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Ep.194: SGF, Next Fest, Tribeca, Oh My! [Part I]
146 Plays5 months ago
June's been pretty busy, huh? Time to talk about most of the indies we had the opportunity to go hands-on with between SGF, Next Fest, and Tribeca!
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Transcript
Introduction
00:00:19
Speaker
Hello and welcome to episode 194 of the Six One Indiecast. My name is Mike Townrow. Tonight, I am joined by Becca Smith. Hello. Harry Lazidis. Hello, I'm a kitty cat. Austin Arts. He's a kitty cat. That's what he is. Back from the dead, Kyle Stevenson. Hey, I made it. Oh, it's a special episode. We're
Liquid Death or Energy Drink?
00:00:42
Speaker
going to pour a nice liquid death into my, um my volume glass over here. You know, we're back from summer game fest. Next fest is out of the way. 27,000 game showcases are out of the way. And we did it. We made it. Can I briefly tell everybody that you thought liquid death was an energy drink? yeah Is it not? It's water. sparkgling water is water it's Just flavored water. Yeah.
COVID and Trendsetters
00:01:10
Speaker
with a cool name and a cool name. A cool bottle, yeah. Oh, my mind is full out. I haven't watched this class yet, by the way. You haven't? Why? No, this is Jules. That was really liquid death. I'm probably some bully Rita in this also. Well, she tested negative, so you're fine. Oh, yeah. It's just genuinely liquid death now. Can we talk about how truly soulmates we are? because pre-lock at the last Pax East in, in 2020, your boy, your boy almost, he was like, that's the door getting a, you know, COVID before vaccines and locked down all before it was cool. I'm a big, big time trend center over here. um
00:01:54
Speaker
We shared a bed that though that weekend. and Somehow you didn't catch it. Nope. Wild. Fast forward four years later, me, you sharing a bed. You're actively dying throughout SGF. I was in the clear. Wild. Love to see it. You love to see it. Yeah. It was it was the same same thing. He caught it. he It's just biting its time for right now and then it had to come back, you know? yeah right Currently nine. So maybe it it just skis a spouse. that's a bumer yeah
00:02:27
Speaker
Anyways.
All About Six One Indiecast
00:02:28
Speaker
You're listening to the six one Indicast, a weekly video game podcast, amplifying the indie scene and smaller games outside the AAA space. New episodes drop each and every Monday morning on all major podcast feeds and youtube dot.com slash six one indie supporters on patreon dot.com slash six one. And you could tune in live as record and gain access to clocked out the Indicast post show spoilers for clocked out this week. Your boy got to play Sonic X's shadow generation. Let's fuck. But if money is tight, no worries, you still can show your support with a simple click wherever you're listening. Go ahead and leave this podcast a review, follow Six What India on socials, subscribe and hit the bell on YouTube and tell your friends all about us. Shout out to the P fans supporting on Patreon. That's incorrect. It's members of the Coupe now. I forgot to renamed it. Brett Griffin, Kobe Cordis, Ellie, JC, Jill Groat, Marcus O'Neill, Nicole Humphrey, Stone Cold E.T.,
00:03:17
Speaker
Our producer, s Silk Cannon, Nicholas Johnson, The Compound, and Cole, AKA of The Good Sir. Housekeeping for you. Despite those 27 million ah showcases that happened in the past two weeks, guess what? One more happened in on September 19th. That's a 6'1 indie showcase, baby. And guess what? Bangers. Bangers being submitted right now. Submissions are open through July 1st. get your tickets in for the show. Don't laugh at me, Austin. I always laugh at you. You talk about, I know it's fine. It's a good time. A bunch of coverage up on the website. Uh, I started posting some summer game fest previews, uh, last night slash this morning. I dropped my preview for fear the spotlight and lush foil, a photography sim. Um, and then Becca has a shit ton of next fest pieces up on the site. Uh, I cannot list all of them right now cause they're not in my mind. because there are so many of them.
Indie Game Showcases
00:04:08
Speaker
And also episode 193 of the 6.1 indie cast dropped by the time you're listening to this a couple of days ago. It is the indie council live at summer game fest, me, Jill Groat and Janet Garcia. As they were kicking everybody out of play days, we popped out of the recorder and just had a ah live episode at play days as everybody was cleaning up and getting the heck out of town.
00:04:33
Speaker
zi ba baldi That's it. Thanks for joining us. Everybody will see you next week. It's going to be a weird episode. Um, main topic tonight, all of the stuff that we've been playing over the past few weeks, of course, summer game fest happened. Next fest happened. Tribeca happened. Where do we want to start friends? I'll, I'll lead the adventure to y'all Austin, where you want to go. Where do
Austin's 'Skim' Experience
00:04:58
Speaker
I want to go? I mean, do you want to talk about some next fest stuff? Cause that's... Talk about some next fest stuff. Did you play a next fest thing? Did you play a next fest? I played a next fest. A few next fest items I have, I have dove into. Um, before I get into this, I wanted to ask you, and I hope you tell me the right, the right thing. Cause you said you played a Sonic X shadow, whatever the heck it's called. course yeah ah Sorry, Sonic, Sonic, Sonic. Are you trying to correct me and somehow it was worse? You sure that's sparkling water? Oh, I don't know, man. You probably should have cleaned the glass. Clearly, the Volvi Rita residue is strong. I was just going to ask you, does he need a gun? ah So real talk. There's, there's a direct quote. I forgot. I think it was Brian. from This is what I'm getting at. I think, I think.
