Transcript
Speaker: So I woke up like tragically early today because I had a rough day yesterday. So I'm like, I am going to do what I never do and go to bed early, which for me is about 10 o'clock. And I went to bed and then I woke up at like 5 a.m.
Speaker: and to my... A shock and also pleasant surprise, Starbucks is delivering coffee at 5 a.m. Okay.
Speaker: And I'm like, heck yeah. i'm going to like I'm going to embrace being awake this early. I'm going to get coffee and a cranberry bliss bar not sponsored. Dude, I'm a sucker for a holiday lineup.
Speaker: If I find out that you're secretly sponsored. Secretly sponsored. So illegal. And like sneaking it into this podcast. I'm going be so mad. Hashtag not sponsored. I just really like holiday drops like drinks. I'm ah such a sucker for it. yeah And so I like I get my coffee. It's awesome.
Speaker: But I have this I have this bad habit, Matt, and I don't know how another one. Yeah, I have like a ton. This one's pretty egregious. OK, I like to drink coffee in bed.
Speaker: Like I like to sit up. I like to have my tablet, scroll like socials or the news since and and answer messages or whatever. And I i usually have my coffee in bed.
Speaker: don't think that's that bad and unless it's just bad that I also do that sometimes. ah Do you spill it everywhere? Here's the thing.
Speaker: is that of what you like to do? Is that what you're telling me? I have two bedside tables. Two. so yeah But sometimes I put the cup on the mattress. Roses.
Speaker: And sometimes i go for the cup and just fucking whack it. And spills everywhere. and now my entire bed smells like coffee. You can't put the cup on the mattress.
Speaker: What do I do? What should I do? do I stop? ah First of all, what's wrong with me? What is this where what we what are we diagnosing me with? And how do I fix it?
Speaker: Wouldn't it be funny if one of the things that Starbucks did is they sneak into your house in the morning like a little mouse. Like little gremlin. they creep up your stairs.
Speaker: um't know if you I don't know if you have multiple floors. I live on the second floor. um Well, I have a two-floor house. I live on both floors. it I sleep on the- Anyway. Jesus They creep into your house like a little mouse, and they creep up the stairs, and they they say oil the doors, and then slowly push it open, and they tiptoe over, and they put a little coffee next to you.
Speaker: And so then you wake up, and you're like, ah, my Starbucks is here. Yeah, except that sounds amazing and I do it to myself, but thanks. And then you'll drop it in your bed. Well, okay. so And it's iced too, so it's cold. So what do you do about this?
Speaker: I am envisioning some sort of hat. Hat? A hat. Like those beer hats. Uh-huh.
Speaker: But you're already... Uh-huh. Go on. ah Like those beer hats. And you just put a coffee, but you only have one coffee, so it can just go in the center of your head.
Speaker: So it'll it'll hold the coffee in place on the top of your head, and then there's like a straw that comes down your mouth. No, I can't. I'm anti-using straws. Oh,
Speaker: okay. um all right yeah It gives you wrinkles, so I need to always be sipping. Always be sipping, hashtag. Okay, how about...
Speaker: An IV.
Speaker: Hey, everybody. Good morning. Welcome to Save Your Game. So nice to have you here. I'm Matt Allcamp with me. The sleepy.
Speaker: The, I guess, coffee smelling. Coffeed. Wet with coffee. but fishing approachs That's what she said. Yeah. Yeah. I sold my coffee.
Speaker: Ew. If that's what she said, if coffee comes out of down there...
Speaker: That just means you're you love coffee. I and i know so much i love coffee. I self-lubricate with coffee naturally. That's how much coffee I drink.
Speaker: Listen, this is a true story. I used to drink so much coffee that if I like worked out later that night, I would sweat coffee. It would smell like coffee, which I don't know. Maybe that's better than smelling like traditional body odor. And would you lick it off your face?
Speaker: Would you lick it off your face for more energy? Oh, no. What the fuck? Yeah. The coffee's coming down in the side of your face and you're like, all right, i can go for another 10 minutes. Yeah. I don't do that anymore. i just have one cup of coffee, which half of it gets spilled into bed.
Speaker: so you have half a cup of coffee every day. Half cup, yeah. ah So i that happens to me. i have trouble with alliums. So this happens to me if I eat onions and I sweat.
Speaker: ah You smell like onion? It smells like onion and it burns my skin. What the fuck? Yeah, it's like it's horrible. That's crazy. It doesn't smell like horribly of onions, right? like You wouldn't walk past me and be like, ew, onions.
Speaker: It's just like, you'd be like, you might be, if you walk past me and I was exercising whatever, you might be like, ew, sweat. But- If you got real close, you'd be like, hmm, sweat with onions.
Speaker: that's That's me, but like sweat with coffee. It's when I shower.
Speaker: Also, maybe this has something to do with the fact that like I take blisteringly hot showers. I do too. It has to be like, it has to be boiling. has to be scalding. There's very few times that hot water is not at the absolute peak.
Speaker: Yeah. um So when I take showers after eating onions. that i I smell my shower smells at least to me like cooking onions oh my god yeah it's bad ah but so I well it also you know I also have stomach issues with them so like fucking I just have to avoid onions but man that's a bummer they taste so good they're great caramelized onions baby as an ingredient in something like I don't like to just eat onion
Speaker: But like as an ingredient in something, fuck, there's nothing that adds more flavor. It's in my top 10 of ingredients. Last time I made chili, I had to make it with ginger because I was trying to do an allium-free That's really interesting.
Speaker: g Ginger, i I like ginger personally, but I don't know if I can imagine it in chili. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it just to replace the onion taste. like like i you need onions To replace the onions and garlic, it was like you need something that has that sort of...
Speaker: um i don't even know what you call that category of flavor, but you need something to replace the onions and garlic. And yeah ah ginger. It was definitely less enjoyable than...
Speaker: um But still good chili, like better than I would have expected. I just dump a bunch of cayenne pepper in it. Well, that too.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, I still added peppers and spice. So it's early morning, folks. I hate this. This is terrible. It's terrible.
Speaker: um I'm kind of digging it. Like we usually record. like we've Before, I think we've recorded some early afternoons. Usually we record to late evening. Yeah.
Speaker: We've done a couple late afternoons. But I think this might be the first, possibly second time we've done an early morning record. Yeah, it's not my jam.
Speaker: It's so early, and it's not even that early. no for you, it's nine, right? Yeah, but I did, like I said, I did wake up at like 4.35 a.m., m so.
Speaker: I woke up, I think, because I also passed out last night. know, know. ah Yeah, i was texted i texted you before I left a place, because we were going to record last night, and On my drive home, you texted me, hey, I'm so tired right now. Can we maybe record tomorrow?
Speaker: But let me like you had a question. You were like, hey, but when you get home, let me know blank. Right. Yeah. And then you never got back to me. I'm like, is he mad? I fell asleep in my clothes on the couch. Oh, God.
Speaker: but We're so tired all the time. Yeah. So then that means that both of you, both of us woke up early. And so the first thing i did was like, I was like, oh, fuck. I never texted ah roses last night. So text you.
Speaker: And you're already awake. And I'm awake, like yeah. Which is weird. Yeah. Like, huh. What if we just do it now? Early morning gaming. for Early morning adventure games. Because see how, you know, you compare the energy of this episode to any other episode and let us know what it, what feels different to you.
Speaker: i feel a little wired. feel wired? Because I did have coffee early. so I feel like slightly wired. so I have a question for you. Okay.
Speaker: It's going to be unexpected. i Yes, I am an artist. Thank you for asking. i know this is a wild question to ask at the beginning of our podcast, but have you played any video games lately?
Speaker: Yes, I have. you what Tell me about them. I played the demo for Winterboro, which we talked about ah very briefly on one of our last episodes. and I looked it up, and of course I had this visceral reaction to how adorable it was.
Speaker: And it is. ah It's very, very cute. It is... Let's see. How have we describe this game? It's... It's got that kind of life management simulation style game that Stardew Valley has, except you're playing a little mousy mouse, playing a little mousy mouse. And both of your mouse parents have passed away and you are now going to move back to your like childhood home in Winterboro. Yeah.
Speaker: And you get back to your home. And of course, because this is this is a game where you have to like make improvements, it's a mess. Because it always is. Like in Stardew Valley, you get to the farm and it's a pile.
Speaker: ah So it's similar to that. You get to this burrow. It's a mess. And, you know, you go through all the tutorials of like, here's how to craft stuff and here's how to collect stuff from the outside, from from nature. And, you know, um its yeah it's about learning how to be like self-sufficient and surviving this cold winter.
