fucking extraordinary animation. Fair. Fair.
00:18:39
Speaker
um Casey. Easy Delivery Company. Easy. it's It's gorgeous. It is a very, very neat little game. Okay. It's sort of, if if you've ever played SnowRunner, this is a game that I've played a lot of. It's just an off-road trucking simulator. Okay. Easy Delivery Company.
00:18:59
Speaker
Feels a little like PS1 demake of that, but with a little Animal Crossing kind of thing going on there as well. It is immaculate vibes. So you're a little, you're a little, are you a cat? I think you're a cat. Yeah, I'm looking at the, I'm looking at the little trailer and I'm like gushing internally here.
00:19:19
Speaker
and the One of the interesting things about this game is I remember hearing that the developer had a lot of misconceptions about the game because it has that kind of very PlayStation 1 vibe to it.
00:19:33
Speaker
The people assumed it was a horror game. when it wasn't because because you know low poly low draw distance with the with the kind of like the fog and the snow and it it has a certain vibe to us and that's understandable everything's a little i mean it's in a snow i see like there's snowstorm happening as well so yeah it does give that vibe but also i will say though it does look very cute it looks very cute yeah yeah it is very good it is the music is just oh it's gorgeous like i said immaculate vibes
00:20:15
Speaker
My next one, this is a game that I played at Adventure X, and then I immediately bought it. It's kind of like, it's it's a Citizen Sleeper-like. If you've ever played the game Citizen Sleeper, it is like, it's taking very, very direct and clear inspiration from it. It's called Dusk Punk. I've talked about it on the show earlier.
00:20:35
Speaker
I guess ah on a kind of a recent episode and it's another, it's a sort of a game about the horrors of capitalism and ah the way that you do the way that you do. Yep.
00:20:47
Speaker
The way that community helps overcome that, right? Like, capitalism's biggest ally is isolation. And its strongest enemy is alliance. And this is a game, again, very much like Citizen Sleeper. You're rolling dice and...
00:21:07
Speaker
putting those dice rolls towards actions that you want to perform. You can perform a certain amount of actions per day, and then they will generally contribute to some sort of status wheel that when it fills up, some some new event happens. And it's really good. I mean, it's just it's just really well... it Kind of... the My only criticisms of it are it's a little humorless, a little a little short, but...
00:21:34
Speaker
but Beyond that, the writing is fantastic, and it's just a really, really good game. It's called Dusk Punk. love the eyeball in this. I have an honorable mention. Can I insert it? Okay. 100%. I definitely, because Casey was talking about kind of the low-res horror but still cute look, I just wanted to mention Karimara.
00:21:55
Speaker
Oh, God, yes. Yeah, it's so It's spooky cute. It's like it was made for me. This is the kind of thing i live for. I love spooky cute. It's very beautiful. Yes. And actually, the design, there's a design of an owl character in this game that truly inspired some of my recent ceramics and some of my recent art. So...
00:22:22
Speaker
that's ah That's a big deal to me and i and well done to the devs and the artists. It's really beautiful. It's a beautiful little game. It's very short. So if you're short on time, but you want to have a nice little experience, this is the game for you.
00:22:35
Speaker
I will second that honorable mention because that is that is a wonderful game. I love how it how it works. It's little systems. It's like you play as a little ah little goblin guy who's summoned by this witch to see what's haunting her basement.
00:22:55
Speaker
her her cellar yeah and it's oh it's wonderful it's really wonderful but yeah um you collect cards and yeah like you get these cards from conversations or from objects in the game world and you you can you can form questions with this and find out more it's like it's not it's not like a deck builder or anything like that so don't don't don't misconstrue what the the neat thing it does is is it has you like the little the little cards that you collect you're you're you're you use them on some someone to to find out to ask a question about thing you get another card and it's
00:23:39
Speaker
Brilliant. It's real genius. The whole game is structured around you having to answer basically one small series of questions. Yes. You get to the basement, you find what's quote-unquote haunting this basement, and this entity has like three questions for you, and you have to try to answer it using your cards, and you probably won't have the answer for a while. You have to like...
00:24:03
Speaker
dig through the atmosphere of the game to try and figure it out. And it's it's just it's really smartly done. It's about examining your prior assumptions, even about the game, right? The game comes off as scary as hell. And then as you play it, you're like, oh, I'm not scared.
00:24:22
Speaker
I'm actually like just charmed. Yeah, charmed, yeah. The game that i would wreck that I would compare it to is like the the Frog Detective games. oh detective yeah yeah those are wonderful those are so wonderful and for something to to remind me of of the frog detective is it it is ah it's a massive compliment nice All right, Casey, what's your next honorable mention? Oh, I'll do a lightning round. Okay, okay, please. Demon School, kind of turn-based RPG, um phenomenal soundtrack to it. It's only an honorable honorable mention because I haven't played enough of it to give it a solid recommendation yet because there have been so many... Amazing games popping out left, right and center.
00:25:16
Speaker
The Seance of Blake Manor, which I'm sure is going to be one of your picks or honorable mention later. I don't know. We'll find out. oh Yeah. Amazing game, which...
00:25:30
Speaker
from the same developers as dark side detective games yes it is genius i think i screwed up really really badly with us yeah i think i i think i fudged a my playthrough i'm not sure we'll have to talk about it yeah i haven't gotten that far into it either because okay it's just been a huge i whirlwind of games um I think that game is actually, i i kind of think that game is fuck up proof. I think okay there is a way you could possibly mess up your playthrough, you would have to make some pretty big mistakes towards the end. Would you say that's true, Roses? Like it's it's pretty foolproof. Like they put a lot of controls in to make sure you don't, you have every opportunity to solve everything. Yeah, I think it is pretty foolproof. However, kind of very similarly to the Loribo games, you can miss stuff. And if you do miss stuff, that can kind of dampen the experience. one more One more lightning round one. Okay. Guns of Fury, which is a very generic sounding name. I think i think the i think the name of this game does it no favors whatsoever. No, I imagine not. It's an absolutely genius little game where it is sort of like that sort of contra metal slug run and gun kind of a game. It's taking that sort of a vibe, but it's a Metroidvania.
00:27:11
Speaker
Oh, okay. Yeah. Matt, I think you would really enjoy this game. Add to wishlist. Brilliant. Seriously brilliant. There's been great Metroidvanias this past year. my God. get that We'll get to talking about them. I'm sure. Yes. But um this one, I just really want to mention because like, it is a game that I don't think a lot of people have heard of and it's brilliant. It's, it's, it's, it's genius. Like,
00:27:34
Speaker
You know, a lot of a lot of like Metroidvanias seem to be very hack and slash these days. And it's interesting to find one that is there's more like ranged based combat rather than. so there we go. that's There's some looking around ones. i'll do my ah I'll do my lightning round ones, and then we'll get into our then we'll start with our number tens. Okay, my lightning round ones.
Unique Game Recommendations and Highlights
00:28:00
Speaker
Quickly, ah Cabernet was a yeah a game that I was really, really looking forward to. i played the demo in 2024, and we were really, really looking forward to It came out in February by Akupara Games. Akupara. Akupara.
00:28:16
Speaker
Yeah, they did. They published Cryptmaster, which was my game of the year for last year. Oh, nice. Oh, right. That's just the pub. Yeah, that's the publisher. Yeah. so the that's right. The developers party for introverts. um Good publisher and good developer. It's like a a very kind of like low key RPG where you play a woman who start you start the game dead.
00:28:40
Speaker
And then you wake up in a room and you are adjusting to life as a vampire. And it's um about, you know, it's a it's a a game about the choices that you make as you adjust to this new life. And we were very slightly down on it when it came out because it was very buggy. But over time, they've done a ton of updates. and And so now I think would be, If you've never played Cabernet, now is the best time to play it.
00:29:11
Speaker
Now that it's all patched up, it's just an incredibly charming game with a really sweet story. yeah. I enjoyed it. That is a game where I messed up my playthrough because this one where you can.
00:29:23
Speaker
Listen, you can turn into a bat in this game. We've talked about Cabernet before. So this is not a spoiler. This is a mechanic. And me, i used the bat mechanic just to kind of like speed around. Did you know that you could fly high up in that game and find things on buildings?
00:29:42
Speaker
That's a hint for anybody who's going to play Cabernet. Don't be like me. Fly up into the air. Look at the buildings. Okay. Next, I have Promise Mascot Agency. Yes. Oh, yes. Which was awesome.
00:29:58
Speaker
Okay. It's a lot more charming. it was For me, it was a lot more charming than it was fun. um It's a really cool story. you play You play a character named The Janitor, who, in trying to save his friend's life, ends up fucking up a drug deal for the Japanese gang that he's a part of, and so he's exiled to this town...
00:30:22
Speaker
where all yakuza are cursed to to die like if you if you are yakuza you enter this town you will die within a certain amount of time and so if you were sent there to run a agency that distributes mascots to various events um and it it's a there's like you basically play as a car the janitor never gets out of his car on the map so you're just driving this truck around and the truck gets various upgrades so it becomes more and more ridiculous you end up like you're flying around the map shooting a mascot off the back of it as like a projectile and like it's it's a wild game
00:31:11
Speaker
um And I haven't even got to the wildest part. I haven't even got to the wildest part. The mascots are actual living creatures called mascots. It is a world in which mascots are a race of creature.
00:31:28
Speaker
ah So yeah, you just, half of this game is running around the map and unlocking things and finding collectibles and whatnot. The other half of this game is running this business. And ah This story about the Japanese underworld and about the way that myths and legends grow happens As you're doing this insane stuff, I'm not doing it justice. It is a wild, wild game.
00:32:01
Speaker
i would say, gameplay-wise, I got a little tired of it towards the end. There's a point at which you just need to get a whole, whole lot of money. And so if you've done all your upgrades and you have... ah um you know, promoted all your mascots to their highest levels and everything like that, then at some point you're just sitting there running a business for maybe hours waiting to get the amount of money you need to finish the game. And that's what happened to me.
00:32:32
Speaker
I will second the recommendation this game. It's fantastic. Very, very cool. But I will, what I will say about it is it makes a great double, double feature with easy delivery company. Cause you both games, you're driving the little K truck.
00:32:48
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I was going to say there's some parallels there. Um, I haven't played either, but now I have them both wishlisted. I would recommend Easy Delivery Company first, simply yeah because it is it is a shorter shorter experience.
00:33:07
Speaker
And if you're into that, that might be a good place to start. And then if you're if you're into the whole driving around a little K truck from a mascot agency, then it's incredible.
00:33:20
Speaker
I played Promise Mascot Agency for, yeah, about 25 hours. Wow. I had like 45 of the 50, or 49 of the 50 achievements. So like, I got really into it. but i So I think if you're just kind of into it, you're going to still spend about 20 hours in this game.
00:33:35
Speaker
Sure. Yeah. um All right. Two more. ah Dark Queen of Mortholm. is a very short but very brilliant game where you play. It is it is one room. It's pixel art game, a very, very pretty pixel art game. It is one room, and you play as basically a Dark Souls boss called the Dark Queen of Morkholm. And a little guy ah runs in and challenges you to a fight, and you just...
00:34:04
Speaker
mop the floor with them just instantly one hit they're dead and then you go you sit back on your throne as this as this like blood is sitting on your floor oh no you snap your fingers and the body disappears and the blood slowly fading away as you walk back to your throne and then little guy runs in again it's the same little guy And they're back. They've leveled up a bit and they're ready to challenge you again. And you just keep this, this little character just keeps coming back in and fighting you over and over and over again.