00:05:45
Speaker
ah Brian from Game Informer interviewed ah the the the director and I think the exact quote was, shadow doesn't need a gun. He is the weapon. Exactly. That's exactly the quote I was looking for. You pass, you pass. Thank you. You pass. Okay. So I played a few, few demos and a next best year and the first one I want to talk about, and and then we'll go around the room. and I don't want to just hog the first 20 minutes cause I have a lot to talk about, but is it pronounced skim? Shim, how how you pronounce it? I would say skim. yeah skim I'm assuming it's skim. That's my canon title. skin man so it's called So this is that game where you're like, it's very, very colorful and you're like a little shadow hopping hopping to other shadows, right? I'm playing this game. Really, really, really, really digging like the art style overall. And I was really looking forward to it. Initially I was pretty let down. I was like, man, this is not, this is not doing it for me. However,
00:06:39
Speaker
that changed the more I played the demo. Initially, it felt like you know like very style over substance. like It was very colorful. It was very like unique in the space. And then I was like, I just don't know if I'm feeling this. But after playing a lot more, I did start to enjoy it. um the the The platforming with the shadows, you don't have to be very precise. you don't have to like It's not like a platformer. You are doing that. You are jumping around, but it's more of like It's more like plotting how you're going to go. I'm going to go to this shadow and then this shadow and then this shadow. It's pretty easy to do those things. But what really like grabbed me is you get to a point where you are basically just being led along the small little narrative journey of these ah this young boy and hit him growing older and going to school and then going to high school and then going to college and then graduating college and then getting a job. and it's like
00:07:28
Speaker
I just related so hard to this like two to three minute segment and I was like, you know what? You won me over. I can't believe it did it. But the the environmental storytelling, the colors, the platforming gameplay that is more plotting, like I said, it all just captured me. Skim is awesome. um Like I said, initially I was like, I don't know if I'm into this, but after playing it, it's like a must play.
Discovering 'Odada'
00:07:49
Speaker
Like I really am looking forward to it. There's collect-a-thon elements in it every stage. So like there's, there'll be like a random beach ball or something over there. And I'm like, hell yeah, I got to get that beach ball. And that's off the beaten path where you got to, you to the main line that you don't have to get those things. But yeah, 100% of this seems like a and genuine gift, but skim that I think seems awesome, but I can see the same experience happening for us. Someone else where it's like, oof, right at the beat right off the rip. You're like, I don't know if this is what I want. Keep playing.
00:08:13
Speaker
If it's anything like the demo ah narrative, there's no words. think so either no rights Sure. But just, just like the storytelling that's happening is something that I i had no idea. I had no idea either, which is why I was kind of like, Oh, there is nothing else. And then there is. Um, and then it's it's, it's pretty cool. And you can control. So like, if you jump into the shadow, this isn't always the case, but if you jump into a shadow of a specific character, you can then control that character. and You can just walk around as that character. So and it's just like evolving on the the small snippets we've had of gameplay that I didn't expect. It was is genuinely really good.
00:08:45
Speaker
How big are the environments or is it level based? Is it like open world thing? Is it biome based? It's just like as a stage. I don't really know. you Like there's some where you're like crossing the street. There's somewhere only on the sidewalk. There's some where you're going from sidewalk to across the street to another little park area. Like I don't, I don't think the stages are all that long, but it's more like, how can I get the collectible element? And then how can I also get to where I need to go? But I would say each stage takes like a couple minutes if that, okay, cool. But and who knows how that evolves in the actual title, but like from what I played, like it's, it's a, ah it's a must play guys. It's pretty damn good. It's soon, right? isn it Isn't it?
00:09:22
Speaker
i diabetes die eight that's That's really, really close guys. There's a lot of games coming out that week. yeah And like, I can also see it being like a total of that. I can also see it being like a total of like three to four hours to be, you know, like I am just all about that. And like, cause you may be, maybe I add an extra half hour to an hour for the collectible stuff, but yeah I can see it being pretty short. Well, how'd you play it? PC or are you a deck boy? I don't have a deck. Um, I want one, but I am broke. It looks like it's coming to like everything though. Yeah. Really built physical edition, uh, for consoles. I did not know that. and until yeah it's like They, they customized the art to cater to the console. So like the ah the PlayStation cover art is like shades of blue and Nintendo shades of red, so on and so forth.
00:10:12
Speaker
You mentioned customizing the art in skim. Like I was like, man, this has hurt my eyes. And I went to the settings and you can like, there's like four colors. You can like change the palette. You can just pick four colors and then the whole stage will represent those four colors. And I don't usually have that problem where things hurt my eyes. One, maybe I'm getting old too, but like, I was like, man, like I can't stare at this that long. And then I kind of, you were the little boy in skimp. I kind of just dulled the tones a little bit and it helped. So nice. Oh yeah. Nice. Any other next best games someone wants to talk about? Well, yeah, sure. I'll go. Um, I'll talk about, uh, another one. I'm not sure how to pronounce, but I think it's odada oh, Oh, oh, Dada. I thought it was all Dada.