Speaker: And I don't want to give anything away. I did spend about an hour on the demo because I liked it. I liked crafting things. I like collecting things and doing all those those sorts of quests.
Speaker: And And the cliffhanger is intense, guys. like Yes. I was really shocked at where the demo ended, I'm sad. i always wonder, do you spoil the end of a demo?
Speaker: I really don't want to. I don't want I want people to see it. yeah the Yes, I agree. The ending of this demo is intense. I just did not see that happening at all. Yeah.
Speaker: It fits, what I'll say is, it fits with the theme, i think, of the game. And it also makes me a little suspicious of the theme of the game. Because I think the theme of the game is um self-sufficiency.
Speaker: Yeah. And what it means to grow up and be on your own and take care of yourself with without but using the you know the knowledge that people in the past have given you.
Speaker: Teach a man to fish. rather than give a man a fish, right? Yeah. um In this case, a mouse. And instead of fish, ah killing bugs. Which you don't have to do, by the way.
Speaker: i really? I killed a beetle. I felt really bad about it. And so ah so I just started collecting plants instead. Oh, I didn't know you could... ah Because there's some stuff you can only craft if you kill the beetles.
Speaker: That's like foodstuffs, though. So you can instead just eat vegetarian or whatever. That's what I did, yeah. that's I think that's a perfectly valid way to play.
Speaker: um But i you know that's how I play real life. I play real life by being a vegetarian. So you don't kill beetles and bugs and stuff?
Speaker: You know, if we... I feel like if we mass ate bugs... I might do it. It's just so environmentally friendly.
Speaker: Yeah, no, that's the future. The future is bugs for sure. I don't mean to be gross, but like there's a lot of people who feel that way. Yeah. all right. So did you play anything?
Speaker: Well, hold on. I want to talk about Winterboro a little more. Oh, yeah. Go for it. I'm not one who believes like, okay, this is a very American ideal, right? ah It's a very John Wayne but Like sort of this rugged individualism, right?
Speaker: And like, ah people should fend for themselves and should we shouldn't give people handouts. We should teach them how to take care of themselves. And that's that's the way of the world.
Speaker: I don't believe in that. um Or at least I don't believe in that to a be a great extent. I believe in that to very- I believe in it to a very minor degree. I think i think that ah resources to teach people how to manage their finances and get jobs and like free college. you know like I believe in teaching people skill sets and helping them live their own lives. And I believe in allowing people to live their own lives if that's what they want.
Speaker: But I also believe that people who need help Yes. There's a line there. There's a thin line there. Because if if you don't do things to help yourself and be self-sufficient, you're just going to have a bunch of man children in your house. And you don't want any of that.
Speaker: Trust me, it's not good. So I do think there's merit in in being independent and not depending so much on other people. But I'm the same way. I also believe very strongly in helping people that need help.
Speaker: Coming from, ah for me, like coming from ah just a little side note, coming from a family of addicts and being a former addict myself, I also believe that you need to help yourself to get help from others.
Speaker: Oh, it's a whole thing. Anyway, do go on. No, i and I can see that. and i So i believe I definitely believe in a cross between those two things. But yeah seeing the ending of this game, I'm not 100% sure I know this game's perspective.
Speaker: Same. I know that this is a game about self-sufficiency. I don't know the degree to which they want us to value that. Yeah. Because they specifically sort of ah systematically take away every person who is involved in helping this person, helping the main character. And like we don't and we don't quite know that it'll stay that way either. Correct. Because again, this is ah demo. You only get a short amount of gameplay.
Speaker: But there are there are several people throughout this person's life who help them. And all again, all those people are sort of taken away. There's also a rejection of modernity theme here.
Speaker: And when you combine those two things, you could be talking about a type of rugged individualism, and an antisocial return to the way things were, that things never actually were, just people imagine they were, yeah sort of idealism that I i find really almost disgusting.
Speaker: Yeah. Again, I'm not saying that's what this game is saying. I am saying I am worried about its perspective sure based on how this ended. and I'm worried about its politics.
Speaker: So I am interested, but the game was cute and beautiful and and ah ah intriguing and fun enough yeah for me to want to see more of it.
Speaker: So yeah, definitely. i had fun with it. Yeah. When it's out. So you asked me if I played any games. Yeah, I did. I figured.
Speaker: um ah But i didn't. Here's the thing. I played ah so many cool games came out very recently. Yeah. That I played a the ah the the beginnings of a bunch of games. So I'm going to tell you about a couple premises.
Speaker: And I don't have anything super deep to say about it. That's perfect. So first game I played is the Seance of Blake Manor.
Speaker: Oh, nice. I'm getting so many recommendations for that. lot of people have talked about it. It is sort of there's a because there's a blue princeyness to it. There is a paradise killeriness to it.
Speaker: There is a ah ah golden idolness to it. You play a detective who was called to a mansion to investigate a disappearance.
Speaker: this is This takes place in 1897 in Ireland and is really based around the mythology of Ireland. like there's This game is really rooted in Irish mythology.
Speaker: You arrive at this mansion. it's very It looks very blueprints, but like dark. Like if Mike Mignola, the Hellboy artist, ah did all the art for blueprints. Yeah.
Speaker: And so you arrive on these grounds. While looking around, you encounter a ghost. Like, legitimately, one of the first things you see is a ghost. So you know that there are ghosts at this house. This is a haunted detective mystery.
Speaker: I mean, it's called the seance of Blake Manor. So it'd be hilarious if there was a seance and no ghosts. Seance was kind of bad. This place is riddled with ghosts. And there's there's some interesting things that happen. Like ah I was exploring the foyer of the mansion and at one point,
Speaker: I exit a room and I'm just turning around to get my bearings in the foyer again. And there's just a ghost there. It's just there. So I turn back and it's gone.
Speaker: Okay. And like I know it was there. i didn't i didn't I didn't make it up in my head. And there's a couple things like that that are really effective. Okay.
Speaker: So it introduces you to this timing mechanic really early on. And I know this is going to turn some people off, but I'd i'd suggest people try to push their way through it um because I think the game is generous in ways that some games like this normally aren't.
Speaker: It introduces you to this timing mechanic by saying like your room is going to be ready by midnight and it's 11 o'clock now. Every action you take yeah it takes a certain amount of time, usually like one minute.
Speaker: Asking a question to the person at the front desk takes time. Usually a couple minutes. So you have to be judicious. and But walking around and looking at things does not take any time. So you want to walk around, look at everything, get ah get your full bearings of the place, and then be judicious about what you choose to do and what you choose to ask about.
Speaker: Yeah. Because you have until midnight when your room is ready to discover all you can about the circumstances that of this woman's disappearance.
Speaker: And also, so at this time, also you find out a little bit about the history of the mansion. You find out that there's a seance taking place here and there's a bunch of people that have gathered to be a part of this seance and everybody, you know, the staff is all stressed out preparing for the event.
Speaker: Depending on how much you explore, there's some other things you can find out. There is a important piece of information that you can only find out in this early section. Mm-hmm. I don't know what happens if you miss it.
Speaker: um It's not that hard to discover because there's about one puzzle here. And so you kind of know, well, if I solve this puzzle, that's probably where the piece of information is. And and that's that's the case.
Speaker: So there's a little bit of point and clickiness here to it, right? Where it's like, okay, I have to do this thing. I have to fix this thing and then solve this mini puzzle so that I can... Distract this person so that I can do this thing, right? Yeah.
Speaker: When you collect enough evidence through these actions, you do get a little case of the Golden Idol style prompt. And you can make connections in your mind map between ah pieces of evidence that you've collected, objects that you found, things you've seen, stuff people have said.
Speaker: Things you've observed, you can like duck detective, right? You can look at somebody and examine pieces of them and and then make deductions based on those things that you see.
Speaker: And then, you know, you fill in like a little sentence. It'll say like blank has blank because blank. And there's a series of words that you've discovered through your evidence in each of those. And you try and make the the best sentence you can.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I didn't realize that that was part of that mechanic. I guess like I had been thinking it was more of a traditional point and click. Yeah, no, it's there. It combines a lot of very, again, very much like blueprints. It combines combines a lot of different elements, which is, I think what I like about this game so much.
Speaker: Yeah. he One thing, speaking of Irish mythology and stuff you look at very early on, The jack-o'-lantern story is right at the beginning of this game.
Speaker: Nice. I had just told the jack-o'-lantern story at at a show. And on this podcast. And on this podcast. And immediately walk into this mansion, there's carved turnips.