00:34:39
Speaker
and a story develops where it, story is about how we, how we spend our time. What is achievement? What, what is a goal and what does it mean to achieve a goal? And they're,
00:34:54
Speaker
there's this shift that happens where clearly you are, yeah the Dark Queen of Mortholm is the the ah high status character.
00:35:05
Speaker
And it's pathetic that this little character keeps coming, running in, getting killed. And then over time, it starts to shift. Like this character's learning and growing and becoming better and better. And you're just sitting there in a room on a throne, just killing the same guy over and over. I...
00:35:22
Speaker
wanted to check this game out and I'd forgotten what it was called. So thank you for that. It's kind of, if I have to really incredible make a minor criticism, I do think that name is hard to remember.
00:35:36
Speaker
I remember the game. I remember the, ah the graphic style is very beautiful. It's so beautiful, honestly. And I can never remember what it's called, Matt. Never. I can never remember Mortolm, Mortolm, Mortolm. I don't know why. don't remember that. I don't know why I can remember it. it's yeah you're right. like You're both right. But for some reason, i i have it. It's stuck in my memory immediately. Dark Queen of Mortholm. But I also play... It also is like... ah It's like 20 minutes, half hour long. It's a very short game. and There are a couple different endings, so you can play it two or three times. But and just to just to warn you, it's about a half hour at most. My last...
00:36:20
Speaker
honorable mention is the root trees are dead it is a it's a game in which there's there's a family the the root trees they own a candy corporation and they're mega rich and the they all die in a plane crash And so now you have to kind of dig into and ah research their family tree. You have to fill in all the pieces on their family tree. And much like um the Return of the Obra Dinn, once you have ah three people entirely correct their names, their pictures, and I think their occupation or something like that, you need to have three people entirely correct in order for...
00:37:04
Speaker
it to tell you that you're right so you can't just randomly guess um and you're just in a room with some documents and this like contained little version of the internet and it is such an accurate depiction of what it's like to just research things obsessively and try to put together a a a story it's ah it's um it's If Case of the Golden Idol or Return of the Obra Dinn are kind of like detective simulators, Root Trees Are Dead is kind of like a journalism simulator.
00:37:43
Speaker
In that you're discovering all these secrets about these characters and following like a tiny little lead down a rabbit hole. And sometimes you hit dead ends and sometimes you uncover this incredible, incredible story. So the Root Trees Are Dead is very, very good.
00:37:58
Speaker
Nice. i I bought that game. I still haven't played it because this year is... It's been unbelievable. So those are those are our honorable un rollllable mentions. um Casey, do you want to start with getting into our top tens? No?
00:38:19
Speaker
Okay. I'm going to make one more honorable mention, which is Dispatch, which is... freaking brilliant and it may it may or may not be an honorable mention because I'm half finished with my script and I might shove it in there and wiggle something around to fit it in there because it is brilliant and it stars the kid from that corn video what?
00:38:47
Speaker
really? you mean Aaron Paul from Breaking Bad yeah ah What a great description. Casey, I have the exact same experience. I think I played it too late.
00:39:00
Speaker
if i Yeah, I got it for Christmas. And the reason the reason I didn't buy it on release is because it could be very unfortunately it came out the like either within a day or the same day as tormented souls 2 god help any game that is going up against tormented souls 2 for my attention even power wash sim 2 couldn't men couldn't manage it which also honorable mentioned power wash sim 2 love the game it's great didn't play enough of it yet i love that you mentioned dispatch i i
00:39:40
Speaker
That should have been an honorable mention. of mine It would have probably been on my top 10 if I played it a little earlier. Just for listeners, it is basically like playing a really good cartoon about superheroes. There is like one little simulator where you dispatch superheroes. That happens in each of the eight chapters where you're dispatching superheroes based on their skills to take care of certain um like crises around the city.
00:40:08
Speaker
But... The larger part of the game is we need to, so I feel like we need to get away from saying this thing that I'm about to say, but it's a Telltale style game. It's a... well it is from former Telltale devs as far as I know. So there there is that. It is yeah it is Telltale, kind that that lineage of yeah of genre.
00:40:30
Speaker
but And I love the Dispatching minigame because because of what it does to the structure. it is it it it makes you feel much more involved in this in in in the game's universe, in the story, in the unfolding events. You feel a lot more active within that yeah within that world than you did with...
00:40:58
Speaker
a lot of the other Telltale games, which don't get me wrong, were pretty great. I did greatly enjoy um Tales from the Borderlands and what I played of The Walking Dead. But here's something that I will, ah the biggest compliment that I could play, that I could give Dispatch was that it did for superheroes for me what Train to Busan did for zombies.
00:41:25
Speaker
I was... I thought I was so exhausted with superheroes in general. Yeah. And then this came out. was, oh, oh, there is, there is life in that. Yes.
00:41:40
Speaker
Yeah. That's actually a great compliment because it's so, it's such an oversaturated market now. It's, it's funny without relying on that Marvel movie sense of humor. Yeah. Like it is very funny. There's snappy writing. and I loved us. it's it's It's so good. And it's one of those games where failing a thing is as funny, is as, as it's, failing a thing is so funny you don't care. Like when you fail something, you're like that rolled. And the characters are so great. It's a found family story, man. Yeah, it's it's brilliant. It's, I can't recommend it
Humor and Art in 'Kingdoms of the Dump'
00:42:19
Speaker
highly enough. All right, now Casey. ru You want to give us your number 10?
00:42:24
Speaker
Oh, um... So here we go. We're starting our top tens. Okay.
00:42:31
Speaker
I'm going to give it to Kingdoms of the Dump. Ooh, okay. So this is a game you play as... like like it It is set in a fairy tale dump. therere There are different kingdoms. You play as a little as a little trash knight called Dustin Binsley. That's the kind of humor that permeates the entire game. Every single thing is a pun. It tickles my funny bone in a way that...
00:43:01
Speaker
I just get a lot of joy out of that. I do enjoy that sort of humor. you You may not. And you can go to hell. I don't care. Yeah. And they're wrong because I like you got me just by saying fairy tale dump. I'm like, really? i'm into that. And I do want to play as a little trash can. And it's like, yeah, one one one of the playable one of one of like the companion characters is is ah she's a rat. Yeah.
00:43:30
Speaker
She's great. It's a little pixel art RPG. You sort of build a... You find a little team, right? Yeah. It's very Final Fantasy. Yeah. Yeah, that kind of JRPG kind of thing going on It reminds me a bit of Small Saga, which was another kind of like old school kind of RPG, but you're playing as mice. If you've not heard...
00:43:59
Speaker
bought this game i don't know small saga yeah play small saga i just bought kingdom okay all right all right need to play this game small saga it's brilliant and like some of some of the pixel art is exquisite it's some of the best pixel art you will see all year except for something else that i'm going to save later there's a very fantastic artist that worked on kingdoms of the dump awesome i will say no more about that It's amazing. Okay. Kingdoms of the Dump. All right. My number 10 is Strange Jigsaws.
00:44:36
Speaker
Oh, nice. Ooh. What a... I've heard of this. It is such a smart little game. it is... It opens up as just... there's ah There's some weird things that kind of look like jigsaw puzzles on the screen. And...
00:44:57
Speaker
Throughout the game, it just, it takes the concept, man, I don't want to say too much about it. Again, i did this, I've done this on the show about this game before, but I don't want to say too much.
00:45:08
Speaker
It is taking the concept of the jigsaw puzzle and sort of expanding on it in about every way you could.
00:45:19
Speaker
And it it also using it to make jokes, to make existential points, to make commentary about game design, and to just be absurd. Like, they the developer, Fleb, um just goes nuts with the concept, and it ends in a place that I don't think you could possibly imagine coming.
00:45:46
Speaker
Yeah. And i I think that's all I can say about it because you you definitely want to play it to experience what what it has to show you. um Me telling you it is not going to do it justice.
00:46:00
Speaker
Right. Number nine. Okay, number nine. So I'm going drop Silent Hill F from the conversation because that is a fantastic game. I could talk that, but if I'm just doing 10, I'm going to
00:46:18
Speaker
I think a lot of people have heard about Silent Hill F. It is a very, very good game. It is ah it it is game that i that I really, really liked and was very cynical about because of Konami's track record. And they started the revival of Silent Hill with this weird web show that had weird microtransactions and memes and things. And you had, that's where that it's trauma sticker came from. So i I came, came to this thinking my, my opinion of silent hill going forward at that point was sometimes dead is better.
00:47:03
Speaker
no That is how, that is where my estimation of Konami's ability to do justice to a silent hill going forward was. I could not have been happier to eat crow when I played Silent Hill F. Oh, okay. I was so wrong.
00:47:21
Speaker
Very happy about it. But I want to... So that's an extra honorable mention. That's not your number nine. So number nine... ah Sorry. that's do yeah I'm so sorry. Because like my my list is top 12. I'm having to reach it rejiggle some of this. Oh, right, right, right, right. right Number nine, Pip Estrello and the Cursed Yo-Yo. Oh, yeah. Have you seen this? Yes. It's magnificent. and It is. i was glued to this game. It is. it is what the developers call a yo-yo-vania.
00:47:59
Speaker
Because you're you're the main character. Every interaction is with the yo-yo. Like you do you do you do everything with the yo-yo. Your movement abilities are new yo-yo tricks that you learn. your Your like key abilities that will unlock doors is tricks you do with the yo-yo. It is, it commits to the bit on this. Like everything is...
00:48:25
Speaker
Yo-yo. Why do I love that so much though? I just love that the yo-yo is such a yeah strong mechanic here. It's fantastic. The pixel art is sublime. It is fantastic.
00:48:39
Speaker
And the one of the neat things that you can do with the game is... as As it starts up, it has this kind of like little intro where there is like this virtual console.
00:48:53
Speaker
What you can do is you can go into the options and you can like zoom out so that you that you actually play the game on the virtual console, that the little handheld.
00:49:07
Speaker
It is such a silly little touch, but I love it. Yeah, yeah. you Are you playing a bat? are you Yes. You're a little bat and your and you ah the ghost of your aunt or the spirit of your, the soul of your aunt is in the yo-yo.
00:49:23
Speaker
Here's something about me to all the devs listening. If you make a game about a cute bat, I will play it and I will probably like it. Do play this if you have not. It's it's brilliant. There is a demo on Steam.
00:49:38
Speaker
it's it's it's It's a very good demo. You don't get far enough into it to get some of those movement abilities that make that make the game... It's a really good Metroidvania in that like some of the movement abilities and unlocks that you get make traversal such a joy.
00:49:59
Speaker
Like you can move around very fast once once you get into it.
00:50:05
Speaker
Great demo, but you know, if if you stick with it, it gets so much better and love it. Absolutely. Can't recommend it highly enough. I need to spend more time in that game. I really enjoyed what I played of it, but it for whatever reason, it didn't like it didn't hook me.
00:50:22
Speaker
I think if i put another you know couple hours into the game, I think it will, though. Okay. I think you should. But that's just me.
00:50:35
Speaker
All right. um My number nine is a a little point-and-click adventure game called Rosewater. Oh, that's, you know, I'm surprised, Matt. That's actually ah higher on the list. neith there Higher? Lower?
00:50:51
Speaker
Depending on perspective? you know yeah no i'm um i'm surprised I thought it would be closer on a top five, I guess. That was going to be one of my honorable mentions as well, Rosewater. Yeah.