00:11:01
Speaker
yeah i Do I still have a fever? What's happening? Yes, I mean, maybe. It's probably yes, and you know this is just a normal podcast. Yes, and. So um this one is just like a cute little silly little game. It's so cute. So it's it's A. End of summary. That's it. Go enjoy. Um, so it's described as a tactile music maker. Um, because you basically can, like, you don't really control, but you basically have this little train. It's like everything. It looks like a toy, like a little kid's toy. And you have this little train.
00:11:36
Speaker
And you'll go to your first stage and it'll be like, for example, I think the first level is just like, it's just kind of like a a bunch of cubes that are all in kind of like a mountain kind of shape and they're all moving up and down. And then you have like loose cubes that you can add to the level and when you do it it like makes a sound. or it makes like the music of the level kind of shift and change a little bit. So you're kind of manipulating the level until you get the music where you like it. And then you basically like record what you finish and it adds to the train and then you move to the next level and then it's a different level. And it's like ah like a little like rotating platform and you're adding little like birds on top of it that all make different like bird sounds like cheap, cheap or like, what you know, it like they do different things.
00:12:23
Speaker
um this a and um That was totally different for the record. That was not the same thing you just did. you know So all make different sounds. Each level you're working with different different like little tactile toys. They all make different sounds. The music on the level is different each time. And then when you get done with like, I think it's like four or five levels, then the train goes to the end and you all you put it all on one big cassette tape. So you've made this like big long, Song that goes on the cassette tape and then like you can export it and like actually like have your song and share it with people um And then the more that you play there's like new instruments that you unlock there's new levels that you unlock so obviously the demo Which was only like 20 like well, it's like five minutes to do one level, but I played for like 20 minutes
00:13:12
Speaker
um And you're just you're just making music and you're making music in a really unique way. And so and just like it just felt like playing with a bunch of kids toys in this like really unique kind of freestyle environment and then making music along the way. And then you record it at the end and. you have your song and save forever. And I just
Exploring 'After Love EP'
00:13:32
Speaker
thought it was a really cool concept. And I think that the, the art style is really lovely and it just, it like kids could play it, adults could play it for hours, I'm sure. And like, like, I'm sure people are going to be making some like crazy, ridiculous tracks once the full game comes out and everyone will be like, what the heck? But yeah, it was really, it was really wonderful. I wanted to ask cause this was something I think it initially debuted during the day, of the devs maybe last year, two years ago, whatever it was. Um,
00:13:59
Speaker
Okay. As somebody with a background in in music creation, I thought it was like pretty fascinating and seemed like a, you know, an approachable way to get into music production. How did the tools feel? Like, did you feel overwhelmed? Were they they kind of easy enough to kind of like get a handle on and and create something cool? Was it? I don't know. they so Did you end up making like a mess or like, did everything like sound like pretty like decent that you're just like slamming shit together? Everything I made was a mess. Um, but a good mess or a bad mess, but like a good mess, like it's so fun to be like, Oh, I can hear that, that bird that I added in level three that I really liked the sound of. And so like that bird. So like it's, it's not something that like the average player is going to create like ah a Mozart by the end. But you know, somebody with a music background that is like that could spend 20, 30, 40 minutes working on a track could make something really wonderful. I think.
00:14:59
Speaker
um you know It's not something that I have the patience for because I was like, this sounds ridiculous, move on to the next. um But somebody that like takes the time to find the right sounds and find the right rhythms and and and match everything together, I think it could be really cool. But as a player, you still had a good time, it seems like. Yeah, I still had a great time. yeah It felt just like playing with kids' toys. Awesome. so it Sounds like a really neat concept. so yeah i'm I'm kind of about that. Demo's still available as well on Steam. I found, with future with with with but as Next Fest has continued, I found that devs have been leaving a lot of demos up yeah as as kind of Netflix next Fest continues. I feel like it wasn't like that at the beginning. A lot of people was like, you get those seven days and that's it. But I found that a lot of the demos that I didn't get a chance to play are still up.
00:15:50
Speaker
So it's great. It's very exciting. Yeah. Like the big one on my list, side I really want to get to before it goes away is, um, I am your beast. The new Zelleveer Nelson joint. Sure. I haven't gotten to play after love VP yet. I got to have a conversation about after love VP at summer game. Whoa. Um, so I was talking to the rep, uh, Oh, I forgot his name off the top of my mind, but lovely gentlemen. Um, and I was just straight up like, Hey, I, I'm very familiar with Tommy and his work. I'm a huge fan. Uh, you know, devastating what happens, you know, told him about some of the behind the scenes stuff that we're working on. Um, and I straight up was like, listen, I don't want to play the game.
00:16:31
Speaker
I want to go into it fresh when I'm at home and could cry in a safe place. um so We just had a kind of ah a light conversation about what it was like for the team to kind of pick up where Fami left off um and and what kind of a, you know, that, that daunting challenge and and the, and the pressure behind like staying true to his vision. And one of the most fascinating things that came out of it was Fami apparently mapped out like the entire narrative in like these like little net manuscripts and drawings and just like character interactions, just like on handwritten paper and the entire team like took all that
00:17:12
Speaker
and and brought it back to the office scanned it and like analyzed it and made sure that like They were accurately interpretating ah interpreting um Fami's words into like this new vision of what After Love EP is going to be. And so far, it seems like it's true to Fami's original vision. And um yeah, it was a very, between that and and my conversation with ah Dominic from from Tales of Kenzera, it was a very emotional day because we did that. It was like talking about Fami and and losing Fami over lockdown. And then all of a sudden talking about like,
00:17:46
Speaker
the deaths of our fathers. It was, it was real rough. Um, but yeah, I just, hands off at the moment, it seems like, um, after love is going to be something quite special.
'Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus' Preview
00:17:59
Speaker
I'm glad it's getting, uh, I'm glad it did get picked up by day of the devs and it's getting more of a, I guess mainstream attention in terms of like the indie space because, uh, yeah, seems gnarly and I can't wait. Who's next? I can chat about a game that we've seen for a while, and it's coming out on July 17th. So that week's, like I said, is going to be bonkers. Bow Path of the Teal Lotus. um So people who don't know, it's pretty much a Metroidvania platforming game with
00:18:37
Speaker
2.5 D slash really cool art style words you play as a jumping around Fox and shenanigans happens at a nearby Village and you have to figure out what's going on and defeat all the bad people so the premise is basically pretty standard, but what I was really impressed by was the um ability to traverse around and like zips off and jump around and It's kind of mess around with the environment and move around in really creative ways. I only played like an hour of the demo. I think there's more. I don't know how big it actually is, but it seemed like a hefty amount. And the game definitely doesn't hold any punches in terms of bosses and level of difficulty of platforming. And like I said, in the first hour, I was already like moving around and be like, all right, like I'm chaining jumps, I'm chaining.
00:19:35
Speaker
attacking an enemy and jumping even further to get to like the basic next step. um But it's really cool because I also found a bunch of places where I can't get to, which leads its lends itself to the Metroidvania stuff. So that's been cool. And I was surprised that there were so many customizations with abilities. So like one of the abilities could be like, oh, when you defeat an enemy, you get some health bag. Or when you do this thing, You can jump a little bit higher um Those are like kind of like collectibles that give you different abilities. So that was a surprise I wasn't expecting so it seems like there's gonna be a lot of situational abilities that you can use for specific things which made me think about The Mario Mario wonder where you have those specific abilities for specific things but I think this one is more fun so far and
00:20:33
Speaker
Yes, Mike from 6.90. Hi, thank you. um What is the gameplay like? Is it shared in Metrovania? Is it a soulsy kind of thing, like nine souls? It's definitely Metrovania. Okay, cool. Yes, but the bosses are tricky. um The one I played, once you get the pattern, it's it's straightforward enough, but I was surprised with the aloofness of the attacks. So like it didn't feel like I was doing damage, even though I was clearly doing damage. It just felt like I'm swiping my attacks. um And your earrings are your main like thing, where they can become a pole, or they can become like um something that you can use to
00:21:18
Speaker
um angle an item that has to like ricochet off of places so it becomes like a really modular item so you're now only like bouncing around you're hitting stuff you're progressing forward you're using math and geometry to figure out angles and stuff um so that became a fun little thing and it is going to be really difficult i think but yeah it's worth it because the music's great the art style is phenomenal it's almost like a almost like those old japanese paintings just
00:21:49
Speaker
in motion. So I think that's a really rad thing to kind of encounter and the lore of it is really interesting and like there's really weird creatures and lanterns with eyes on them and they're just staring at you. So it's nothing scary or anything but it's like really ominous but exciting and intriguing. And I'm super jazzed for it because I'll be able to play it in July.
00:22:15
Speaker
Very excited for Bo, another one of those July joints.
Kyle's Next Fest Insights
00:22:18
Speaker
right is july Is July really that busy? um Well, we're two for two for jull up the week of July 17th, so we will continue and see what happens. hey I vote it's Kyle's turn to talk. I was going to say, I like my vote. Kyle, have you had a chance to play any next best stuff or I know like SGF was interesting for you. Cause you were on the PR side of the things and you were running the booth. So you didn't have a chance to really walk around much, but any, any next best. I have to play a couple of things that the mix. So I don't know if you want to come back to me. No, it's a big old smorgasbord. Yeah. Okay.
00:22:54
Speaker
I got to play, um we never yield from aerial night at the mix. It's a sequel to, I believe that came out in what, 2021, 22, something like that. um It's kind of like an on rails platform or parkour game. um And the sequel is now you're both, you control both brothers at the same time. So you have to make sure you um are jumping in sync with each other and using the different buttons to there are there. So I think it's the, it's been a while. So the directional buttons are tied to one brother and then the face buttons are tied to another, but the other brother. And so you got to make sure you're pressing the right ones in sync with each other. um It feels just as good as the original. um I didn't get to hear it just because the mix was super loud and they didn't have to set up.
00:23:48
Speaker
Uh, for me to hear the in-game voice acting, uh, front of the show blessing at AOEA junior is in the game voicing one of the brothers. Um, and I, the first game had a stellar soundtrack, hip hop soundtrack. So I'm sure this one equally has same. Um, it was a very good time. Uh, it is a little bit more difficult having to control both at the same time. Um, no, I see you, Michael. Let me finish my thought.