Speaker: That's funny. And you look at him and he tells you part of the story. And then later you can find a book that tells the whole story. That's awesome. we're like, holy shit. Also, I bet people who listen to this podcast a couple days later are like, oh, that's where he got it.
Speaker: No, it's not. it's We know it's not. So then you go to sleep. You have some bad dreams. You wake up and now you have a certain amount of days
Speaker: to solve this mystery. And apparently everybody ah else in the this world, like there's a ton of people at this mansion, maybe too many. It's a little overwhelming. um And they're all just living their lives on a schedule.
Speaker: Yeah. Very much like your favorite game, one of your favorite games, The Colonel's Bequest. I was just going to say this reminds me of Lorobo. So all of them are having, all these people are having their own little mysteries going on.
Speaker: Like they might have, all of them have secrets. Yep. And you as the detective can walk around and yeah at at some point when you've gathered there enough evidence, you can confront anybody and tell them their secrets. Oh, that's cool. And you can do these in it seems like any order, though some are locked into later times.
Speaker: And what I've heard... This is about where I stopped, right? I started talking to some people in this hallway and I stopped. So I'm only about an hour in. um But what I've heard is don't stress out.
Speaker: Like keep time in mind, but don't stress out too much about time. Right. Because you have plenty of time to do things and the game sort of guides you.
Speaker: Yeah. There's plenty of ways that the game shows you here's what you should or could be doing next. Yeah, like Dagger and Colonel's Request didn't do that. It was a free for all. You just had to trial by fire, right?
Speaker: Yeah, yeah. And this is my one worry about this game. And again, I can't say complaint because I'm very early on. My one worry about this game is this does not seem like the sort of game you play twice or three times or four times.
Speaker: So I feel like if you miss something in this game, you just have to be comfortable with having missed it forever. Yeah, yeah. um Or missed it for three or four years until you forget enough of the game to want to play it again. Yeah, yeah. um So, yeah, i I don't know. Seance of Blake Manor. It's really...
Speaker: It's really an interesting piece of work. And a I think it's something we're going to be talking about in January when we talk about our games of the year. Like i'm I'm going to go through this and I'm already thinking this game has the qualities, you know, unless this game really fucks itself up somehow.
Speaker: Yeah. This game has all the qualities that that that could combine to make one of the best games I've played this year. Yeah. So let's say I had some Blake Manor. Did you play anything else before I...
Speaker: Yes. ah i I finally got around to the last ah Fields of Mysteria update, which I think is worth talking about because they finally let you get to the eight heart section with these characters.
Speaker: When you say last, you mean most recent, not the final. Most recent, yeah. Not like final, but most recent. Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, honestly, having been stopped at the six heart event was pretty frustrating for me ah because nothing really juicy happens. But the now like dating is unlocked.
Speaker: So you can date people. You can date however many people you want. ah Marriage is not unlocked yet, but you could just like started. You can only marry one person, but you can date however many people you want.
Speaker: right So I've been going through that and getting the heart events. And there's also a dating mechanic. So on the weekends, you can ask whoever you're dating if they would like to join you for like a meal or for like a date in the deep woods or something, which, yeah, that's a little bit different from Stardew. That's a new a new little mechanic. Yeah.
Speaker: there was a There was another sort of cozy farming sim, I remember, that had a mechanic like that. It was very um buggy yeah and not not incredibly fun. But what was that game? Was it My Time at Portia?
Speaker: That sounds right. Yes. ah My Time at Portia. Did you ever play that game? I know of it. I haven't played it. There was a lot of interesting stuff in it. It wasn't incredible. I think mostly it was...
Speaker: Mostly what makes it not incredible is it was very buggy and also um the progression was kind of boring. Like slow and like the further in you got, the slower the progression got and the things you did to progress weren't so fun.
Speaker: Like were a little too grindy to make it good. But anyway, they had a dating mechanic where you could pick somebody and they would schedule a date. And you had to be at a right the right place at the right time and you got to choose what activities you did on the date.
Speaker: Okay. At various um ah various like like decision points. who And based on those activities, they would like you more or less.
Speaker: Okay. Yeah, that's not quite the mechanic here. They already like you. ah So this is just like a little extra bonus you can just do. This is just flavor. Yep, it's just flavor. It's just stuff you can do with whoever you're dating.
Speaker: And the way you unlock dates is you find inspiration. So like, let's say you're fishing and you find, don't know, like a starfish, a really cool looking fucking starfish. That unlocks the beach date. If you find something in the woods, that might unlock the wood date. if you Oh, holy cow. Yeah, yeah. so you get and So you find inspiration. So it's it's also a thing unlock too. that.
Speaker: I like that. Oh, man. Yeah, you should try it. It gives a whole new dimension to collectibles. Yes. Yes. Wow. All right. I like that a lot.
Speaker: Yeah, you should give it a try. and finally got like March to date me and an adorable dragon guy. went on a date with with you? Yeah. No, we're dating now. he's my He's one of my boyfriends. Did you bing bong him?
Speaker: Yeah. I don't know. I don't think so. I don't think that happens until like 10 hearts. But this but Dragon guy is like, I just want to pleasure you.
Speaker: I love Jesus Christ. So he comes out really strong and it's kind of hot.
Speaker: In this game, in this little cute video game where mostly you're just like popping around but holding chickens and stuff.
Speaker: A guy comes up to you and says, i just want to pleasure you. it Yeah, pretty much. I mean, and not in so many strong words. I just want to pleasure you. Yeah. There's allusions to banging this dragon guy. Wow.
Speaker: And like if you if you kiss him, he's like, ah yes, I like the way that your lips feel on my lips. And I would like to experience that many, many times. That, i okay. I like that. That is cute. It is cute, actually. Walking up to you and saying, I just want to pleasure you. He doesn't say it that blunt a tone, but it but it yeah is That has never worked for me.
Speaker: I've done that so many times. Okay. And that has never worked. Well, this is after you're dating, though. he said Okay. Oh, no. that Yeah, i do this I do this to strangers at a Wawa.
Speaker: No, he just keeps expressing like, I want to keep studying human behavior and give you as many pleasurable things as you want. Aw, okay. there are There's implication there. You should play Okay, so I want to – all right, so he doesn't say it specifically, I just want to play He's like, I want to bring you pleasure. It is and you're like is naughty, though.
Speaker: Like, that is what he's saying. If you were a child, though, and playing this game, you would still. Maybe you would get it? Yeah. Well, that's what I'm asking. is it Is it explicit enough? that Okay. If I was a child and somebody walked up to me, well, somebody walked up to my character, hopefully, in a video game and said, I just want to pleasure you, I would know that they were talking about fucking.
Speaker: If I was a child and they said, I just want to bring you all the pleasure in the world. but That's not how he says it. Right, right. Well, that's what I'm asking. I'm not articulating it well enough because I don't remember. That's what I'm asking about that distinction. Like if I was an innocent little babe, would I have been like, he's talking about sex?
Speaker: Or would I have been like, he might be talking about something dirty. Yes, if you were an adolescent, you'd get you'd pick it up. Okay. Yeah. um because I like this game. No, yeah, no, it's great. There's a flirty connotation to it. And ah yeah, I've been having fun. I've been having fun with it. That's great. it's I put it down long enough to to be able to do some of the farming over again and and you know not get sick of it. And it's a fun game. It really is really fun. It's really adorable. And I just really want to finish it and play more of it.
Speaker: That's great. Yeah. um All right, the next game I've played ah just a bit of. um I played, i think, like an hour and a half of this game, and I'm fucking loving it, dude.
Speaker: It is, i can't believe how many good games came out this year. It is Foolish Mortals. Yeah, I have a code for that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. you should You should jump into it immediately. You are going to adore this I know. It's it's a it's a Roses game sure. It might be... Well, I don't know if it's going to unseat the Drifter for you, but I think it is going to be... I would imagine this is going to be your number two, number three game of the year. Okay.
Speaker: It is... Fucking... It is Broken Sword. it is Curse of Monkey Island. it is Gabriel Knight. You are in...
Speaker: a It's 1933, Louisiana, and you are a ah like an and an insurance guy or or so or something. like acc claim that You're something something boring, right?
Speaker: And what you're trying to do is find the lost treasure of Belmore Manor on this small island off of Louisiana in sort of like Caribbean adjacent, right?
Speaker: Because what happened is 30 years ago, there was a a woman was supposed to marry this man who was well below her station. And she had three brothers who were in charge of this vast fortune and this manor.
Speaker: Three dudes kind of in charge of this island. Richest dudes around. And they disapproved. But eventually sort of were like, all right, fine.