00:51:06
Speaker
I highly recommend that one as well. What I love about Rosewater, so it is it it is a point and click adventure game um in you know in the classic style.
00:51:17
Speaker
But what I really love about Rosewater is the way in which the, it's it's like a Western, it's like a steampunk Western.
00:51:28
Speaker
Hey, it's a Frisbee County Junior-like. Hey, wait a minute. So what I really like about Rosewater is that there's a you play this like tough as nails reporter lady named Harley Legere and you kind of,
00:51:51
Speaker
reluctantly end up with this crew of misfits traveling all the way across the the frontier West um in search of this story.
00:52:04
Speaker
And you it it really does feel like, by the end, these people really do feel like family. The supporting characters become so...
00:52:17
Speaker
um familiar and their connections to one another and the the stories that you learn about them are so touching and so well thought out, well written that you just grow such a deep connection to the characters in this game and it's really great. I really loved it. And there's a dog.
00:52:40
Speaker
There is a dog. There's a dog. yeah Made by Grundoslav Games, friend of the show, Francisco Gonzalez. Same game director as a developer as um Lamplight City.
00:52:52
Speaker
Yep. Which takes place in the same universe. Shared like that. Yeah. And that was another game that I really, it's like one of the, one of the first point and clicks that I, that I really got into.
00:53:06
Speaker
was lamplight city yeah yeah really good stuff i mean this is what francisco kind of excels at is these um alternate history period pieces yeah also so also something i really loved about that game um not just some great voice acting it had some really really lovely rotoscoped animation yeah that i just i just love it's so charming Yeah, it's very smooth looking. It's really beautiful.
00:53:39
Speaker
um we I should admit,
00:53:44
Speaker
if you, I, you can not hear my voice in this game, but it is in there. I am part of i am part of a crowd. I'm part of a big crowd that says, amen. Good job, Matt. One of those people is me. Wonderful. that is speak Speaking of one of, one of the things that are that I really loved about that game was was how it felt like our boat going on a road trip.
00:54:12
Speaker
yeah Yes. very you're You're there with you with your with your friends and you kind of this this kind of fan family thing again going on. And like you're you're going on this grand adventure.
00:54:25
Speaker
And it really feels like, oh we're we're going we're going on a freaking huge road trip here. like Yeah. And it's... it I don't know if I can think of any other game that felt quite like that.
00:54:43
Speaker
Right. You start to, it has there's a, I got a little bit of that fatigue that you get sometimes with point and clicks where the world opens up and it's like, you feel you're about to go on this adventure. And I was like, all right, we got a big thing ahead of us. And like, I kept thinking like, okay, I got to make some time to play this because it's going to be, it's going to be a lot.
00:55:04
Speaker
But the game is broken down into these vignettes. Just like you're talking about, Casey, like a road trip. Like yeah you take stops along the way. And keeps the game from feeling overwhelming, but also, yeah, really hits that road trip kind of vibe where you're stopping at a place and exploring us exploring around a little bit and like learning a little something and get right back in your little vehicle and keep going. You're just having adventures. There was this one one particular adventure where I was certain...
00:55:40
Speaker
It's cannibals. but Yes! Oh my god, yes! It wasn't, but I was sure this was going to be, ho, ho cannibals.
00:55:51
Speaker
i They're going to eat us. I thought the same thing, there's a time you stop at somebody's house. And I thought, like, you're you're trying to get in from the rain. So you stop at somebody's house. And I was like, all right, favorite one but this guy's going to murder me.
00:56:06
Speaker
This guy's going to kill me. um All right. That's our number nine. Holy shit. We got to go. All right. Number. What's your number eight, Casey?
00:56:19
Speaker
Blueprints. Nice. Wait, I just got that. but yeah yeah Oh, I love it when people get it. This funny. Yeah, I've seen this happen. Sorry, that's just a long-running thing with me. I said my New Year's resolution was going to be not getting that that's a... Yeah, I'm being very silly. Ignore me. So this is down at... Okay, all right. Yeah, go ahead.
00:56:52
Speaker
I love the game. In the interest of expediency, i will say nothing more about it. Just just play it. It's really good. it's It is as good as you as people say. It's casey what are absolutely captivating.
00:57:08
Speaker
What about the people like me who who are too afraid to play it because they think they're too stupid? That's my fear. I'm too afraid to into friends. been telling her this is not a, this fear will not come to roost if you play it. But okay, yeah, Casey, what would you say? would say play anyway.
00:57:28
Speaker
Yeah. just just Just do it. It's fine. it's It's fine. no Nobody is judging you but you. They are. they're not.
00:57:42
Speaker
And it is an infinite loop game. So you can play it. ah You can play the same day a billion, billion, billion times until you figure it out. Like, you'll be fine. I'll play it. You're not going to miss anything.
00:57:57
Speaker
It is very enjoyable. Would highly recommend us its it is It is that good. i wonder if we're going to talk about it anymore in this episode, huh? i do wonder.
00:58:10
Speaker
All right. ah My number eight is Strange Antiquities. Nice. is This is the sequel to Strange Horticulture. um It is a first-person kind of like um interface game. right you're You're looking at a counter.
00:58:31
Speaker
um And you have all sorts of little strange antiquities. He's such a thing. You have all these strange little um like amulets and statuettes and- Oddities. Oddities, yes. You have all these strange little oddities around and people come up to the counter and they ask for either something that you have and haven't quite identified yet.
00:58:57
Speaker
um Or they ask for something that has a certain effect and you flip through your little book and you look at the descriptions of various items and you look at the items you have and you try to put the two together. And so you're you're basically, it's a game about deducing what all these really cool little objects are. And at the same time, a story is evolving as the same people keep coming up to your counter day after day. and there's a cute little cat in it with bichromatic eyes. but I loved this game. I think it was a huge improvement on their previous game, Strange Horticulture. and
00:59:42
Speaker
man, if they just keep making yeah games in this series for 50 years, I'll keep playing them. Yeah. Number seven. You're almost in the game, Roses.
00:59:52
Speaker
The Drifter. The Drifter. What a game. So um first of all, I always prefer to, I always try to make disclosures whenever I get a game from a developer or publisher.
01:00:07
Speaker
So they did send me a copy an early copy of this. So, you know, cards on the table. I think we got, i did we? I think we got early copies of strange antiquities.
01:00:21
Speaker
And I don't know if we did. We did get copies of Rosewater though. Yeah, we did. Yes. So, okay. Thanks for reminding us. to give dispo so Oh, sorry. No, no, no, no thanks.
01:00:33
Speaker
Anyway, the drifter fricking amazing. It is, it is. oh it's, it's so good. It's a, it is a point and click adventure shock horror.
01:00:44
Speaker
um from Power Hoof who did Crawl and they're working on another game that looks really cool called Acid Knife. that Really look, they're doing some cool stuff basically. and Gorgeous pixel art but it has, it it is a point and click adventure that feels very fast paced. Yes! It is, it yeah.
01:01:10
Speaker
It feels like it is going breakneck speed and it's not because The gameplay itself is that fast. It has this magnificent narration. So this is this is a game that I would say gets my gets my nod for best voice acting this year.
01:01:32
Speaker
Like every everything that's happening is narrated by the the main character's voice actor. And he is... Oh, he's so good.
01:01:43
Speaker
He's so good. It gives us this really grungy, pulpy kind it kind of feel to us. It's got this very, very cool kind of sci-fi horror noir feel to us. it If you've ever seen like the the the John Carpenter movies like Starman or the old Stephen King movie um Firestarter,
01:02:11
Speaker
Oh yeah. It's got that kind of a vibe to us. Like, you know, they're, And there's this is the soundtrack. Oh my God. It is.
01:02:22
Speaker
I've heard a lot of people are kind of emulating that sort of John Carpenter vibe. Yeah. This, this nails it so well. Like it gets, it it's, it's that, that, that very grungy kind of synth. It reminded me slightly of Escape from New York in Places. The, the soundtrack that's so good. And and the voice acting, some great puzzles.
01:02:46
Speaker
Phenomenal game. I would love to be commenting on this along with you. Okay. But yeah I think I got to wait a second.
01:03:01
Speaker
Well, was anticlimactic. I think I'm going to have to wait. I think I'm going to have to wait until a little later in the episode. That's okay.
01:03:10
Speaker
But, yeah, Drifter's a great game. So, yeah, that's number there seven. Lucky number seven.
Narrative Depth in 'Citizen Sleeper 2'
01:03:17
Speaker
My number seven is going to be Citizen Sleeper 2, Starward Vector.
01:03:23
Speaker
Citizen Sleeper came up in this ah episode a little earlier when I was talking about Dusk Punk. Citizen Sleeper is like, it's this kind of immersive sim RPG where you're looking at a map.
01:03:39
Speaker
um You're not like controlling a character and walking around. You're just kind of looking at this like ah this map of a space station. you play a sleeper it's a world where you sort of there are these androids that are programmed to do work for you um they're not they're given like a It's like severance, kind of. Like, they're given your, I believe what it is, is they're given your personality. You, like, buy one, you give them your brain patterns, and you send them to work for you so you don't have to break your body down to earn money.
01:04:21
Speaker
And then at some point, they break, you wake up from your sleep, and you get... the wages that they earned anyway. So like much like citizen sleeper one, citizen sleeper two is you are a sleeper who is escaped.
01:04:39
Speaker
um and you have to try to survive on the space station um while your body, which is has this like ah pre-programmed mechanism that it's for it that it will break down without a certain like kind of medicine so that sleepers can't run away. You know you have to secure this medicine.
01:05:00
Speaker
You have to secure food. You have to secure lodging. You have to, by the skin of your teeth, survive in this space kind of harsh world, but much like Dusk Punk and much like Citizen Sleeper 1, there are people around that you start to learn. If you put your faith in people, they might let you down sometimes. They might even betray you sometimes.
01:05:24
Speaker
But it is always, this is the thing I love about these Citizen Sleeper games, it is always a better idea to put your faith in people than to not.
01:05:35
Speaker
Mm-hmm. And it's just such, again, just like Citizen Sleeper 1, it's just such a hopeful message. And there's some improvements in Citizen Sleeper 2. Like, there's some interesting things. Like, now you can go on missions, and you have to sort of save up enough supplies so that when you go on this mission and things start to go wrong, and everything starts to break on you and fall apart, you have enough supplies to survive. And if you don't, you're just going to fuck up the mission and then come back back to the space station and now you fucked up your mission you don't get paid you don't have any money and you wasted all your supplies it is again the horrors of capitalism while at the same time the bright light of humanity like at that's beautifully said at once so citizen sleeper 2 starward vector now roses
01:06:28
Speaker
Yes. You're in. It's number six. I did it. ah Yes. So luckily, like I there's going to be some overlap, obviously, of games we all talk about. But luckily, I'm starting mine with a game that's not overlapped yet. OK. So I'm happy to put Duck Detective, the ghost of glamping as my number six. I think everyone knows that I love these games. um I love them. I adore them for so many reasons. I like that they're short. I like, i do. i I appreciate that they're short. It's it's difficult. got Gotta love a short king.
01:07:07
Speaker
Yeah, I love a short King. um i i like that it's silly. ah It is a parody of a noir style type of of a storytelling. ah the The voice acting is over the top, cartoonish, comical, very adorable. like the mechanic. It's very similar to the Golden Idol games. It's, you know, deduction and keywords.