Hype for 'Squirrel with a Gun'
00:24:14
Speaker
no I was laughing at Austin. You're fine. Oh, okay. So I thought it was my fault. Yes. Michael Tundra. see now it wasn't already i was like that you called on him when who's taking a journey
00:24:23
Speaker
It's all part of the plan. Is it still similar to the first game? Endless, well, quote unquote endless runner. Yeah. Yeah. You, you're still, you know, running to the end of a level and then once you reach it, a new one starts, um, restarts pretty quick as well. It's not that bad. Um, some of the, um, the triggers of like what to do, like to attack instead of jump. There's still a little tough to read. They're not super clear. Um, but it's still, it was still a great time. So it looked real cool. Oh, and it was like awesome speaking of just that week, to sixteen yeah she three days in a row of banngger the next game we talk about it has to be out on the 16th. So no pressure. This one is isn in the 16th.
00:25:15
Speaker
16, 17 and 18 now. I don't think I have a July one off the top of my mind, but I could talk about, can't talk anymore. No, we can't get you done. Uh, Becca, IGN live game or play these game? Uh, what? IGN live or play days? i gn I got to play squirrel with a gun, y'all. Yes. Yeah. with Tell me about it. Tell me about it. So if you're unfamiliar with scroll, the gun is exactly what the title says. It's a squirrel with a gun. Uh, you actually applied a post wielding a soldier. So, um, yeah. Uh, six way indie showcase alum. Uh, you play as a little squirrel breaking into, uh, like a
00:25:58
Speaker
CIA secret base kind of thing to, to get a golden acorn. And as you're breaking in a secure, ah like an agent, security person, whatever catches you as he's running in, he trips into the, like into the doorway and he drops his gun and the squirrel figures out that he could harness a Glock. um The game rocks. The game feels really good. It's really satisfying. It is goofy, frenetic. It's everything that ah the trailers promised it would be. I was very surprised that it is more like 3d Mario platformer than like an action game.
00:26:36
Speaker
It feels very, very reminiscent of like 3D collect-a-thons where you are going around collecting like golden acorns and coins, all that kind of stuff. um The platform itself is really cool. It's tied to the weapon. So you're double jump or triple jump or quadruple jump. You're shooting downwards and you're propelling yourself into the air and through major gaps. Combat is really cool. There's like the the matrix bullet time implementation in there. It's great. I only had a chance to play like 10 or 15 minutes just cause time was limited. I wanted to make sure I hit everything at IGN life, but um I can't wait for this goddamn game. I'm so happy that like, this was one of those games that was making the waves on Twitter. However long ago and
00:27:19
Speaker
I thought it was just going to be vaporware. Like it was just going to be a game that never came out. And I'm so happy that after we got the show, it, you know, a other folks out the show, it it picked up a publisher and I think it's coming in August now, which is super exciting. Can't wait. Austin, you got your hand up. Yeah. Anytime I see footage of this game, I'm like, is this a game that is janky on purpose? Like, does it have that kind of feel to it? Is there jank or is it more polished than that? Um, I don't think I would use the term jank, but I know what you're getting at. It feels very sensitive, I guess, like hypersensitive. and Okay. Yeah, that's different. Yeah. Yeah. It felt really good. Like I didn't feel like I was having trouble navigating or or taking folks down or anything. Kyle.
00:28:06
Speaker
Now the gun is used for platforming as well, right? Like are we using it for like a double jump and whatnot? Yeah. So you jump and then you shoot down until you empty your clip. All right. Do we have unlimited ammo? Is that? Yeah. Do we have to worry about ammo and reloading for jumping or? Yes. Okay. So, but their ammo is all over the place. But like once you empty your clip, like you're not, you can't jump any, any further. No. Don't like it. Does it feel good when you do that? Oh yeah, it feels great. It's fun. good and just It's fucking goofy as all shit. This game and like killer bean are on the same wavelength.
00:28:44
Speaker
It's just like that sensitivity where that sensitivity comes in. Also, it's like, um, like at some point you unlock a Uzi and the recoil is seems very realistic to how you just go to the moon and would be. Yeah. It just like, you were just jumping all over the place. It's super funny and charming and it knows exactly what it's trying to do. And, um, yeah, it's, it's a, something that I just can't wait to probably have a great weekend with. Like it feels like it's being like man eater vibes, you know? Sure. Oh yeah. Kyle. Uh, was there any sense of story? How the squirrel got the gun? Why are we the security guard tripped and you picked up the gun? Oh, that's it.
The Charm of 'Dr. Finkelstein's Marvelous Room'
00:29:24
Speaker
Okay.
00:29:25
Speaker
I didn't know if there was like a secret agency, like, you know, FBI, you know, James Bond thing going on. That's what it, it seems like the squirrel is, but that's what it seems like. You you break into like this secret underground agency that is like holding this acorn for some reason. um at At the end, it reveals that the gun himself was an inside man. It was an inside job. It was an inside job. I hope at the end of this game, the gun falls in the ocean. And that's how they explain how krill and another crab treasure has, got think you think there's some crossover, right? Yeah. Other way around. yeah Very excited. It's super fun. Can't wait.