Speaker: You love him. That's great.
Speaker: Right before the wedding,
Speaker: this guy disappears. the The groom-to-be. And the woman comes out and she's like, actually, I'm going to marry this incredibly rich man instead.
Speaker: I'm in love with him. Yeah. The night of the wedding,
Speaker: the Belmore Mansion kind of explodes with green light. And the entire wedding party, everybody, the three brothers, the bride, the groom, all disappear.
Speaker: So now everybody's gone. assume they're dead because of the name of this. I'm just ah positing that because the name of the game is Foolish Mortals. I don't know. Yeah. Who who knows?
Speaker: So, i mean, even if they survived and went into hiding, they'd be 30 years older. Mm-hmm. So some of them would probably be dead by that point.
Speaker: Yeah. um so Okay, so yeah, you're this you're this guy, a very you know sort of George Stobart-esque guy, and you're on a very Curse of Monkey Island-esque island. esque island And you're sort of wandering around talking to people, trying to find this lost treasure so that the state can collect on it,
Speaker: And you can collect a commission for it. Sort of, you know, you know like a like a ah a treasure hunter, but ah an above board treasure hunter.
Speaker: ah And as you go, you sort of run into, very early on, I don't think this is a spoiler, you meet a sort of voodoo priest priest who introduces you to legitimate supernatural shit.
Speaker: He like summons a loa in front of you out of ah a, pool like a glowing pool of green liquid. And he, after you complete some task for him, he gives you the key to Belmore Manor. You go into Belmore Manor and it is, you're start you're exploring it.
Speaker: And it's spooky as hell. So ah basically, I don't want to go any further than that. It's just a point and click where there's a spooky mansion to explore. There's a little Caribbean town to explore. There's a big mystery ahead of you. There's a bunch of interesting little characters.
Speaker: There is ghosts. You need to go so early on that it's not worth hiding, that fact. um And, you know, there's, again, there's... ah
Speaker: voodoo Loa around. There is
Speaker: all sorts of supernatural um Louisiana Caribbean stuff. It's really interesting. The voice acting is great. The artwork is great. I would say it does have that point and click problem of things being a little too open and you getting a little overwhelmed of like, okay, I have like a thousand places to go and a thousand people to talk to. a yeah I'm a little overwhelmed.
Speaker: But There's two ways a point and click adventure can go, right? It can either be incredibly linear, which it can be frustrating for us, or it can be really open, which can be overwhelming for us.
Speaker: So I don't know. At least it creates a fascinating little world that you want to explore. Yeah, definitely. And a mystery that you want to solve. So that's Foolish Mortals.
Speaker: They've been working on this. It's just a husband and wife team that have been working on this for ah years and years and years. And I've been following its development forever.
Speaker: I'm really excited that it's finally out. um If you're if you're this is going to be i believe this is going to be just one of the classics that of the Neo point and click genre, which is wild that we got three of those this year yeah with old skies, ah Rosewater and foolish mortals.
Speaker: I mean, there's others, but I think those three are like, I think part of like a new Canon, you know what mean? Yeah, for sure. And I'm really impressed by it.
Speaker: Check it out. Foolish mortals. Yeah. I definitely need to get on that pretty immediately. You really do. You are going to be, I think you're going to love it. Yeah, I already i already know.
Speaker: Like, oh, this game was made for me. Before I talk about my third and final one, do you have it do you have any others that you've been playing? I don't think so. um I know I kind of dove into No, I'm Not a Human little bit. I did put a lot of... No, I put a lot of demos on my computer recently.
Speaker: But the the ones that stick that that stuck out or the one that stuck out to me was um or stood out to me was just Winterboro. also started up Tragedy at Deer Creek, but I didn't quite...
Speaker: Didn't quite get into it yet, but i you I do have the demo ready to go and probably going to give that a shot soon. Awesome. Yeah. um I think we might. Oh, shit. Wait, please.
Speaker: I did the I did the war of the Western deep demo. Oh, how do you feel about it? I don't know. don't know. I don't know. I really like it, but I don't know yet. It's kind of a short demo.
Speaker: Yeah. um But it's extremely impressive looking really beautiful 2D. Voice acting is good. Combat's kind of boring, right? I was surprised that they put combat in it. But like I have to I really do have to play beyond the demo to to really know if I'm going to like it a lot. But I do. I really do appreciate what it is at the moment.
Speaker: The puzzles seem cool. The the story is a little too like I said. i don't know if you felt this way. The story is a little too um a giant fantasy world with a lot of politics that you have to understand right away.
Speaker: Yeah. i did Is that how you felt too? I didn't feel overwhelmed by it oh at all. Yeah, no, I don't know. i felt I felt it was pretty, like for me at least, was pretty accessible, like think for the most part.
Speaker: I'm just, I'm still ah unsure of some of the gameplay. Yeah. And like some of the puzzles. But again, it's hard to judge when it's just like a 30 minute demo, you know?
Speaker: And a 30 minute demo that's all centered around finding a loose crank. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. Literally, that's the ultimate goal of this demo. That's what you need, a loose crank.
Speaker: And this is the second demo I've played of this game. And both of them put me in the this this place of like, I don't know. This feels...
Speaker: i don't know. The combat feels a little boring. The puzzles feel fine, but not yeah not incredibly impressive. The artwork is wildly impressive. And the story feels overwhelming to me, but it doesn't to you.
Speaker: So yeah your mileage may vary, folks. I think this is a game where before you... but When it comes out, before you buy it, play the demo, I think. Yeah, I think that's a good call.
Speaker: um Okay, so the third game that I played... Man, we never do this, huh? I know, know. never have this many games to talk about in the intro. this is good because we'll have like a longer first segment and then we can do like maybe an equal or shorter second segment. I'm glad we're talking about so many games.
Speaker: Me too, me too. This is, hey, this was the thesis of this podcast. And we're finally fulfilling it after 75 episodes. did it. We did
Speaker: right, so the third game that I want to talk about, and this one I've only put about 20 minutes into because I'm already, I'm not stuck, but I already was like, wow, these puzzles are hard. um Some of them, some of them are, okay, I don't want to talk too much about it.
Speaker: It is a very weird game. It's called Strange Jigsaws. The description of the game is a game of strange jigsaws. Exactly what it is. The the the the like the teaser video is just the devs saying, like this is Strange dig Jigsaws.
Speaker: It's a game of Strange Jigsaws. Yeah. That's all they want you to know about it. And if you read the reviews, they're the reviewers definitely understood the assignment because they're like, hey, just play it.
Speaker: Yes. So I don't want to talk too much about it. I want you to play it, but like I want to give you a little bit. So.
Speaker: There you are solving jigsaw puzzles. But they are not.
Speaker: Really jigsaw puzzles, right? It is not just, you know, you you find all the edge pieces and put them together and then you start filling in the center, right? Is not like you find plenty of those on your iPad.
Speaker: um All for free. But this is a game where it uses the mechanic of a jigsaw puzzle or the basic idea of a jigsaw puzzle to create very interesting puzzles.
Speaker: It's just a puzzle game. If you liked Baba is You, this is a game that you should check out. Okay. it is It is very much about learning rules, trying to implement those rules as well as you can, and then having those rules turned upside down on you in logical ways. and it also has a bit of a there is no game quality to it where
Speaker: It is hard to tell what elements of the game are.
Speaker: I'm stopped the sentence there. What elements of the game are so like like you looking at anything on the screen and you're kind of like, I don't know. Is this part of it? I don't know what to do with this. Am I going to use that?
Speaker: And sometimes you have to solve puzzles by really thinking hard about that kind of thing. Yeah. um
Speaker: that's all I'll say. It's game of strange jigsaws. Very puzzle, ah very puzzle dense, very thoughtful, unexpected,
Speaker: air abstract, maybe m and puzzle game. By Fleb. Developer Fleb. Fleb? Yeah, I also just love that developer name, Fleb. It comes up. It's the first thing you see when you load up the game. It just says, Fleb. Shout out to Fleb.
Speaker: It's like it's like what what I name characters in ah in Pokemon. Like, I've named my Pokemon protagonist is would be Fleb.
Speaker: as you As you guys know, I don't ever rename characters that have names because I feel strange about it. So Link is always Link. Meanwhile, Matt's like, Fleb! Chunk Boy.
Speaker: Short for Flebington. ah Pie Slug. ah Sloppy Baby. Have you seen the MST3K for Space Mutiny?