01:07:30
Speaker
I just really... I will play these games forever until they stop making them. either's There's something about them. Wait, deduction. I just got it. Got what? it's a dedu It's a deduction game. Oh, deduction. See, this is why like these games. There's a dedicated quack button.
01:07:56
Speaker
There's a dedicated quack button. You can make your your your little... I guess he's a, yeah, I guess he's a duck. He kind of looks like a goose at some points, but yeah, I will play these games forever until they stop making them. They make me happy. They may not be the most like grand game you'll play, but that's not how I curate my list. I curate my list based on what makes me the happiest and Duck Detective always makes me extremely happy. It's just a very enjoyable experience and I highly recommend it.
01:08:28
Speaker
Yeah, it's it the the Duck Detective games are so fun. This one didn't make my list, but I i did really love it. Any other year, this would have made my list. it is there's it's It's just such a sweet game. It's so sweet. It's funny.
01:08:44
Speaker
It's like relaxing to play. Yeah. I think that would have been right up my alley as well, but I just did not play it because of the sheer amount of everything that's been that's been coming out. Oh, please play it. It's just so... ah If you're ever in like a sad mood, just boot up this game. It's yeah going to cheer you up. oh i'll I'll consider it. I just, i have I have a backlog of games that I have bought and didn't play yet. Like um Old Skies and Skin Deep and Labyrinth of the Demon King and Routine and and and there's been a lot.
01:09:27
Speaker
The only one of those I've played is Old Skies and it's not on my list, but it is it was a it was ah ah a great game. Really, really good. Okay. Absalom. oh Oh, this is good. This is really good.
01:09:42
Speaker
It is side-scrolling beat-em-up, which kind of not really a genre that i play a lot of in general, but as a kid, I would have played Golden Axe a lot, and this is kind of like where where where it hooked me a bit. It's kind of like putting me in that kind of in that frame of mind, of playing playing Golden Axe. Mm-hmm.
01:10:07
Speaker
The thing that got that hooked me into this game was Mick Gordon did a did one of the boss themes for us. And i heard i heard this before I heard anything else about the game. and It was just like, holy, ho whoa, this is a this sounds incredible. I need to play this. So I picked it up. And
01:10:30
Speaker
this game you can play as a frog wizard. one one of the One of the unlockable char playable characters is a is a frog wizard. And i being me being me, i kind of I kind of love the dwarf character. He's great. He has a gun and can can shoot a lot.
01:10:52
Speaker
and i'm i'm And I really enjoy... you can get unlock a lot of like difference. It's sort of a roguelike, but, well, roguelite, if we're going to be... a pedantic about it which um i i i'm always afraid people are going to be pedantic about it so let's let's worry not about that um phenomenal art style absolutely gorgeous backgrounds and the the world itself is so incredibly detailed it's a great amount great animation and moment-to-moment gameplay the combat the
01:11:30
Speaker
It is a game that just has the juice. It is. You bite into this game and it is dripping with juice. It is juicy.
01:11:41
Speaker
It is going... It's like... Just the just the way like when you punch something and there's this that little that little frame of animation stop there that's just like... it's just it just It feels good to play. its It is...
01:12:00
Speaker
It is a joy. I've heard about this game and but people have been saying such good things about it. And like like you like you just said, I'm not a side-scrolling beat-em-up guy.
01:12:11
Speaker
But you might ah you might you might have sold me on it. I might need to play Absalom. Dude, it's really good. It is really, really good. And it's got that kind of like roguelite kind of thing to it. So you can you can lean into that a bit so and kind of tailor different builds as as you...
01:12:32
Speaker
as you go through different runs and unlock more stuff that you can find next runs. Really great game. my My number six is, and it is it's insane that this is, that this just speaks to this year. It's insane that this game is all the way down at number six, but it is Hollow Knight Silksong.
01:12:54
Speaker
nice. It is the, you know, I don't know how much I need to say about this game. Everybody knows about this game. It is the sequel to Hollow Knight. But the reason it, you know, the reason it's so high up is the game is just not only is it like you described Absalom, Casey, like it it just feels good to play. Almost every moment of this game feels good. But yeah the thing that really it just captures me about Hollow Knight Silksong is that it the the way that it tells its story and develops its world with, okay, this is a game where there is dialogue and the main character does speak, kind of unlike...
01:13:38
Speaker
Hollow Knight, but there was dialogue in the first Hollow Knight, but main character didn't speak. Anyway, um it tells its story through the villains you encounter, like the enemies you encounter, and the maps that you're running across. Like, you're fighting through this, like, fiery mechanical realm, and then you...
01:14:02
Speaker
find out that it is under, like, it is underneath the citadel, the big shining holy city, and this, uh, this little underworks realm beneath it is the, is where all the workers toil to make that city run. And even such small details as, like, when you kill one of the enemies in the underworks, they drop like less than half of the amount of ah this game's currency as any of the characters in the Citadel.
01:14:43
Speaker
Because... They're struggling to survive down here. Like everything you encounter in this game is placed there for a reason. And they, they like just really thought it all through. um And there's, it's just such ah a vibrant and well structured world that just tells such a, such an interesting story about, uh,
01:15:10
Speaker
about faith and i loved it i i really really dug hollow night silk song i'll say more on that later i love this yeah okay uh we are oh we're back around to roses you're number youre number five ah My number five is Strange Antiquities, which between are yeah which we already talked about a little bit. I loved Strange Horticulture. I came into it kind of late in the game, like years late.
01:15:43
Speaker
And I was so ah taken with that game. I was so, and as well as Strange Antiquities, I was so taken with such a simple mechanic that that tells a story without you even really going anywhere on the screen. You know, it's not what you would consider like an open world type of game. Everything that you do, everything that's happening is in this this screen that you are set in. And I mean, obviously, for obvious reasons, I love the oddities and curiosities part of this game. And I do like that they improved so much of the mechanic from...
01:16:20
Speaker
Strange horticulture over there. There are a few things that were maybe a little bit more redundant that they polished up. But yeah, this game is equal parts, an amazing witchy, mysterious vibe. I would consider it a mystery type of a storyline. So equal parts, amazing vibes, equal parts, great mechanic, enjoyable mechanic to go through. And again, taking you on a story without going anywhere.
01:16:47
Speaker
That's amazing. Yeah, and yeah. i think this I think games like these are easy to pass by because you might think that they look rudimentary or simple, but they're not. They're actually very complex and very well designed. So yeah, Strange, yeah, without even hesitation, Strange Antiquities is my number five.
01:17:04
Speaker
Yeah, you were talking about how it improved on um strange horticulture. And I just want to say, thing I didn't say is that like it just deepens the mechanics. Yeah, yeah. So much. The amount of research you have to do is so so it's so much more intricate, and it makes that world feel bigger, even though, like you said, you never leave that spot. You never leave it. it's But you feel like you do.
01:17:27
Speaker
You feel like you're leaving yeah and going to places. So it's a feat, yeah. All right, Casey, you're number five. Top five.
01:17:38
Speaker
Promise mascot agency. Oh, nice. I was wondering if that would crack your top five because you had ah you had a reaction to it. with i did. I loved that game. I really loved it. it is it is so charming and it's the world and its characters. like It doesn't do a whole lot with that open world.
01:18:04
Speaker
Right. That is, it doesn't do anything too different, but it's just so, it's nice to inhabit. It's nice to drive around. It's nice to, oh, just, it's a lovely game and you get, you get to meet a lot of very fun mascots.
01:18:24
Speaker
It's so ridiculous and hilarious. It's so good. I love them. I've heard people describe this as like Yakuza mini game. And the developers went and got the guy who voices Kiryu from the Yakuza games. Oh, fun. I didn't know that. To do the main character.
01:18:48
Speaker
so the janitor, is it's Kiryu's VA. And he's so good. Like, he is really, really good. Oh, my God. Love us it it. Like, all all the voices are really, really good in us.
01:19:03
Speaker
You make a really good point about how much that world feels good to be in. And then just those characters are just so much fun to get to know. They're all so ridiculous. Yeah, and like one one of the things that I like, with it's it's a small open world, and I think the thing that kind of cinches an open world game for me is, does this feel good to just traverse in? Some open world games, not so good.
01:19:33
Speaker
yeah Other ones, the traversal mechanics are so fun, you don't even want to fast travel, like um that the... PlayStation um Spider-Man game.
01:19:48
Speaker
Just love to just swing around yeah because it yeah yeah just it it that is that is a game where it feels good to move around in. Yeah. I felt that way about a Breath of the Wild in terms of settings. I just wanted to be in every setting. I just wanted to walk places. Yeah. Which is crazy because there are definitely games where I'm like, where is the quick travel option? What is going on here? But man, if you can really immerse me in in the world, that yeah that's such a great achievement. Yeah.
01:20:22
Speaker
So yeah, Promise Mascot Agency, that gets that gets number five. It's it's beautiful. It's it's lovely. it's a It's a really good game. It's really good. And if if anybody out there hasn't played their first game, um Paradise Killer.
01:20:39
Speaker
I haven't. Really? Oh, it's it's a very different game. I bought it years ago and I never got around to playing It's so good. It's so good. I've heard nothing but great things about it. so All right. My number five is a is a pretty short game, but it takes one concept.
01:21:00
Speaker
You're a little caterpillar made of bombs and it explores it to the nth degree. It's called o Because that's what the little caterpillar looks like. He looks like the the word ooh. Because he's just three little circles. And you're a caterpillar. You're going through this dungeon. There's not much of a story here. It's just your abilities are that you are made of two bombs. And that's all all you can do is drop a bomb and let that bomb explode. Or like set that bomb off. Right? So if you want to jump, you have to put a bomb underneath you.
01:21:40
Speaker
And blow the bomb up. And it'll fire you upwards. If you want to jump and then air dash, you gotta... Man, alright. I was about to just give stuff away. this is But that's what the game is. The game is teaching you... You can do pretty much... By the time you find the second bomb, which is really early on, you can pretty much do everything in the game. But you're not even going to think of it.
01:22:07
Speaker
Until... The game teaches you. And that's what the whole game is about. It's about how to just silently teach you the mechanics of a game without telling you about it. The point where you realize, oh, I can drop a bomb, walk five screens away, and then detonate that bomb is...
01:22:32
Speaker
Every time you realize something like that, it's a revelation. And then you just want to go back through the entire thing again and see where you can use it. It's very Metroidvania-y in that sense. But again, very short, fairly linear...
01:22:47
Speaker
But just absolutely brilliant game design. I can't, it just had me thinking so much about how people go about communicating through the language of game design by doing it just expertly.
01:23:04
Speaker
so that's ooh. It's just three O's. That's how you spell this game. Aesthetically, it reminds me of, I don't i don't think it's the same gameplay, but Baba is you. Yes. Kind of aesthetically, maybe this is a little more polished, but it's got that same vibe to me, at least. it's Just very simple yeah ah pixel art with a very limited palette. Yeah.
01:23:26
Speaker
Yeah. Number four, roses. For me, yes. I think we yeah i think we mentioned this before. um Mine is going to be, no, I'm not a human.
01:23:38
Speaker
I am very into this experimental low res horror game thing that we have going on. it's by ah it's it's not It's published by Critical Reflex. And I've talked about them before on here and on my channel. They seem to have a bit of a a vibe that they're going for. They choose these kind of specific experimental horror games.
01:24:02
Speaker
And I'm so into it. I mentioned Karimara earlier. That's the publisher for Karimara. I found this game because my recommendations were bombarded by video essays on No, I'm Not a Human. You know, meanings and characters and deep dives. I couldn't get away from it. It was just... So I ended up watching one.