00:30:10
Speaker
Becca is next. I don't know if we're doing like, I think I started Austin Austin. I would like to follow it because I played a demo called Dr. Finkelstein's marvelous room. And I think it's like the same level of bonkers. So let me, let me open this. You boot up the game and it's one of those like, initially it's one of those like fake desktop games, kind of like Emily's away. Like it looks like that, but that's just the menu. So that's only the menu. And then I just to play with that, I was wondering how much commentary they had. And I went to like, okay, I'm going to close the game. And I was hoping there was something there is. It's like, are you sure you want to quit? Are you sure about that? No, don't do this. No, don't do this to me. It was just something like that. It just, it went on for way too long and it wouldn't let me quit the game. um So that, that was the thing. And then right when you ah initially booted up, like actually click on the game in the fake desktop.
00:30:56
Speaker
you are immediately thrown into an elevator that is just free falling. And I'm just like, cool, this is a great start, I love this. And then you you find out that you are, I mean, it doesn't confirm that you're a robot, but you're a robot, like the way you're moving and you see other robots around and you're just like, okay, I'm i'm one of them. um And then you find you meander your way into where the experiment is taking place. And the premise of this is that the world is about to end, but by taking part in the doctor's experiment, you can somehow prevent it. That's that that's it. And then you go into this room, you meet Dr. Finkelstein himself, and this man
00:31:31
Speaker
This man is unhinged. I don't know how else, how else to say this. This man is unhinged. He's a great character. The whole vibe is like portal esque and like Stanley parable esque. And you get in there and literally the only thing you're doing there's hilarious commentary happening. There's two people fighting in the window above you as you're waiting to start the experiment. You're just watching these two people literally fist fight and throw it and then argue and stuff. And you're like, okay. And it's just like a walking sim. You don't do much. The entire experiment is you just pulling a lever and things magically appear in this room. That's it. That's the entire game guys. But I'm telling you the like 15 to 20 minutes I played, I wanted so much more because it just does a really good job at delivering what like bonkers crap is going on with this man and his experiment. So it's honestly like I could not be more intrigued by where this game is going to go.
00:32:20
Speaker
Nice. ah you like It's going to go further. ah it Like the vibe I got is it could go literally anywhere. Okay. Cool. Like I can't pay where this, it could go any direction. Like I have no idea. Um, but there's a, there's a track on the, that reminds me of like the matrix theme song. It's called entering the well by just us. Look it up. Oh yeah. It's freaking cool. So cool. Um, but yeah, so it's a, just a bonkers video game with an unhinged character and where you pull a lever and that's the entire game. But I loved gold every minute, every minute of it. I was, I was enjoying it. So I'm about it. Hell yeah. Becca, what bonkers shit do you got? I want to talk about if we have to pick a bonkers one, how about this magical girl is a bitch.
00:33:05
Speaker
Hell yeah. Holy shit. Let's go. Should we talk about that one? I don't have anything in my mouth. I almost choked. excellent
00:33:14
Speaker
So it's you know at the end of the day, it's a visual novel. So you're just reading dialogue and making choices for the characters. But the the the art style like got me right away. The name of the game got me right away. like I love a game with ah with a curse word in the title. Just brilliant. yeah um A big cuss. The very beginning of the demo, i was like i was I was like, this is the best. It's basically like, so the, in this game, the side characters don't even get like animations. They're just like blank slate characters because like, that's how you can tell that they're completely insignificant to the story. Cause they didn't even give them like.
00:33:51
Speaker
a look. um So they're talking about this main character Tabby. Tabby Bones is her name. I'm pretty sure it's Tabby Bones. um So they're talking about her and they're like, oh, Tabby is so cool. I wish she'd hang out with us. And then it zooms in on Tabby and she's like, everyone hates me. And then it zooms back out and they're like, she's the coolest. She's so talented. And then it zooms back in and she's like, God, everyone's the worst. Why doesn't anyone like me?
Magical Girl Visual Novel Discussion
00:34:16
Speaker
So already you have this like, Unreliable narrator of a main character where she's like butot like middle school's the worst everyone hates me and like behind her back Everybody's like this is the coolest bitch ever um So I was immediately in love and I thought that was just hilarious, but basically
00:34:34
Speaker
the It's not a very long demo, but um it's like it's Halloween, or it's like Halloween week at school, and she wants it and she wants to decorate the skeletons, Tabby does, and her arch enemy ah her arch enemy, Eden, who's a boy. Um, he, he like takes it from her. He like takes the skeleton decorations from her. So she's pissed because this is the worst thing that could possibly happen to like a 12 year old or whoever old you are when you're in middle school. Um, and then, so she goes to like, complain to the teacher about it. And then the teacher turns into a werewolf and this is how she discovers that she's actually magic.
00:35:13
Speaker
Um, and so she has this like sailor moon transformation, but the best part is that it does the sailor moon thing where it's like, do, do, do, do. It's all fancy. And then it's like, and then she looks horrible in her like sailor magic girl outfit. She looks like a weird, like way too lanky jester. And so there's just like, there's just like these cool twists about it. She's wearing like, it's like a bad Harley Quinn outfit is what it looks like to me. But she has this like epic. I'm lanky, so. This like epic transformation. We're not too lanky. I guess, I guess. Descriptor, descriptor.