Speaker: Mm-mm. They have this, this is just one of my favorite things they'll do in MST3K. They'll just come up with a bunch of ridiculous names. Yeah. So there's there's this whole like, you know, this this whole like kind of roll call of this guy that they're trying to name. And they throw out names like Roll Fizzlebeef and Big, Large, Huge.
Speaker: Is that Roll Fizzlebeef? Isn't that, that's, we have a listener who goes by Roll Fizzlebeef, right? Roll Fizzlebeef. Yes. Yes. and that's very It's a very popular little little joke, little kind of, what is it called? um It's the kind of comedy I do. Not Spitfire. What's that? Rapid Fire.
Speaker: Okay. Yeah. Comedy where you're just throwing a lot of things out and someone's going to find one of those things funny. And yeah, I just love the names. Just Roll Fizzle Beef. Shout out to our listener. Roll Fizzle Beef. Big McClard Huge.
Speaker: I didn't know Big McClard Huge. I didn't know what your username was a reference to. Now I do. And now you do. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. There you go.
Speaker: so
Speaker: What are we doing today, Roses? Well, we were going to make this primarily a ranking video, but now I'm proud to say that this has become an indie game discussion slash ranking video. It's like a grab bag and rankings. That's fun. Yeah, that's great. This is a great two-section video. So yeah, we're going to rank some adventure games for you guys.
Speaker: You always call it a video and you always call our listeners viewers. I do. It's a YouTuber in It's adorable. She's YouTube in her little brain. oh shucks. Just a weird little guy.
Speaker: oh um yeah So do we want to play Rolly Fizzarino? Yes. And come back and let's fucking rank every adventure game ever. How about do it?
Speaker: Hey everybody, welcome back to Save Your Game. I am your host, Matt Aukamp, with me in this sleepy Sunday morning. Pushing up roses. Hi, it's me. You might know her from ah the podcast Save Your Game.
Speaker: You might know her from the internet. YouTube.com. Yeah. Do you guys still, do you have that? The internet? No, YouTube.com. Yeah, we still have YouTube.com. Yeah, I got to get it.
Speaker: I own it. I got to get YouTube.com. i never I never got it, so I have to go get it. I should get it. You should subscribe to YouTube.com. I should subscribe to YouTube.com. keep hearing about it, but I never went and got it. so and i just do they Do you go to Best Buy?
Speaker: I'll go to Best Buy and I'll say, hey. think can rent it at Blockbuster, dude. I'd like a YouTube.com, please. You'd YouTube.com?
Speaker: They'll give me a YouTube.com at Best Buy. Ask for it. So...
Speaker: Roses, here's what we're going to do today. Okay. We are going to rank every adventure game of ever in all time that has ever existed. Ever.
Speaker: Yes, ever. Ever. And it doesn't matter if we've played them. It does not matter if we've played them. Most of them we haven't. There's roughly 4,000.
Speaker: Because it's every year the list increases by another like now. Yes, correct. Unbelievable. ah But we – so we're we're almost done. Like we're getting to the end of this because we've ranked 120 so far. Yes.
Speaker: we We really – people – every time we do one of these episodes, people ask where the – um Where they can read, where they can find the list. And I always say we're going to put it up and I never do.
Speaker: Correct. Hey, maybe this time. There's always hoping, folks. But, Roses, I know your throat is a little rough this morning.
Speaker: It is. So while I normally have you read the whole list, do you want me to read the whole list? Do it. Okay. But can you do it as well as I do it? No. So. oh No.
Speaker: but Let's start from the bottom and go up. So starting with 120. And you guys are just going to have to track the numbers. i'll ill I'll tap in every now and then with with where we're at. But you can count, guys. I know you can. I believe in you. know Number 120, the worst adventure game of all time is Limbo of the Lost.
Speaker: Followed by Secret Doctrine, Weird, Truth is Stranger Than Fiction, The Labyrinth of Time, Madness of the Architect, Enola, Of Light and Darkness, The Prophecy, you know Mystery of the Nautilus, Free DC, The Crystal Key, Wild Wild West, The Steel Assassin, James Paris II, The Fountain of Drunkle... Eternal Drunkenness. Fuck.
Speaker: You were to say drunkle, weren't Drunkle eternal. That's like a drunk uncle. Drunkle. My drunkle. The fountain of drunkles. Ew. It's just a fountain where all your drunk uncles pass out.
Speaker: Oh, no. It's a horror game. We're at 108. So this is the 108th best adventure game of all time, but also the 13th worst adventure game of all time.
Speaker: The Fan, Dallas Quest, Blue Force, Super Jazzman, Miasmata, The Abyssal Zone, Time Paradox, Batman, Partners in Peril, and at 100, Five Magical Amulets.
Speaker: 99 is the bad, the ugly, and the sober. Minecraft story mode. ah Long count. Violet. ah Archangel. The house of seven stars.
Speaker: The shine of a star. Love. a puzzle box filled with stories. Chapsui. Hans Christian Andersen. The ugly prince duckling. That's one title. We're at 99. I know. That's one title.
Speaker: Magnus Imago. Secret Missions, Mata Hari and the Kaiser Submarines. Voyage, inspired by Jules Verne. Moons of Madness. Astronomica, the quest for the edge of the universe.
Speaker: Elena, Displaced Reality. The Suicide of Rachel Foster. Cleopatra, Riddle of the Tomb. Nancy Drew, Midnight in Salem. Again.
Speaker: Ankh, Heart of Osiris, The Dark Crystal, Randall's Monday, Cosmonauts, Escape Reality, Krabat and the Secret of the Sorbian King, and at 75, missing since January. have to say it missing since January. Missing since it's January.
Speaker: It's only February. there Not that long. But for us, it's November, so they've been missing a long time. Mazovian Adventure, Lifeless Moon, Lunar Axe, Frank and Drake, Deponia Doomsday, A Whisper in the Twilight, The Seventh Guest, Sentient, Baker Street Breakouts, A Sherlockian Escape Adventure, Sleuth Hounds, The Valentine's Vendetta, Sleuth Hounds, The Halloween Deception, Dark Grim Mariupolis, Corpse Party, Book of Shadows, Art of Murder, Hell, A Cyberpunk Thriller.
Speaker: St. Kotar, Mission Critical, Anachronist and Many Happy Returns, The Will of Arthur Flabbington, We Were Here Forever, Forgotten Hill Tales, Thru Abandoned, The Underground City, Flight of the Animazon Queen, Soft Porn Adventure, and at number 50, coming in at 50, the 50th greatest adventure game that's ever been released. Wow.
Speaker: Is Ben Jordan Paranormal Investigator Case 1 in search of the skunk? Followed by yeah Ben Jordan Paranormal Investigator Case 7 The Cardinal Sins Valiant Hearts The Great War the Legend of Hand Murder She Wrote Byzantine The Betrayal The Last Half of Darkness the Beyond the Spirit's Eye And at 25...
Speaker: amos green's final repose nancy drew ghost of thornton hall nancy drew treasure in the royal tower agatha christie and then there were none helheim hassle the pawn related chapter one everything is back lillly looking through midnight girl shady part of me pine heart's wave tail chinatown detective agency o'ion berger goblins quest three professor layightton in the azaranin legacy amnesia rebirth and at twenty five Clam Man.
Speaker: I'm questioning both of us right now, but go on. Yeah, I don't know what we've chosen. um The Book of Unwritten Tales, The Critter Chronicles, Erica, Been There, Dan That, Twilight Oracle, Dreamfall Chapters, American Arcadia, Scratches, Phantasmagoria, The Slaughter Act 1, and at 15, Cube Escape, The Lake, 14, Embracelet, 13, Lamplight City, 12, Pajama Sam 2, Thunder and Lightning Aren't So Frightening, Kings 11, Kings Quest 2, Romancing the Throne,
Speaker: 10 Papers, Please. 9 Fran Bow. 8 The Cat Lady. 7 Tell Me Why. 6 The Room VR at Dark Matter. 5 Tangle Tower. 4 Chance of Cenar. 3 The Last Door Season 1. 2 Portal 2 and 1 Portal.
Speaker: Portal. Portal at number 1 always. Portal at number 1 and Portal 2 at number 2. The two greatest adventure games all time. Jesus Christ. Let me do a lot of water drinking while you explain the rules.
Speaker: So the rules are really simple. um Matt has a a random generator and he's going to bring up an adventure game. And we are going to, based on what we see, what we read, or if we know it, because, you know, we know some adventure games, I would say. we know a little bit. We know a few adventure games. We are going to place them in this ranking.