01:24:24
Speaker
And interestingly, even though it had spoilers, I still needed to play this game. ah There's a randomization element to it, so you can only spoil so much anyway. Got into it. It's very creepy.
01:24:36
Speaker
it's it It is a psychological horror game. It's got themes of discrimination. It's got... Similar mechanics to paper, please, where you're kind to you're, you're, quote, judging someone.
01:24:50
Speaker
um And the entire premise is basically, there are these visitors that are that are, what's the word? ah taking taking over, I guess. ah And you cannot, you, for, for some reason you're not allowed, I'm not going to spoil this, but you are not allowed to be in your home alone.
01:25:12
Speaker
ah But every night people come to your door asking if they could stay at your house, which you want because you cannot be alone. So you want to invite people in. However, some of these people are visitors. Some of these people are human beings and you have to decide through, you know, various testing,
01:25:29
Speaker
um Sometimes even just your intuition, whether they are a visitor or not. If they are a visitor, someone's going to get killed. If they're not, then you're not going to get killed.
01:25:40
Speaker
It's just very intriguing. it's It's one of those games that you're probably not going to have a fun time. Kind of like what Matt was just talking about. oh That's a fun time. That's a pleasant, fun time. This is not that. This is more catharsis. This is a horror game.
01:25:58
Speaker
And i I'm just really into these low-res horror games right now. i would second the recommendation of No, I'm Not a Human. Yeah. Because it does something very, very interesting.
Iconic Scenes and Social Commentary in Media
01:26:15
Speaker
And that is it's systemizing that one scene from The Thing. Right? yeah the test The blood test scene.
01:26:28
Speaker
Yeah. Yep. it's It's like you are you are given instructions on how to identify visitors. Right. But it's a bit vague. It's a bit unclear who you may get you may get it wrong.
01:26:46
Speaker
you yeah You probably will get it wrong. Yeah. yeah because And it's like, it it has that that kind of tension of of that that that that standout scene from John Carpenter's The Thing. And the one good scene from the it was it 2011...
01:27:04
Speaker
The Thing prequel, also called The Thing, where it actually had a, it's not it's not a great movie. However, it had one good idea of its own where it had, you know, it had to have, it had to have its own testing scene. But the way they did it in that movie is they checked for people's fillings.
01:27:28
Speaker
If somebody had fillings, like because the the the organism could not replicate inorganic matter, oh Right.
01:27:38
Speaker
And it was it was a really, really well thought out twist on that that iconic scene. So, yeah you know, there was a lot of tension there where where you're like you're kind of getting up in somebody's face. Yeah. Looking to see if they have like it is a tense scene. It's it's brilliant. It is the the the best thing about that movie.
01:28:00
Speaker
And no, I'm not a human is giving you these kind of like tests to run on people like to check check them for. Check their teeth, check their armpits. I was going to say teeth checking is one of them. and do Yeah. teeth Yeah.
01:28:16
Speaker
And like you're saying, Casey, like you're going to get it wrong because. You're given these tests, but unlike other video games where it's like you do the thing it tells you to do and you get the result.
01:28:32
Speaker
that you expect, you look at, you do some of these tests and you're like, I can't tell. Yeah, I can't tell. It's so intentional where you're just looking at it you're like, is this, what is it supposed to be?
01:28:45
Speaker
I thought it was, just you're just like staring at it like, I don't know. and yeah, at the same time out out in this world, um the the government of this world is also panicking about these visitors but reacting in a way that where like the world is becoming more dangerous than the visitors were yes and yeah a lot of commentary there it yeah it like there's some there's some notes of um the you know the worldwide in immigrant panic that we're seeing uh and there's some notes of the worldwide like
01:29:23
Speaker
anti-trans panic that we're seeing that are they're just it's just in there there's very very much that uh that kind of feel of this this is very much a covid kind of yeah kind that too yeah i thought that too i think i met i recently talked about it on and the on the channel and it is kind of giving some of the lockdown vibes i think it i think it is taking notes uh from what happened with covid And yeah, it's not a fun time, guys.
01:29:56
Speaker
It's not. It's not a fun time. It's not a fun game.
Combat and Excellence in 'Clear Obscure Expedition 33'
01:29:59
Speaker
It's an important game. But it's it's art, and not all art is fun. Sometimes it's just thoughtful and... thats it There are some silly ass things in that game. Sometimes, you know, sometimes you want to play something or watch something to have a bad time.
01:30:15
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. That's why I'm a big horror girlie, so I had to put this on here. Man, that's why I listen to fucking Nine Inch Nails. You think I'm dancing? Well, maybe I am dancing to it. I don't know. But still, I'm here for a bad time, okay?
01:30:29
Speaker
That was four. So, Casey, you're number four. I'm going to... I have it written down here in a different order, but I'm i switch things up and I'm going to say Clear Obscure Expedition 33 for number four. it's Very, very good.
01:30:45
Speaker
um I think it's a game that I think people might have gotten a little exhausted with how much praise it's been getting and yeah how... like just Just the sheer amount of awards and everything. like but But like Blueprints, sorry, am it's that good. It really is that good. It deserves all of the praise. I love it.
01:31:12
Speaker
I loved what it did. the kind of that that that you know that kind of turn-based combat with timed inputs just i just really enjoyed that um i'm like i was a big fan of the dark souls games and um a lot of uh from soft's output my favorite for my favorite from soft game was uh thingamibob sekiro Oh, right. i had such a good time with that. I'm i've i'm like, a mar real parry slut. So for for that reason, i I enjoyed the absolute hell out of Expedition 33. Staggeringly good music as well. Oh my God. Like, wow.
01:32:03
Speaker
Wow, that's good. I'll leave it at that. Say that it's, it yes, it's that good. it's nice It may come up
Thrilling Storytelling in 'The Drifter'
01:32:10
Speaker
a little bit later. My number four is a game, a little game, called The Drifter. This game fucking beats ass, dude. This game rules. This game is so good. Like you like you're saying you were saying, Casey, like the fact it feels fast The entire time you feel like you feel like you are in a thriller movie, but you're just playing a point and click adventure.
01:32:41
Speaker
But there's something about his narration. There's something about the way that it makes you feel under pressure, even at times where you have all the time in the world. Sometimes you don't. Sometimes you can die in this game. But like...
01:32:54
Speaker
um it it makes you feel under pressure to where it, you just feel like it is constantly moving. It's this, this new theory that I've never seen before on how to design a point and click adventure game that is based around kinetic energy, like, like, ah like forward momentum. And that's just not something you see in point and click adventures. And,
01:33:24
Speaker
Also, just seconding everything. like the The voice acting is incredible. The pixel art is fantastic. I think this and Dark Queen of Mort Holm are the two best pixel art ah masterpieces of the year. The story is great.
01:33:41
Speaker
The puzzles are fine. They're good enough. um they're not They're not brilliant, but they're also not bad. like It's just... It is fun to play. Every moment of it feels fun. And you you grow so attached to these characters too.
01:34:00
Speaker
i i loved The Drifter and I hope that other point and click developers sort of take take some lessons from this game on a different way to do pacing so in what is traditionally a slower genre.
01:34:20
Speaker
Yeah. One thing that I would also like to praise the Drifter about, it has fantastic controller support. Oh. Oh. Yeah. I've inflated with a controller.
01:34:33
Speaker
Try it. Yeah, I will. It's very cool with with a controller. um They did a really good job of that, where it's almost like kind kind of twin stick kind of movement. So you will move the protagonist with the left stick and then with the right stick kind of like highlight objects that he can interact with around him in like a little radial thingy. Oh, okay that's kind of nice. It's a fantastic system.
01:35:01
Speaker
It's great. that's That's awesome. love some Love some innovation in the point and click genre. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. um All right. That was my number four, The Drifter. Number three, Pushing Up Roses.
01:35:15
Speaker
I don't think this is on either of your lists. So i'm huh I don't think. I could be wrong as we near the end. But um my number three is Old Skies.
01:35:26
Speaker
Oh. Yeah. And I know i want hearken back on something that Casey
Time Travel and Quality in 'Old Skies'
01:35:33
Speaker
said. And sometimes when games get a lot of praise, people get fatigued on that before they even play it. And I think sometimes that can happen with Wadgedi the developer.
01:35:45
Speaker
They are that good, though, is the problem. Like, they get a lot of praise as an adventure game developer because they are that good at developing adventure games. Full transparency, I do play a character in that game.
01:35:59
Speaker
um i play the the holographic bartender. ah i have criticisms of myself and of that of of that voice acting. I can barely listen to it. But i love Wadget Eye games.
01:36:17
Speaker
This has kind of a time travel element to it, and I'm not going to say much about it. I really want people to play this game. It's very story rich. This is a time travel plot, and I hate time travel stuff. I get in my head. i question it. My suspension of disbelief is very stubborn. Yeah. And I'm not saying that in gaming you have to believe everything, but in within the world you have to believe it. You have to believe the world that you're being presented with. And this is one of the only time travel ah kind of plots and mechanics that I got into, and I wasn't bitching about it too much. I was probably a little bit. You did a little bit. we do I did a little bit, yeah. we did it There is an episode ah that we did on this
01:37:04
Speaker
on this game and yeah it is it is very very good it was it didn't make my top 10 but it's my it was my number 12. Yeah you know it's it spoke to my heart yeah it spoke to my heart um the Wedge Dye games usually do they're they're usually they have that very earnest character development um you know you get really close to these characters and they're complicated and Yeah, it's just it's it's very earnest and personal, even if it's not real personal stories. It's still personal. It's going to touch your heart, I think. And so, yeah, i I was looking forward to it and I really, really
Survival Horror in 'Tormented Souls 2'
01:37:44
Speaker
enjoyed it. So that is my number three.
01:37:45
Speaker
it It explores some ideas with time travel that I've just never seen before, which is um something you don't get to say about time travel stories very often. Yeah. All right, Casey, you're number three.
01:37:58
Speaker
Okay. Holy shit. Top three. Okay, you ready for this? Yes. This will surprise probably nobody and everybody at the same time because I feel like this is this is a this is a game that like only myself seems to be into. It seems to just pass everybody else by. Tormented Souls 2. Yeah,
01:38:22
Speaker
I want to hear about this game. I don't know anything about Oh my gosh. Okay, so to describe this game, it is...
01:38:31
Speaker
how should i put this now it is it is an old school survival horror game okay that is very very deliberate in its design choices and it is going to put some people off and it's going but at the same time it is going to delight sickos and I i am It's me. I'm sickos. I'm delighted by this game.
01:39:01
Speaker
It is. To give you an example. The first Tormented Souls game did the same thing as well. It has limited options.
01:39:13
Speaker
not limited save slots the amount of saves uses a resource like ink ribbons in the very first resident evil wow it's deliberately old school and not just that in order to save your game you have to like you you you go up to the to the thingy that the the the the recorder and you interact with us and it brings up like a screen where it shows, it zooms in on the recorder the recording, the tape recorder and your inventory is on the side and you have to click the item on the side
01:39:53
Speaker
bring it over to the recorder, use another interaction to put the reel, the the little tape reel onto the onto the thing, and then press record on, like, using your little cursor, press record on the recorder. It's like these weird...
01:40:13
Speaker
That would add this weird weird kind of design choice that it takes so many clicks just to save a game and to save the game, you are using a limited resource that's going to drive so many people up the wall.