00:35:46
Speaker
You know, anyway, she has that like beautiful transformation and she's just like, what the heck is this? And she has to defeat her random, you know, werewolf teacher. And that's pretty much the end of the demo. She has like a um like a pixie sidekick that tells her like your magic and now you have to do this thing. And she ah becomes she becomes magic by eating candy, which is like perfect. um But yeah, that's basically it. it's just It was really funny, and the art style is great. I love that they like very clearly were like, these characters aren't important, so we're not even going to bother giving them any kind of look or anything. And so you know who the main characters are from like right off the bat. The teacher doesn't have a head, so it's Dexter's Laboratory and Powerpuff Girls. Oh, I see. I see.
00:36:35
Speaker
ah do Do they have a head when they turn into a werewolf? Yes. Okay. That's important for the record. He um But yeah, no. it's it Honestly, like I would probably would have binged the whole thing in one sitting if it wasn't like a 20-minute demo, but it's really incredible. And it has a curse word in the title. Of course.
Collector's Edition Talk
00:36:57
Speaker
It sounds like a typical typical Tuesday afternoon in high school when you have anxiety. you know Yeah. Yeah. I just love her place to the worst. You know, it's so good and kind of love her at the same time. Like it's true. Cool. You mentioning visual novel. Uh, did you guys see the collector's edition for slay the princess by the way? I sure did. And it's real expensive. It's real expensive, but it's real fucking cool. Yeah, no, it's right. Okay. Yeah. Anyways, uh, Harry.
00:37:31
Speaker
That's me. Um, I think, yeah no i think it's no talk I think it's time to talk about never. ah There's no, there's not a Harry in this call. There's only Kitty. I'm sorry. Kitty. Yes. Uh, well, before we talk about never, uh, I just want to shout out grapple dogs, cosmic canines. That demo was really fun. I never played the original and this was a really easy to jump into game where there's Mike from six on it. It's fine. Um, where I was just like climbing stuff, using momentum to figure out where to jump and platform. And then the new character whose name I don't remember mostly focuses on like bullets and like shooting things as opposed to traversing. Like the titular crab dog.
00:38:15
Speaker
I'm a little bit off to never, I didn't, I didn't know that demo was out. So cool. I reviewed the first game. It was a Like I knew like the sequel was coming out. Damn it. I didn't play it. I, I'm sorry. I let you know. My bad. It looks like you still download it. So do it. It's four levels. That's like two. Grapple dog might be my favorite dog. I reviewed for six one indie. Like it's, it's up there. It's one of my favorite indies I've discovered through this. So play Grapple dog and the sequel. Remember when they messed up the ah outlet name on the trailer? Oh yeah. 691 691 maybe. Yeah. Did they ever fix it? Or was it just like, my no, just I told Ryan, I was like, it's fine. We're fucking leaving. It's too late. It's too far gone. Whatever. Our first accolade and trailer and they fucked it up. Cool.
'Neva' at Tribeca Games
00:39:07
Speaker
But Harry, how, how good is never tell me ladies and gentlemen,
00:39:12
Speaker
The 99% of the reason why I went to Tribeca Games was to play this game. It is so amazing. and yeah I cannot believe how good it is. I mean, I can because. It's from the developers of these. How how devastated are we going to be, Kitty? OK, so I played like almost an hour of it and it's basically the first part out of four. Damn, really? Oh, my God, dude, I couldn't like the first off. I got like 20 minutes. No. So story time. Well, hello, microphone. I'm waiting. So Tribeca Games. It's a small
00:39:51
Speaker
um Side piece of the tribeca films festival where they are then they building out more and more focus on narrative focus games because they're acknowledging them as they should that games can have a powerful story and these are creative ways of distributing that and knowledge and information and story to people who want to experience it. So that premise, amazing. um It was off the beaten path. It was pretty much near that floating pier in Tribeca. So it seemed very far out of the way of the other stuff in Tribeca. But the area is like one station per game, which I was a little bit surprised of. But it was very intimate and chill vibe setting. So I'm like, all right, this is the vibe that they're going for. Not let's cram it like a PAX East where everyone's playing the games. We're just fine. And I was totally all for that.
00:40:42
Speaker
So I got there like an hour early and I'm just like, all right, do I, do I say hi? Do I talk to someone? Um, but then I eventually started chatting with the technical director and he was like, yeah, like we talked about six one, then he talked about how the focus of like the vibe and the, design of technology was important. I'm like, Oh, that's great. So it's like 1135 and it doesn't open till 12. And he's like, do you want to not play a ah game? I'm like, am I allowed to? And he's like, yeah, like I'm in charge. Like just come over to the gate. I'm like, okay. And he's like, which one do you want to play? this game. Um, so we, we chatted about the game as a precursor where it is basically ah the first part of the game. He really liked the design. This was one of his favorite games to set up.
00:41:30
Speaker
um And yeah, like i I couldn't believe that kept playing. I'm like, oh my god, this is still going on So the introduction is essentially the opening Trailer of the reveal game from last year. It's a little bit longer There's a little bit more cutscenes of like the devastation of that giant wolf like dog person passing away and fighting against all the dark creatures and then you eventually like make eye contact with Neva, like the little cub wolf, and then you start the journey. Neva's the wolf. Yeah. Alba is the lady.