Speaker: Sometimes we have no opinion on it and we place it anyway. Because that's what we do. what are the added rules? There's two added rules that we've added since the beginning. So if we haven't played a game that's on this ranking list and we decide to play it, we can change the ranking if we really, really want to.
Speaker: We can also skip... One per every five. So, like, I've already pulled all these and put them in little blocks that roses can't see. Or, well, now she can because I just shared the thing with her. Well, I'm not looking at it. she's not allowed to.
Speaker: Unless she's being sneaky. I'm not And you... So, but per each block, we can skip one. Okay.
Speaker: So, Roses, can you, just to start us off here, can you pick us a number between one and ten? Six. All right. Interesting. All right.
Speaker: So, adventure game number 2,121 from two thousand one hundred and twenty one from neamiam games from twenty nineteen it's called astrologasster That's a funny name. Astro Logaster?
Speaker: Yes. Okay. So this game i've has been on my wish list for a long time. kind of looks It's got an interesting art style. It seems to take place on sort of like a stage. Yeah. And all the graphics are almost look like paper cutouts.
Speaker: Yeah. Kind vector-y paper cutout. It's kind of cool. it looks like it's It looks like somebody's putting on a like a paper doll puppet show. And that is the premise of this game.
Speaker: And it's supposed to be silly. It's set in Shakespeare's London.
Speaker: And...
Speaker: it it It appears as if you are a doctor solving people's illnesses using astrology.
Speaker: So i think people come to you with illnesses and then you have to sort of ask them questions and then use your astrological charts to try and heal them.
Speaker: yeah And then there's some story that also evolves from there. Some sort of visual novel-esque story. Yes. From what I'm seeing, this is primarily a visual novel, which we're fine with. we love We love visual novels.
Speaker: um And Story Bridge. It's hard to say it's primarily a visual novel, though, when it has this...
Speaker: and it's When it has this really strong... um mechanic that's central to it, right? I don't know where I would put that.
Speaker: That being said, i don't know where I would put this. It does look funny and whimsical and people are liking it, but like it feels like it's not in the mediocre block. It feels but better than that. And, and really well done.
Speaker: I think so too. And you know, I like listening to the trailer it's got It's got interesting voice acting. It's got interesting, like, there's not background music, or at least not a lot of it, it doesn't sound like.
Speaker: Right. But that's kind of cool. It's like people's voices sort of echoing through across a stage. and um and it's like the scenes change as if they're a pop-up book.
Speaker: Yes. Yeah.
Speaker: And there are some cool kind of like musical cues. I think this game looks kind of dope. I do too. I'm open to where you want to put it then.
Speaker: Fuck. Okay. So where have we put other games that we thought looked cool, but we don't know? Well, mean, our history is that we put them relatively high up.
Speaker: So like Midnight Girl, we put really high up. Yeah. Clam Man, we put really high up. That's what I'm kind of thinking. Like, is it, are we in the ah shady part of me, midnight girl, Lily looking through territory right now?
Speaker: Right. ah And then, and then, and then how does this compare to those games is the other question. I think I, the block I'm looking at is around the Agatha Christie, Nancy Drew air area.
Speaker: That's where I'm looking. Oh, so you're kind of looking a little below that. Just teeny bit below. Just teeny bit. So like below Hellheim Hassle, for example. Yes. The game where you just throw your head around.
Speaker: yes yes, yes. I think I'm going to put it. Okay. If that's where you're looking, that's a little lower than I was thinking. So my argument would be, what if we put it ah above Agatha Christie and below Hellheim Hassle?
Speaker: I'm okay with that. Yeah. Okay. So this is our new
Speaker: Number 39. Congratulations, Astrologazer.
Speaker: All right. ah So we are in block six. So the next one game 212. This game haven't played.
Speaker: yeah this is a game i haven't played okay are You're saying that like I might have played it, though. I have a guess that you might have played this. Okay. I'm excited. It is Humongous Entertainment from 1993. I played a lot of the Humongous Entertainment games, but this is the one for ah ah franchise in this from this company that I haven't played.
Speaker: It's Fatty Bear's birthday surprise. Fatty Bear! This is a classic! Fatty Bear!
Speaker: Fatty Bear is a really good adventure game. Let me just put that out there. Is this the only Fatty Bear game, actually? Yes, there's only one Fatty Bear. Unlike, you know, ah like the Pud Pud games, there's several. There's a ton of Pajama Sam. There's a ton of Freddy Fish.
Speaker: There's only one Fatty Bear's birthday surprise. Why did they not... continue with fatty bear don't know i really do think it's a good point and click game for children though um because it is for children though i think that does mean that because it is so targeted it's not gonna be super super high up there right because yeah it is targeted it's not really meant for adults to enjoy you can you can play it nostalgically and it's still a pretty good adventure game but roses yes
Speaker: This is the second ever humongous entertainment game. Yeah. They released Putt-Putt Joins the Parade, and then they released Fatty Bear's Birthday Surprise. Yeah, and Putt-Putt was the first humongous entertainment game I played. Putt-Putt Joins the Parade. Wow. Okay. And Fatty Bear is one of my more well-known Let's Plays, actually, that I did a long time ago.
Speaker: And this is interesting, because Fatty... Okay, so... yeah humongous had an arc they were figuring out who they were at the beginning right like any video game company but you uh you'll have to tell me i played that putt putt game it was it was it was pretty good but it's not good it's not the best so cute the putt putt games get a little better over time yeah um the Freddie fish games get a little better over time. yeah The pajama Sam games get a little worse over time. They get harder.
Speaker: And don't know what happened with pajama Sam spy Fox also kind of gets a little worse. So yeah the humongous entertainment seems to sort of have an arc where they, so they're stumbling to their feet at first.
Speaker: Not, not too bad. Like again, that putt, that first putt, putt game is not bad. Um, Then they hit their stride in like 95 97. Maybe even 98. Yeah.
Speaker: maybe even to ninety eight And then they really start to fall off in like yeah the early 2000s and stuff gets worse and worse. But this game is really good.
Speaker: Like okay I would like to put it above Ben there Dan that because of how classic it is. you have to understand that like a lot of the people who worked for LucasArts did Humongous Entertainment. That's Ron Gilbert.
Speaker: And so even though it is for children, it retains the quality Of a LucasArts game. They really are. I highly recommend Fatty Bear's Birthday suppli Surprise.
Speaker: Play with your kids. Yeah. Even. it's It's super pleasant. It's really fun. The graphics are fun. Just play it. Just play it. And Been There, Dan, that is the first Ben and Dan game, right? Time, Gentleman, Please is the second one where they started to learn some of the lessons of the first one. And Ben There Dan That is a very much, very much taking inspiration, but also taking the piss out of LucasArts games.
Speaker: So i I kind of can see thematically why you would want to put Fatty Bear's Birthday Surprise close to Ben There Dan That. And I can i ah guess I can also see why you'd want to put it ah ahead.
Speaker: yeah um But you're saying it goes below Twilight oracle ah Oracle. You think Twilight Oracle has a little bit more to offer? I think so. Yes. Yes. I'm... Absolutely on board with you. Matt, if you play it, you're welcome to talk to me about it. New number one.
Speaker: It's better than Portal. um All right. Fatty Bear's birthday surprise cracked the top 25. It's number 22. Woohoo!
Speaker: cow. That makes me so happy. It's above. Let's see. Let's just name a couple of things that Fatty Bear's birthday surprise is better than.
Speaker: ah Pine Hearts, Professor Layton and the Azaran Legacy. umlins Goblins 3.
Speaker: ah ah well ah Flight of the Amazon Queen. i all right mean, I agree with that, though. the seventh Way better than the seventh guest. yeah All right, let's keep going.
Speaker: see how many we can fit in before ah we get sleepy. and i Dude, I'm already there. i am running on fumes of coffee.
Speaker: All right. Number 1,848 from Daily Magic Productions. You know them? I don't. I don't. Me neither. um i i'm actually I always try to Google the game super fast before you get to them.
Speaker: Yeah. um And man, this is not going well. It's from 2017. It's called it's from twenty seventeen it's called sender Unknown the wood Why does sound familiar to me, though? Center Unknown. the voice Okay, it looks like it is. These fucking titles.
Speaker: It looks like it is a mobile-only text adventure. What?
Speaker: What? Okay. Is it choose-your-own-adventure game? i Look, we're going to have to do... There's going to be some things cut out here because we are going to have to do some fucking research.
Speaker: Yeah, you're right. I don't even know what this means. It's styled like... It's kind of like Simulacra, if you've ever heard of or played that game, where the game takes place in the user interface of a phone.