01:40:25
Speaker
But because I am but because I am a sicko who absolutely adored that that kind of thing. what love what does that What does that mechanic say to you then? Like that they made it that hard. What do you think they're trying to do? It's not so much that it's hard. It's just, it's, it's, it it's belabored. Okay. Right.
01:40:46
Speaker
It was, it is. Yeah. When, when 3d games first started coming out, all of, all of the inventory items in this game, all of them are like, yeah,
01:40:59
Speaker
3D models that you can, they're not just like a little icon in your inventory. if you If you examine them, you can have like full 3D rotation of the the little model itself. And this is important for puzzles and things. Mm-hmm.
01:41:16
Speaker
And this was something that games, like the very first Resident Evil did because three d graphics were were a novelty at the time. This was like a thing that they could do that they could never have done before. Right.
01:41:32
Speaker
And this game revels in those kind of like deliberate design should design choices of that era. So it's all fixed camera angles.
01:41:43
Speaker
And personally, the optimal way to play this game is with the with the tank controls. You know, you move you move forward and rotate the character and it's like this this is a like there are options for like for modern controls but i i vibe with the with the tank controls i'm the sicko who loves tank controls in in hey i my favorite game is grim fandango and that has insane tank control and i like it good i like good control so i'm with you yeah sickos are winning uh so tormented souls 2
01:42:23
Speaker
such like it delights me every step of the way this this game is just it's it sounds very like very deliberate yeah very cheesy casey have you played um the later clock tower games i did not so i never played clock tower back in the day either Okay, so like after the original Super Famicom game, they went this route, you know, the kind of the PlayStation three d That is what it reminds me of. I'm just looking at some screencaps of Tormented Souls. It reminds me of the later, like especially Clock Tower 3. if anyone's played that and you like it for kind of its novelty um an absurdity, it kind of sounds similar.
01:43:09
Speaker
So one thing that I would i would say, people if this sounds fun to anybody, if you're a sicko and you want to check out a great game for sickos, Tormented Souls 2 has a demo. I would highly recommend everybody check that demo out because it is it is an incredibly good demo.
01:43:27
Speaker
It's really, really something. And... The puzzles in this game are just diabolical. I knew you going to say something like that. love the puzzles in this game. they're they're I'm going to give a spoiler for the kind the kind of bullshit that this game pulls. ah Right.
01:43:50
Speaker
Just just just to give you an idea why, why I am so delighted by this game. There is a in the second major area of the game, the fish factory.
01:44:02
Speaker
So it's set in a little town and there are different there's separate kind of areas to to us. And the second area is like this fish factory. It's very it's very Lovecraft kind of like stuff going on there. There's there's horrible crab men.
01:44:17
Speaker
mutant thingy-me-bobs and there is a there is a security door that you need to get through and it has a voice activated panel for somebody to speak a password into and you get you find a tape recorder and then you would later find a cassette tape for it And you can hear different messages on it. And one of the one of those messages, somebody had left the password for this security door.
01:44:53
Speaker
And it took me while to get what the game wanted from me. Because i was like I assumed it was going to be... Like you hold up... You you you use...
01:45:08
Speaker
the cassette player with the panel. But no, that wasn't it. You had to... And this is this is the kind of like the real sicko shit that delights me is you have to press, like click on examine the cassette player so that it's up in your, like in the main screen and you press play on it so that when on the recording, the person says the password, you have to click the button on the the panel. And it's like this, this is ridiculous stuff. This is silly.
01:45:47
Speaker
yeah It's brilliant. I freaking love this. Wow. what ah what a sorry What a hefty but unhinged recommendation for Tormented Souls 2.
Narrative and Mystery in 'The Seance of Blake Manor'
01:46:01
Speaker
but I mean, it kind of sold me because I like those weird, I like those weird clock tower games. It it is great so good. It's like, it takes, it takes a lot of inspiration from like the the original Resident Evil, but also a bit of Silent Hill as well.
01:46:18
Speaker
yeah and then it does something else like it it it it has the whole kind of like silent hill-esque two different worlds you know there's a dark there's a dark world underneath the the the one you're exploring and then it does something else says that's not enough we need to we need to throw time travel into this so there's weird time travel shenanigans all up in this game alternate world and time travel and yes okay wow And a lot of like these really weird puzzles where you have to either go to the go to the creepy other worlds where everything is creepy and wet to solve puzzles and then another time... No, this puzzle, this work this is this is a time travel one.
01:47:02
Speaker
It's nuts. It's a nuts game. it's ah It's so good. I love it. This is a rhetorical question, but why are creepy worlds always so wet looking?
01:47:14
Speaker
Again, rhetorical, nobody needs to answer that. Just something to potter. Why are creepy worlds wet? I mean, i kind of do, but I don't. Okay.
01:47:27
Speaker
My number three is a game called The Seance of Blake Manor. Oh, man. It's so good. It's just it This game climbed up my games of the year list so quickly like I played it and I was loving it and then like I loved this game for its mysteries and its characters and its writing um the art is incredible the
01:48:01
Speaker
Everything about it is great. I think last episode of this podcast was about that, about Sansa Blake Banner. So you can hear more detailed thoughts of mine on that. But yeah why, why it got here was I played it and then I left for London and yup the entire time I was on the plane, was in the airport, i was walking around London.
01:48:24
Speaker
It just kept coming back into my head.
01:48:29
Speaker
I feel like this happens sometimes when you already like a game, right? But then you start talking about that game with other fans of that game and you realize that you like it more than That happens, and I agree with you. But in this case, it was just all in my head. I just kept remembering the vibes. Okay.
01:48:54
Speaker
and wishing I was back in Blake Manor. Like, the vibes of that game are so, so good and supported. but There's like a there's like a you know a symbiotic relationship between the vibes and the story and the vibes and the character and the amount of like um mythology and folklore that's woven into the game and the depth of the character's backstories.
01:49:24
Speaker
it's ah It's a game where I just felt good being in that world. and i I can't, even now, i can't stop thinking about that world. It comes up frequently where I just remember the the feeling of being in Blake Manor and I just feel good about it.
01:49:47
Speaker
So fun fact. Yes. That is said where I'm from. Oh, really? yeah and And it's developed here as well. So I'm i'm west of Ireland. And that's that's ah that's where that is set. Oh, in the west. Oh, wow. Outwashed.
01:50:07
Speaker
That's so... I mean... Man, that game. It's very good. Really fantastic achievement and ah really takes these...
01:50:20
Speaker
These newer sort of ideas about what if a game actually made you feel like a detective rather than just play a detective while still giving you like a ah strong narrative at the same time. i yeah, I adored this game.
01:50:38
Speaker
That it's, it's my number three. i think everybody should play it. It's the, it's, I think the game I recommend most to people out of any game released this year is like everybody should play Seance of Blake Manor. It's really, really good.
01:50:53
Speaker
I'd agree, even though I don't think i've I've gotten that far into it yet. And I've just been, i i really feel like I just messed up. And you didn't. bet you did. No, bet you didn't. I bet it feels that way, but I bet you didn't. Yeah. Yes.
01:51:09
Speaker
Yeah. I'm just doubting myself quite a bit with it. But, you know, phenomenal game. The the vibes of it are great. What really gets me about it is that that art style is just gorgeous. It's like that um Mike Mignola kind of hellboy kind of vibe. yeah And like, I know the artist on this. So disclosure there as well. Like, he is a very good artist.
01:51:37
Speaker
Yeah. And... Just did an immaculate job with us. I knew I was looking forward to this game. i was not prepared for just how good it was going to be. and loved it. I loved it.
01:51:48
Speaker
Man, we're on to our number twos. We're getting to the end. Holy shit. Roses. Yes. I need to hear your number two game of 2025.
01:52:00
Speaker
I bet you do because mine were swapping a lot. And i ah yeah, so my number two was my number one until, let's see what date, until like what, last month or something? That is how long I had this as my number one. It did fall back into number two for what I think is a good reason.
01:52:21
Speaker
But it is the Drifter. Oh, yeah. The Drifter was my number one game for so long. I even mentioned i even said that in our podcast. I kept saying this is probably my game of the year. It's probably going to be it.
01:52:36
Speaker
um and And for similar reasons to what you guys have said is high octane, it is very difficult to make an adventure game feel fast paced. That's not really what a point and click like inherently is. They're not fast. yeah yeah um the But because of the storytelling, because of the the pacing, and again, the the narration is what really gets you. and i And I think it's unique. It is told in first person.
01:53:05
Speaker
A lot of games are. However, it's it's this it's the first game where I was fully aware of the storytelling and how important the main character's storytelling is. right And that's not very common. It's not very common that your main character also is narrating.
Artistry and Gameplay in 'Silksong'
01:53:22
Speaker
Yeah.
01:53:24
Speaker
So just as just as an example of a first-person game that does not do this, right? Duck Detective is technically a first-person game, but they are usually responding in first person. So I'm Duck Detective. I'm looking at a bulletin board, right?
01:53:39
Speaker
He responds, oh, there's ah there's a credit card number on this bulletin board. I wonder what that is. That's not how how the drifter is. The drifter is... told in a writerly way. Somebody swings a wrench at you and Mick narrates saying something like, you dodge the wrench as it goes over your head, as it whooshes over your head.
01:54:00
Speaker
That's how this game is told. That's why it's fast paced because it is narrated differently in in in a writerly fashion. um And I just, oh man, I just loved it. i I love the point and click genre, very obviously. um it felt like a thriller. I'm a big fan of the thriller genre. We we you know we name dropped John Carpenter. i think he was a big inspiration for this.
01:54:25
Speaker
And even though the pixel art is chonky, I would describe it as chonky pixel art. ah You know, sometimes their faces aren't as um ah detailed. It is shockingly expressive.
01:54:39
Speaker
Yes. Shockingly. yes When Mick opens his big, bright, white eyes, I just know he is fearing something. Yes. Yeah. Loved this game. Loved the story.
01:54:53
Speaker
it felt at times for me, it felt very Gabriel Knight. You know, keep in mind, it is high octane, but it is not always fast. It is appropriate. ah The pacing is appropriate. um So you will have time to kind of fart around the world that you're in, interrogate people, you know, kind of like Gabriel Knight does.
01:55:13
Speaker
I think it's brilliant. I think it's, I loved it. And like I said, that was my number one. So that's saying something. It has fallen back into number two. ah But genuinely, I think this game is a piece of art. I think it's so good. i think I know what your number one is.
01:55:29
Speaker
you Now you do. Yeah, now you know. yeah Wow. I would have said, I thought it was going to be the drifter. Wow. i I'm okay. Yeah, I know. I know. I flipped it. Wow. All right.
01:55:41
Speaker
Casey, your number two game of 2025. You ready for this? Oh my God. Yeah. Silk song.
01:55:53
Speaker
I knew, I knew was going to be up there. I knew it. Okay. All right. Let's hear it. Oh, it is, it it is so God damn good. And I love it.
01:56:06
Speaker
yeah I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I don't even think I am that far into it yet. But my God. That says something then, right? Yeah. Yeah, that's amazing that it it struck you that much so early yeah on.
01:56:24
Speaker
So I...
01:56:28
Speaker
This entire year, had this past year, pardon me. It's a past year. Oh my God. Sorry. I know. this passed so weird has been so stacked so chock-a-block with so many amazing games that i've just like the fact is that i have been uh going through silksong quite slowly compared to other people i've been taking my time with us and i've been a big fan of hollow night i think that ah that was one of my favorite games of all time and yeah nice
01:57:03
Speaker
been really looking forward to silksong for ever yeah you know and it was every bit worth the wait every like just just everything they did with it is Oh, so good.
01:57:20
Speaker
The way i You know the way they they had the grubs in the first game? and I didn't know how they were going to top something like that.
Character and Combat in 'Claire Obscure Expedition 33'
01:57:28
Speaker
That was like just just having those little fun little guys just yeah you know that you that you rescue. And i didn't know how they would... How would they do something to top...
01:57:41
Speaker
those Those little guys. you could' you You couldn't top that. couldn No. No. yeah you Inconceivable. And yet. And yet they did. did that they did this game instead of Instead of little little
01:58:02
Speaker
flees
01:58:07
Speaker
fleas who go a when When you rescue them, they do little awoo. And it's... Oh, man, they sure are cute. It's absurdly cute. This is this is a game that made... That went and made freaking...
01:58:25
Speaker
fleas cute you gotta love us youka you gotta appreciate us I gotta to sculpt these little guys these guys are adorable they're so good um you know phenomenal game having um having an amazing time with us The thing that's so amazing about that game is like, they hit it so fucking big with Hollow Knight.
01:58:50
Speaker
Like yeah what an achievement for their hard work and effort and artistry, they made a shitload of money. Like they they really- they They hit it big.
01:59:07
Speaker
They hit it big. And so what they decided to do with their second game was just take their time. Right? Just like, you know, we want we are having fun making this game.
01:59:19
Speaker
We have so many ideas and we're getting more and more each day. We know you want it, but we don't we're not ready to give it to you. We are going to sit here and make it the like the perfect version of what it is in our heads.
01:59:38
Speaker
And they do, right? Like, they do. Yeah. Yeah. yeah yeah it's it's really great and I like the game is huge in that game too yeah yeah like I've been playing this game for 40 hours as well like this is oh my gosh yeah I have like and again it this this't mean this game is like it's 20 bucks it's it is oh my god it's so good I have played 74 hours oh my gosh sounds about right
02:00:12
Speaker
Yeah. um All right. My number two is a game called Claire Obscure Expedition 33. God damn. I loved this game.
02:00:24
Speaker
It, for all the reasons Casey said, it is, the music is great. The The graphics are great. The world is amazing. The imagination that they put into this game is unbelievable.
02:00:40
Speaker
It starts with this premise of you are you you're in this world, you're 30, or 30, I guess 32 year old, in this world where every single year hits a certain day and everybody of a certain age
02:01:00
Speaker
dies They disappear. They turn into flowers and they flutter away. Oh, beautiful. And then a giant woman called the paintress stands up and changes a number on a board. And now then you have the people that are that age have one year left to live. So but the at the beginning of this...
02:01:25
Speaker
game that number is 34 and everybody who's 34 years old or older because i'm sure at that point there's some 35 year olds everybody that's 34 years old or older just goes away and you are at the sort of goodbye ceremony Saying goodbye to an ex-girlfriend of yours.
02:01:46
Speaker
And she just disappears into flowers. And you you have this this choice ahead of you, right? Do you try to live out your next year? Your last year of your life and just enjoy it?
02:01:59
Speaker
Or do you join one of these expeditions that all of which have failed. That head to the the islands where this paintress is and try to defeat her try to kill her so she stops destroying everybody you love because at some point this is going to go down to expedition one right um and that premise is just such a strong perfect hook
02:02:32
Speaker
And that's not all the game has to give to you, right? Like there's so many twists and turns in store for you. This story goes so many places. The characters are are just fantastic and you grow to love them and get so attached to them.
02:02:51
Speaker
it's it's it's It's just so good. It's an unbelievably good game. And that combat mechanic, the parrying system is is just top tier. I think this game deserves all the accolades.
02:03:04
Speaker
Nice. It's getting. And I loved Claire Obscure. it is a it is a French JRPG. And it's about, it's not as long as your standard JRPG. It's, I think, like 30 hours. so I like that. I i don't i i disagree. there's a lot there There is a lot of like side content in it that you can i mean spend a good 60 hours in. this It's easy. 60 hours okay let me see i i'm gonna pull up my game and see how long i spend in it because i 100 percent of this game yeah i spent like 65 hours into it oh wow okay maybe it's a little but then again maybe it's been a little longer than i thought yeah i i take my time with some games sometimes so um time played
02:03:53
Speaker
It says four days. That can't be true. What? Four days? I must have left it running at some point because it says I played it for four days.
02:04:06
Speaker
i am very guilty of constantly leaving my games running. yeah So I have an absurd amount of hours on Myst, which I beat, honestly. I played it for 200 hours. It says 96.2 hours. I think that's I think it's probably I played it. So I i would guess that I probably played it more like 60 like you're talking about, Casey. yeah um But you can. The thing is, you can beat this game in 30 if you're not a if you're not a sicko like us.
02:04:35
Speaker
It's kind of like, you're kind of describing almost like a Chrono Trigger-esque gameplay to me. That's yes notoriously not as long as other JRPGs. You can actually skip the side quests if you want, but I've definitely put in the hours in in the k Chrono Trigger because of the side quests. had a friend who didn't play any of the side quests.
02:04:56
Speaker
Why would you do that? but Why would you not do the side quests? Yeah. The side quests in this game are also incredible. The boss fights are incredible. And you can customize your character so much that by the end of this game, and it maybe robbed myself of the fun a little bit, by the end of this game, i was one-hitting all the final bosses of the game. hu Yeah, you you can very easily do that.
02:05:22
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Also, there are alternate costumes that you can get for the characters. You can put them all in bathing suits. want to go on an expedition in a bikini so one one one of the things that i absolutely adore about it is you get the the the french baguette costumes yes that are just just brilliant it's so funny there's there's these mimes That's how you get the, you beat up a mime to get the the French, the the silly French costume. it There's these kind of like slightly hidden mimes all across the game. And if you find one and you fight them, they're kind of hard to fight, at least at first. um
02:06:07
Speaker
And if you manage to beat them, yeah, you get this. That's hilarious. costume that's just like so very stereotypically French and you have baguette on your back.
02:06:18
Speaker
It's magnificent. yeah It's really good. It's a game that has a really serious... pride like it's it the It does its drama really well, but it doesn't take itself too seriously. There's a lot of funniness in it. um And there's a big there's a big old mascot-y character that is so so fun to spend time with.
02:06:39
Speaker
This is my next cosplay for a convention is the mime with the baguette. I think that's my next cause man. Yeah. I think this is, I think the, the, the mime costume with the baguette has been invading.
02:06:54
Speaker
uh, ah I also love that did the game ah the game does something that you don't see many, many other games do, where one of one of the main characters is like unashamedly a foot guy. Yeah.
02:07:18
Speaker
i' not that that this sounds like i'm making making it up i'm not he has he has line where he says my what lovely feet good lord the so every every character so there is this like a parry system but every character has their own power like kind of powers um like their own special unique combat feature and yeah this guy's is anytime you kill an enemy a new enemy
Top Game of 2025: 'Look Outside'
02:07:48
Speaker
with him in the party he takes their feet and he puts them in a bag on his back and he can take the feet out and become the enemy
02:07:58
Speaker
Man, the gestrals are the funniest thing in a video game that I've seen all year. Fuck it. This game rules. That's why it's my number two. It's Claire Obscure Expedition 33. I already know.
02:08:09
Speaker
I already know what you know. know what my number one is. Yeah, there's that's why. There was no contest. All right. Now we're going to get into it. Our number one games. What is the best game 2025? of twenty twenty five a ah ah A game...
02:08:23
Speaker
just chock full of some of the best there some of the best games ever made were released this year yes and so i don't think that's uh an exaggeration yeah casey explosion what is for you the best game of 2025 okay okay you have to commit to it are you are you so are you prepared are you sitting are you sitting comfortably My loins are girded.
02:08:54
Speaker
ill
02:08:57
Speaker
Okay. that wasn't expecting that, but okay. Fair enough. I'm putting on a helmet.
02:09:07
Speaker
All right, it's on. I'm ready. look outside you if you have not heard of this game it is okay it's incredible it is yes it is a little game that just kind of came out of nowhere um somebody on on my uh in my social media recommended it to me or like i saw it it looked cool it looked very up my alley but uh i didn't i didn't like didn't really think about it until it was pointed out to me and then it's like it's like this
02:09:40
Speaker
Creepy, off-putting monster designs with these really, really amazing pixel art horrors.
02:09:54
Speaker
i Yeah, i saw I actually, this game was recommended to me very recently. i think even year. Possibly by me. It might have been. yeah It might have been by you. So i do I do know about it. I obviously didn't play it within the year, so i wouldn't have it wouldn't have gotten from there. But it it kind of gives me that similar vibe of like experimental horror.
02:10:17
Speaker
And it's like, you're right, it's off-putting, but it's also like not. I also am very intrigued by it. It does have a little bit of a kind of creepy cute thing going on as well. But like, yeah so like so and when I mentioned um earlier in the the in the discussion, I mentioned Kingdoms of the Dump, that the the pixel artist who worked on that game also did, was a solo dev of Look Outside,
02:10:47
Speaker
And just some of the most exquisite pixel art of the year. And this is this is a year with many other really, really terrific pixel art games like The Drifter. And this game is just...
02:11:06
Speaker
How can I even describe describe this? Because it is it is it's like a it's like a survival horror RPG. It's that sort of RPG maker kind of thing.
02:11:19
Speaker
Yeah. And it is it is shockingly heartfelt. Like it is this very Lovecraftian grimdark kind of vibe to it.
02:11:32
Speaker
But you have like, you make friends along the way and they're like eat eat eat eat ends up being so oh i don't hmm sorry yeah it's in a year with with claire obscure yeah they're obscure and with silk song silk song and ah hades 2 and delta room delta room death stranding 2 um a game in a year with all of these
02:12:08
Speaker
I did not expect and anybody's number one to be something that I had never even heard of. And yet, and yet, and yet.
02:12:21
Speaker
Wow. Look outside. Look outside. it is, it's magnificent. Like that that there is, like it's, it's, it is very dark.
02:12:32
Speaker
Like it is dark subject matter. It's like, it's a hopeless situation that, that these characters are put in and it feels hopeful.
02:12:43
Speaker
It's like, it's this, it's this. Hmm. Anything that somebody's game of the year in 2025, I think is, is something worth paying attention to. Yeah, absolutely. Because how do you, how do you pick it over?
02:12:57
Speaker
Yeah. Everything else. and man, I, now I'm, Now way I would love to check this game out. Yeah. do I have it up on Steam. I cannot recommend it highly enough. And like it's 10 bucks.
02:13:14
Speaker
Right. It's 10 bucks. It is silly how good this game is. And yet it is only 10 bucks. Really can't recommend it highly enough. And and i'm kind I'm kind of getting like getting a little tired now because it is nearly 2 a.m. where I am. Yes. Yes. And i apologize I just want to gush about this game, but... Oh, it's so good.
02:13:41
Speaker
um All right, well we will we will we will try and reach our descent here. Roses, I want to hear about your number one game of 2025. I bet you do now, after me saying the drifter all year, ah and then changing it so very abruptly. Can I say it with Because I know it.
02:14:03
Speaker
Yep. Ready? Three. the oh Okay. Three, two, one.