Speaker: Okay. you're getting text messages. I like that. And you're interacting through... Text messages. And you have stats.
Speaker: you have You have like stats. And you use your stats.
Speaker: You use your stats to answer. And that. Like do you have trust, intelligence, logic, willpower, and empathy. And you use your stats to.
Speaker: You pick a stat. And then that creates a response. It looks like.
Speaker: And you use your stats to try what, find your way out of the woods? Have you played games like this before? I've played Simulacra.
Speaker: Okay. And Simulacra is sort of like you find a phone and you're trying to return it to who it belongs to. And as you're doing that... a sort of thriller horror story develops that you are now in the middle of.
Speaker: and And that's what this looks like too. It looks like a thriller. um But you're using your own phone and it sounds, it seems like you're texting other people.
Speaker: Like, how do I get out of this? i i like I really like that mechanic. I like like i really like the Emily is away mechanic where you're messaging on aim primarily.
Speaker: Oh, okay. But I like this even better because you're using your phone to do it. kind of immerses you. Right. You're using your phone. So you can you feel as if this is happening.
Speaker: Correct. You could download this on your phone, go into the woods, and
Speaker: the visceral reaction you had just I'm really amused you it yeah it sounded ah maybe I was misundered misinterpreting a laugh but it sounded like I said that and you went ah yeah it was a laugh it was amusement I promise you could download this you could go into your go into the woods and play this and you would be this could be terrifying I agree.
Speaker: And it's written by somebody called Lisa Brunette, who I've never heard of.
Speaker: You know, just for mechanics sake. Yes. And the immersion, would be inclined
Speaker: to almost look at this the same way I would look at a really well done like VR game almost because it's all about the immersion.
Speaker: I don't want to put this very far down because I think, honestly, I really think that's a very cool mechanic. It looks really interesting. and This could get me to play something on my phone. I'm not a mobile gamer.
Speaker: yeah. So yeah this woman Lisa Brunette has written looks like hundreds of games. Oh, okay. She was ah the manager of narrative design at Big Fish. Oh. Oh, but yeah, the ah hidden object game. all those a lot of those hidden hidden objects games that had the narrative.
Speaker: Yeah. It seems like she was in charge of so many of them. and So like those games, I'm going to guess that the writing's not stellar.
Speaker: Right. But is interesting. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, i mean I'm into this. am too. I like Sender Unknown the Woods. No, I'm totally into it. All right.
Speaker: Sender Unknown the Woods from Daily Magic Productions. It's it's clearly a casual game, but it is interesting and enough that I think we put it in the...
Speaker: I kind of want to put it in the Nancy Drew, Amos Green, Agatha Christie era. We're on the same page. Okay. Absolutely, 100%. Yes. um So, all right. Let's move down like Vlad Circus. Let's well's say it's definitely above Vlad Circus and Last Half of Darkness, Beyond the Spirit's Off. Okay. Yeah. i'm im Yeah. That's fair.
Speaker: Would it be kind of funny? would be kind of funny
Speaker: To just split the Nancy Drews? To put it between the two Nancy Drews? Oh my god, do it. Okay. Alright. This is sometimes, folks, how we make our decisions. Is it just, will it look funny?
Speaker: Yeah. um Because we've never played these games.
Speaker: I might though, because I like that idea. and then you can move it. Then can move it, yeah. I like it too. It seems like it probably isn't that long of a game. Probably not. Yeah, probably not. Okay, here's ah here's a cool one.
Speaker: oh boy. This is going to be fun. i it's i haven't played it. Unfortunately, I haven't played it. Oh, have I played it? I don't know. This is a Joe Richardson game. Okay.
Speaker: It is the preposterous awesomeness of everything. The preposterous awesomeness of everyone. I have not played that one. Yeah. I'm surprised you haven't.
Speaker: This is before. This is his first game before the. ah the The main ones. he's The John. The something John. I can't remember. But the the the yeah the main ones. And it is also made out of collages. But not classic imagery. Yeah.
Speaker: Not classic and romantic and Baroque paintings. He was still find it finding his voice. He's still finding his voice. It looks a little ugly and a little absurd. um We also know that part of his voice is sort of yucky humor.
Speaker: Yes, that's true. But yeah, toilet humor. And shot like that's that's always sort of the part of his games that make me and you go like, ugh. Yeah. Yeah. There's also apparently political humor in this one. um But, okay, here are the verbs in this game.
Speaker: ah Examine, talk to, pick up. Disrespect. Oh, no do a Do a backflip.
Speaker: Pray for. use Consume and befuddle. Do a backflip. I love it when he has he allows us to make his characters do a backflip.
Speaker: I do, too. Yeah. So this one does look a little cruder. Yeah. In every, in basically every sense of the word. Yeah. crude Cruder.
Speaker: But, but God damn it. I love Joe Richardson games. Yeah. I mean, that's got a good people like this game. um His, his sense of humor doesn't 100% align with mine. Like I said, like there's things that he finds funny that I don't find funny. Same.
Speaker: Absolutely. Yeah. But that said, he is a unbelievably funny writer. He is.
Speaker: He just has ah just an innate sense of comedy. Yes. In his writing.
Speaker: So, okay. I'm, I'm, so you're thinking high, right? Yes.
Speaker: I feel bad because all of these have been like high up there, but that that's just the randomness of of yeah the draw, you guys. I don't think it should be in the top 20. Like, I think it needs to be.
Speaker: No, it's not better than Dreamfall chapters. yeah the Correct. Yes. um But it is. ah It is like. OK.
Speaker: Here's the problem. Here's the just the problem thematically with this episode is we have been focusing on two different areas, right? We put Astrologazer right above the Agatha Christie Nancy Drew area.
Speaker: We put Sender Unknown the Woods right in the Agatha Christie Nancy Drew area. yeah We put Fatty Bear's Birthday Surprise right above Ben there, Dan that. But I fucking think preposterous awesomeness of everything goes right below Ben there, Dan that.
Speaker: Okay. Okay. Because it is also, like these are two games, these are the two early, unpolished games a of writers who are hilarious.
Speaker: Right. And will go on to make some of our favorite point and clicks. ah Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah.
Speaker: So, yeah, they kind of hold hands in that way, don't you? Do you do you agree with that or no? Yeah, definitely I agree. I see the the the connection there, yeah. So our new 24 is the preposterous awesomeness of everything. Can we, okay,
Speaker: I can sense we're both getting a little tired. I am so tired right now, dude. You have no idea. So here's my plan.
Speaker: Let's do one more. Okay, let's do it. And then we will will we end the episode. Like all my remaining energy went to Fatty Bear. Like that response that you heard.
Speaker: Like go back and listen to that response. It was very energetic. It was an x x it was it was the last bit of air coming out of the balloon. All right.
Speaker: This one is from 2024.
Speaker: Ooh. Okay. All right. All right. this is This is going to be a phenomenon we're going to have to talk about. Okay. So this is from 2024. It's a number
Speaker: Okay. This over two thousand games have come out since twenty twenty three that's absurd to think about unbelievable okay this is called biohazard escape room oh haven't we spoken about that um no i don't think we've talked about this one it's not like on my wish list or anything i don't i don't recall it but okay what we do have to talk about is how okay just before the pandemic
Speaker: escape rooms took off Yes. And me and you could recognize escape rooms as adventure games in person. Correct. And then sort of like the pandemic hit and people started doing escape rooms as video games.
Speaker: And so now what you kind of have ah is this simplification ah a genre further simplified back into a video game.
Speaker: Yes. It is kind of like. Now that you say it like that, it is a weird circle. It's kind of like the novelization of the movie of the novel. Yeah. Yeah. um and some of these are good.
Speaker: Some escape room games are fun. Yeah. but so there's But so much is almost, man, I don't want to, this is such a mean thing to say, but almost like shovelware.
Speaker: Yeah. i'm I mean, I'm not a fan and I'm not a fan of this. um i don't want to tear anyone down because this is also personal preference too. um
Speaker: But I, yeah, I just don't, it doesn't speak to me, you know? What I like more in escape room games is...
Speaker: Like The Room or even um what would it Machinica Museum or Machinica Atlas or whatever. like The Machinica games.
Speaker: um Or even, yeah, like Cube Escape through Abandoned, right? Like I like the escape room games that sort of like know that they can break. Like it's escape room puzzles, but they can sort of break out of the idea of it just being an escape room. Yeah. Or...
Speaker: Escape room and in v escapee rooms in VR fucking rule. Sure, yeah. um Escape rooms that sort of are strung together by a story, like Escape Academy was good.