02:14:20
Speaker
Yes. This swept in for me very late in the year. I played it in December. And i am, is if anybody's been following me for a long time, i bit big cheerleader of mystery, murder mystery, adventure games, all of those genres. I love them. And I think it is very difficult to a design a mystery game. I think it's very difficult to design puzzles that are that complex with that many characters. This is ah such a strong mystery. it's In fact, it's...
02:14:55
Speaker
the best mystery game I think I've played. It is the best mystery in that I did feel like a detective in this game. It felt realistic. It felt like I actually was collecting evidence.
02:15:09
Speaker
um There are these thought trees that you can follow that pop up that kind of guide you along the way. And I'm thinking, yeah, that's great for an adventure game because in real life, you're not playing a detective that doesn't take any notes. It doesn't do any chart. That's insane. It's not realistic. You know what I mean? yeah like That's just not how it works. Of course you're going to have charts and notes. And so that game does that. It takes all these these notes for you. And it's not that that doesn't necessarily make it easy.
02:15:41
Speaker
it just makes it fun to play. It makes it fulfilling and and rewarding. Mm-hmm. It's also got a super, you know, a paranormal supernatural vibe to a very folklore, um Irish folklore. It's extremely interesting, but I like it because it is a crazy good detective mystery game. It's very Agatha Christie. It's very whodunit. All of the characters have secrets. That's a very Agatha Christie trope. You know, it's kind of like you're all in this closed circle situation, this this manner.
02:16:16
Speaker
But you're all there for kind of different reasons, really. You have secrets that you need to figure out. yeah And I played it obsessively. i Yeah, I love mystery games so much. The first one I ever played was Colonel's Bequest, which I think is very apt and apropos because this very much takes inspiration from Colonel's Bequest and Dagger of Amon Ra.
02:16:42
Speaker
And it kind of took those kind of interesting mechanics, right? That has like a time constraint mechanic and an eavesdropping mechanic. Very interesting, fun mechanics that maybe weren't designed very well right back in the lore our days. But now they are. They're designed so well. And...
02:17:02
Speaker
Yeah, it makes me happy. i love this game. i can't wait to play it again. Like you guys said, it's it's definitely a vibe game, but man, I just credit it so hard for designing a mystery game, a detective game, right?
02:17:16
Speaker
That is very difficult to do. And I love it. I love it. I love i love this game. Please play it as my game of the year. Yeah. Wow. And like I said, it took over abruptly. So I think that should say something. Man, it did the same thing to me. It just like, it just sunk into the back of my brain and over time just climbed its way up. It's.
02:17:39
Speaker
Yep. I think that's what a vibes game does. You just, yeah, it just sinks its hooks into you. Yep. Love it. All right. Love it. Roses, do you want to say my number one game at the same time as me?
02:17:53
Speaker
Yes, I do. All right. Yes. Three, two, one. blueprints prince of course it's blueprints what a fucking brilliant game it is one of the best games ever made this okay at first right it's like a uh at first it's like this weird um uh uh roguelite kind of like board game thing where you're yeah picking different rooms and you're trying to use their shapes to get yourself all the way across this board to get to this like special secret room. And then as you're exploring, you're like, oh wait, this is full of these like puzzles.
02:18:38
Speaker
This isn't just... This isn't just a rogue. Like, this is kind of like a it kind of like ah a puzzle game. This is kind of like a mist, like, escape room, like, puzzly game. And then you keep going, and you're like, well, wait, actually, this is like a really sort of...
02:19:03
Speaker
deep, deep adventure game, kind like deduction game almost where I'm having to pick up these little tiny clues scattered throughout this place and write them down in a notebook, like a real notebook in my actual life. And then take a thousand million screenshots and keep coming back and trying to figure out what the hell this could mean.
02:19:26
Speaker
And beyond all that, It's like this really layered, complex fantasy story about this like ah this fantasy world and its politics and...
02:19:43
Speaker
Even the fact that this mansion shifts its rooms every single night is like part of the narrative. Like there's a reason why it does this. And there's a reason why he's passing it down to you rather than somebody else. And a reason why he's making you go through these like,
02:20:01
Speaker
this insane puzzle to try and inherit his mansion. i mean, the premise of the game is just, you're trying to get to, it's a, what is it? A, um it is 45 room grid and you're trying to find room 46, which should be impossible, but it's not. And,
02:20:20
Speaker
your goal just consistently shifts. You think you're chasing after just this room and then you find out, no, you're chasing after like the entire history of this family and this nation. And i went, I rolled credits on this game like three times. You go through, wow you go through this game,
02:20:41
Speaker
And you get to the final room, you roll credits, and then you just keep playing. And you find more mysteries and more secrets. And then you you think you found them all, and you roll credits again.
02:20:53
Speaker
And then you find fucking more mysteries and more secrets. And your goals just keep updating. Like, I remember writing down on a piece of paper all the things I wanted to solve. And at some point, looking down at the piece of paper, going, well, those were all solved.
02:21:07
Speaker
And I still have 100 things left to do in this game. it's It's brain food in every possible way. Through its story, through its ah mechanics, through its puzzles.
02:21:24
Speaker
i can't I can't say enough good about Blueprints. it it It's utterly incredible. I can't believe somebody made a game like this. And it could only... Solo dev? Yeah.
02:21:36
Speaker
Yes, a solo dev who worked like eight years on this. And my gosh it could only have happened, i think, in the year 2025. Because it takes so many much inspiration so much inspiration from so many other games and mashes them together into one utter masterpiece.
02:21:57
Speaker
That's my number one game of the year. It's Blueprints. Nice. I knew that. I knew that. I knew that that was going to happen. Yeah. I absolutely loved it. Do you guys, eat do either of you have have anything to say about Blueprints?
02:22:10
Speaker
I haven't played it because again, i feel like I'm going to mess it up or something. but oh wait, Blueprint, I just got it.
02:22:21
Speaker
Wow. Well, all right, let's go down our list really quick. do Just our top tens. um Casey, just 10 to one real fast for people. Look Outside, Silksong, Tormented Souls 2, Claire Obscura, Expedition 33, Promise Mascot Agency, Absalom, The Drifter, Blue Prince, Pip the Strello and the Cursed Yo-Yo and Kingdoms of the Dump.
02:22:46
Speaker
Roses, your top so five. Top five? Sure. Number one, Sands of Lake Manor, The Drifter, Old Skies, No, I'm Not a Human, and Duck Detective, The the c Glamping One. The Ghost of Glamping. Yeah, The Ghost of Glamping.
02:23:03
Speaker
Mine from one to ten are Blue Prince, Claire Obscura, Expedition 33, The Sands of Lake Manor, The Drifter, Ooh, hollow night silksong citizen sleeper 2 starward vector strange antiquities rosewater and strange jigsaws two games that start with the word strange yeah that's that's uh there's a word for what that is and i can't think of it right now that has a type listen case explosion we kept you up so late and I'm so sorry about that, but thank you so much for coming on and sharing with us, uh, all your expertise about video games. Sicko takes.
02:23:43
Speaker
Sicko takes. I absolutely love it. You're in good company here with some other sickos. Um, where can people go to see more of you?
02:23:55
Speaker
um i have a youtube channel now so it's casey explosion on youtube i started uploading like proper scripted videos. So I've been a Twitch streamer for many years now. So you can find me on twitch.tv slash Casey explosion.
02:24:15
Speaker
Been on there for ages. Casey explosion on blue sky. And I have a steam curator page where I put most of the games that I recommend on there. i haven't updated it too much recently. Yeah.
02:24:28
Speaker
because um working working on the script for my Game of the Year video, which has taken a while because they're they're quite a lot. if you're a if you were a PC gamer right now, and what what what day is this podcast going out?
02:24:47
Speaker
um Wednesday, January 14th. Okay. So on Steam right now, there is a There is a detective, Steam Detective Fest.
02:25:02
Speaker
And some of the games we we're talking about tonight, such as Root Trees Are Dead and Blueprints and Saints of Blake Manor, they're they' are all they are all discounted right now.
02:25:15
Speaker
The Drifter as well. really Really good stuff. golden Case the Golden Idol. all all all All kinds of really cool things. um So there's there's if anybody hears about some of these cool cool games, like, again, Duck Detective, they're all on sale now. there's it There is a Steam Detective Fest. So there you go. That's incredible. yeah and that is right up our listeners alley. Do you have, before we let you go, is there is there like a um
02:25:49
Speaker
ah Is there any games off the top of your head that you're really looking forward to in the upcoming year?
02:25:56
Speaker
Sticks Blades of Greed. really not even familiar with that oh okay so sticks is um it's like a spin-off franchise from the game of orcs and men where you play as this little goblin guy who is you just just murder murdering it up it's like a pure stealth kind of experience and i really loved the uh the second one
02:26:26
Speaker
sticks shards of darkness and so blades of greed is coming out when is this next month 19th february look really looking forward to that because what i loved about the previous game was like the the The level design, the way it uses verticality, it it's magnificent.
Anticipation for 'Sticks: Blades of Greed'
02:26:52
Speaker
They had these huge, sprawling levels and really impressive, really impressive level design. Like this one this one level that's like you're skulking around on this this kind of like steampunky airship.
02:27:07
Speaker
And, you know, just awesome this this um g niche little little franchise that that I really love, that i have a lot of fondness for, because, you know, you get to be a stabby little murder goblin, sneak around and murder people and... and So i've been looking forward to that one.
02:27:27
Speaker
And anything else that's upcoming? Let's see. this problem There's probably like ah hell of a lot. There's probably there is a lot. There is a Even just in adventure games, there's a lot that's upcoming. um Well, yeah. Roses, what are you what are you looking forward to most?
02:27:44
Speaker
I don't know. You know me, Matt. I'm a more I'm an in the moment. In the moment kind of person. I don't even know what I'm looking forward to until I'm looking forward to I'll tell you what you're looking forward to. im I'll do yours and then I'll do mine. Yeah.
02:27:59
Speaker
I have a thing. Maybe the new Dark Side Detective. I'm looking forward to that. I don't know if that, is that 2026? I think it is. Well, I thought you were going to say Perfect Tide Station to Station. Oh, yeah, of course. Yes, I am. very I am very much looking forward to that. um And I know we have a release date for that pretty soon. it's Yeah, I think that's like next week when this yeah and this airs. And then ah I'll say I'm looking forward to ah Esoteric Ebb.
02:28:29
Speaker
which is an isometric RPG. That's like, um it's like a silly ah medieval fantasy version of yeah of ah ah like, like a disco Elysium kind of game. Yeah. You mentioned that not long ago. Actually. Yes. yeah That looks pretty, pretty great. and There's a couple others, but we'll talk about that on a future episode. Guys.
02:28:53
Speaker
Thank you. Well, thank you, Casey Explosion, for being here. Listeners, thank you so much for listening. ah You can find us on the internet at ah Save Your Game on Instagram.
02:29:06
Speaker
Save Your Game Podcast. That's what I said. And I'm pretty sure I said that. And I think we all know it. um and You can check out our Discord, which is there's a link in the show notes. Where else can they? What else do you want from them?
02:29:21
Speaker
Roses. What do I want from the viewers? Yeah, what do you want from these listeners? ah You guys know where to find me. Of course, Pushing Up Roses on YouTube. I do have a video about some of the games mentioned here. So if you want to know more and to get some visuals, I have that video out.
02:29:38
Speaker
And I think that's that's about it. That's about it. so I think there's only one thing left to do before we go. Is it to make a profound statement? Yeah, I want you to make a profound statement.
02:29:52
Speaker
Okay, here it goes. You ready? Yes. Podcasts is art. And art is suffer.