Speaker: Escape rooms where ah there there can be users submitted, where it's like just a huge collection of them. Uh-huh. And there can be, and then like a the...
Speaker: um Mechanics for user submitted ones like escape so in escape simulator. Also good.
Speaker: But when you're just releasing these like $3.99 $8.99 single room escape rooms built out of whatever unity assets or whatever. Yeah.
Speaker: I just find it a little uninspired. Same. That's unlike it doesn't speak to me. So I don't think this goes down like limbo of the lost flow. no No. But I think it goes below the meteor mediocre block because it's not just like this is fine.
Speaker: It's like me and you have a specific ah negative opinion about it. that Correct. Yeah. Like we philosophically sort of disagree. Correct. Yes.
Speaker: um So my thought is it goes around. We do have an area for that. Right. Yeah. And I'm thinking like Minecraft story mode is dorky as shit.
Speaker: It might happen be. But it's quality. It's good. You know, it's good. But it's an adventure game that we find dorky as shit and kind of like the reason that Telltale started to suck. Yeah. um And same with like Violet. Like it's probably a well-made game. and i didn't enjoy it very much. Yeah.
Speaker: and Super Jazzman by a creator that we like, but seems a little racist. Right? Like, so I think the 100 to 110 block is where we put stuff that's like, it's fine. But we just like, there's nothing, there's nothing horribly wrong with it. But we, there's a reason we think we have a solid reason, not just we haven't played it and it looks bad, but we have a solid reason why we're like, no
Speaker: That is absolutely fair. guess then... Yeah. Down there. I guess then...
Speaker: So I made space. So when you're looking at the dock, I made space down here, but that's not where this... It doesn't have to go there. Yeah. Oh, gosh. I think it's going to go below Violet and long and Minecraft story mode. I think it is too. Yeah.
Speaker: Here's a question. Does it go below Batman Partners in Peril? Because at least that game looked like it had some heart to it. Yeah. People didn't... like it right we haven't played it people didn't like it but it looks kind of cool and it looks like people really like batman the people that made it really like that man i would put it below that i i usually don't i usually try not to do this but i'm gonna look up time paradox by flare software okay and remind myself of it go ahead um
Speaker: Oh, yeah, Time Paradox, you're like, it's like ah sort of like a half FMV, really clunkily assembled a sexy woman caught in oh the past.
Speaker: Well, then, yeah, we can put it above Time Paradox, 100%. hundred per cent it It does have four stars on my abandonware.
Speaker: It's my abandonware, Matt. All right. Biohazard Escape Room right above ah Time Paradox, right below Batman Partners in Peril. Okay.
Speaker: That's fine. And remember, if we play these games, we can move them around a little bit. so So if I play Time Paradox and I'm like, listen, this is the greatest game I've ever If you're feeling a certain way about it, Matt.
Speaker: if i'm you're at You're saying horned up. Are you horned up? If I'm looking at the sexy lady lost in time and I'm horned the F up, time paradox is going number five.
Speaker: don't think that's a good parameter.
Speaker: You'd have to have a serious talk about that. You don't think this piece of art horns me up is a good way to judge art? That's how people judge my art.
Speaker: It's like, does it horn me up? No? Well... That bear statue? No, doesn't horn me up. bear statue does not horn me up.
Speaker: I hope not. Well, I mean, that was part of... the Honestly, that was part of our discussion about... um Oh, ah lust Lust from Beyond? Lust from Beyond was like... Yeah, of course.
Speaker: Part of what made our opinion of it so low was literally that it didn't horn us up. I was trying to. So, like, it's a failure in a way.
Speaker: all right. ah Anyway. So why don't we call it here? We've added five... interesting games? Yeah, I think so.
Speaker: I think these were very interesting games to rank today. So we have both the top 125 adventure games of all time and the worst 125 adventure games of all time on our list.
Speaker: Guys, thank you so much for listening. Yeah, thank you. and and thank you for joining our Discord. It's been really hopping. It's a great place to talk about adventure games. We'll put a link in the show notes. We have a ah permanent link now, permanent invite.
Speaker: We have such fun in the Discord talking about adventure games and and nerdy stuff. I would say just nerdy stuff in general. So yeah, come join us there. we can we can chat.
Speaker: I've been missing from the Discord a little bit in the past week because... um my work has gone crazy. Yeah. I've been in there though.
Speaker: I'm there. I'm there chatting it up. One of the reasons for our break and one of the reasons why I'm sleepy you today. Yeah. But, ah
Speaker: but yeah, but people are still post posting in there every single day. Pat's Pat from, um, uh, mutant menaces in there. His, his name is Tom Shakespeare and he refuses to change it.
Speaker: did you I mean, you know that you can change your name in a server only. He doesn't have to just change his name. can change it for the server. He's Pat. So if you see Tom Shakespeare, that's Pat Reber from Mutant Menace. And Roses is just Roses. I'm just Roses. You'll know. And I'm Matt. I'm Matt Aukamp. You guys will see us in there.
Speaker: And, ah you know, we're all in there. And we all mix it up together. in the in the discussion ports and it's it's ah it's just a lot of fun. This community is so cool.
Speaker: I'm going to say something that no podcast has ever said before. Go on. Our fans are the greatest fans on earth. Oh my God. The truth.
Speaker: It's true. It is true. Yeah. It's true. We've got a great community, and that's because, you know, your vibe attracts your tribe. So we are awesome. what? Yeah. So we're awesome people. We've attracted awesome people, and it's great.
Speaker: Well, yeah. Listen, the reason nobody has ever said our fans are the greatest fans on Earth before is because they – they didn't have our fans.
Speaker: That's correct. So they couldn't have had them. Yeah. And nobody ever can. No, no one but us can. ah Look, here's the thing. We will both be also be at Adventure X. Soon. Which very soon. This will come out on ah what?
Speaker: The 12th Adventure X is on the 21st, 22nd. 22nd to if you're in London and, so if you're in london Number one, I will be there, I think, starting on, like, the 15th. So hit me up.
Speaker: Like, if you're in London and you want to hang out, I'm going to be there by myself for a few days. Then me and Roses are going to be there for a few days before the con and then the con.
Speaker: And... Hit me up. Tell me some cool stuff that's in London. Maybe even come out. We could have a beer. um Do not message me. I don't want to have a beer with you.
Speaker: You can meet me at the con. Okay? Message me. I'll have a beer with, let's say, look, first come, first serve.
Speaker: and It's going to really do you know greatly depend on my time. but like i I'm mostly joking. Obviously, I'm a woman on the internet. I have reasons for maybe not of course wanting to meet up with people. But yeah, if Matt's at a bar, if if I'm there, please, yeah, come say hi. Talk to me about adventure games.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah. So, so I mean, keep keep a lookout. I think there's some, like, you have to prove your age for certain social media stuff. So I might be quiet on the internet for a week. But if I can get on my social media, I'll let people know, like, hey, I'm in London. and If you are also UK-based, hit me up.
Speaker: And maybe we can ah have a quick drink and talk adventure games. um That said, you find us on Instagram.com. Save Your Game podcast.
Speaker: yeah You can email us. MattandRoses at gmail.com. I think our next episode... uh we're gonna it might be a half and half because clearly we have a lot of games to talk about yeah yeah but i think i've been playing more games than ever lately so i clearly have more to contribute i think i think we might be putting in one more episode before we take the rest of november off yeah i think we're gonna give it a shot
Speaker: um So if if it doesn't if it if it's not there, don't be mad at us. We'll be back in December. But if it is, you you guys will get another cool episode and we'll answer some of your emails.
Speaker: What else? ah you can go to my channel. Yeah. Go to Rose's channel. And she's been doing ah some video game videos recently and some streams. You recently did something with Yak Wax Lips, right? yeah Yeah. We played one of the games that you talked about actually. ah Remember? Cause I'm like, Hey, that's on the, that's maybe on our radar to put a little, to play the demo and show it off. And it was a mystery of silence. Yeah.
Speaker: Which I've been calling Mystery of Science. I'm so sorry. don't know what happened there. I did not notice that. So silly. a Really great little demo.
Speaker: We had a really good time playing it. And i ah definitely and it's a solo dev. So we want to give all the support to the solo devs who are working overtime. Absolutely. Well, so I guess that only leaves one thing left for us to do.
Speaker: Go to sleep. Go to sleep. Go to sleep. You know why we got to sleep? um Because we have made so much art and podcasts is art.
Speaker: Yeah. And art is suffer and I'm tired. I'm tired too. All right. Bye everybody. We're going go take naps. Bye.