00:42:06
Speaker
that you are playing as, and then never is the little cub dog wolf thing with tree antlers. I don't know. Like, I got it's weird, but it's like tree antlers. You took that. from yeah release Right. That's the yeah tree antler. Yeah. Well, yeah. I mean, it looks like tree part branches as antlers. Yeah. Wolfdog cub thing with tree antlers. Yeah. Yeah. Print it. Perfect. Full stop. So yeah. Once that trailer happens, I was like, Oh my God, this is way more emotional than I remember. And then I looked at later and there's a longer version of it. So or they made adjustments or whatever. So then you play as Alba, but you're also.
00:42:46
Speaker
managing Neva, who is this cub wolf thingy. We'll just say cub for short version. it yeah statement It's It's a wolf cub. For reference, it is a wolf cub. So the cub is basically like a child that you have to make sure it follows you. Or sorry if it gets distracted by butterflies, you have to be like, Neva. And be like, hey, like we got we got to go to the right. So let's just keep on going. but the like He's going to be referring to Neva as like a larva or something, something crazy. Well, there are some weird larva. It sounds like Glass Guardian. That's I'm sure if I played it, I can follow that. um But and it's yeah, it's pretty much a little companion that you have to keep track of um and protect to make sure like none of the bad darkness with my life. Are you kidding me? Yeah, absolutely. I'm dying before never dying. All right. So anyway, ah so so that's all the precursor building up to the actual gameplay.
00:43:43
Speaker
So it's basically a visually stunning game where you are platforming and traversing through the area, solving somewhat basic puzzles for now, but then also attacking enemies or obstacles in your way with your, like, rapier sort of thing. um Throughout the demo, you're focused on the mechanics of getting used to the game while also figuring out the rules with the Cub Never. um and
00:44:14
Speaker
Yeah, so as you're progressing, the basic like first 15 minutes is just like walking around, jumping around, making sure Nev is following you. um And there's obstacles in your way that you have to solve. Some of them are super obvious where, oh, there's a ah vertical black goo thing. I'll use my sword to attack it. Cool, progressing forward. But it like immediately ramps up after that where, all right, now I have to do three different things at once to jump, dash, roll, and then hit that bad guy. which I was surprised on how quickly it turned into more challenging puzzles and challenging platforming, which I was all down for. I was like, yes, this is great. It's pushing me to think creatively. um But then you're also stuck with Nava scared in the corner. So now you have to also balance, all right, well, how do I calm him down to make him chill? And then you hug him to calm him down. And I'm just like, oh my God, I can't. Yes, Kyle from Signal and Eddie.
00:45:13
Speaker
Are any of the puzzles like a Metroidvania thing where you know you're going to have to come back to unlock those paths or I don't believe so. OK, it's very much linear, maybe some side things where I found some glowing flowers and I'm like, OK, like this might be a ah collectible. down the road, but nothing popped. Nothing was like, Ooh, you found one of nine white roses. um So all about that for this. yeah I just, saw yeah. enjoyed the time for just be You find a cool flower bloomed and you just live your life. I appreciate it. It's been a long time and I want to replay it before never comes out of that. I think that's similar to agree. Yeah. I believe there was flowery things. Yeah. And it didn't really make you backtrack or anything. Yes. Awesome. From six one and eight.
00:45:58
Speaker
Hi, hello. Um, you said the, the difficulty in like platforming ramped up really quickly. Do you think that's like the way the game will play out or do you think that's cause it's a demo? Cause sometimes they try to like ramp that up quicker to soldier in a short period of time. I straight up think I just played the first chapter of the game. Okay. Where it is it opened up as like season one summer or part one summer. And I'm like, all right, we're playing all four seasons and the last one's going to be spring with growth. And like, I feel like I already know the trajectory. And especially with the trailers, I looked at them too many times. I'm like, hmm, some stuff's going on. um But I don't want to talk about my theories yet. But um yeah, I think, I don't think it ramped up that for the demo, I think it ramped up just because they want to show you all the things that you're going to have to start doing in the game. So like your ground pounding with your sword to attack enemies that are revert like vertical down, you're dashing, you're dodging.
00:46:52
Speaker
And the the fighting, I was happily surprised that it wasn't just for show. It wasn't just, oh, I'm gonna attack this thing twice, it dies. It's purely theatrics and we're moving on, it's not really engaging. um That was the case for the first two encounters, but then after that, you're literally juggling like three or four monsters with varying attacks, varying defenses, different size monsters, and... That got me excited because so I'm like, oh, yeah, this is like hitting all the buttons of this is definitely pushing me more than Greek. um But it's in a cinematic, cinematic method where I'm excited to keep playing and not only see the story, but see where the abilities kind of transform all these mechanics together.
00:47:40
Speaker
um The one thing I was not jazzed about was that there's a chase sequence And it's like a minute and a half long and you only have like two hits and then you die but when you die Alba the main protagonist turned into like a death flower Which happened to the the birds in the beginning of opening scenes? so I want to know what the deal is with that because I'm sure that's gonna be a ah deep story moment and But yeah, they didn't really showcase too much of how to forecast the things that you have to dodge, but it became the exact same spots every time. So you're just like, all right, just make sure I do that. But yeah, the visuals were really cool. The music was stunning.
00:48:23
Speaker
I was getting emotional just like hearing it and then being like, oh, no, never scared. I have to hug him to be comfortable. And I'm like, like, and so like that's going to be devastating throughout the game, because at first there was a few moments where I'm just like, all right, well, never got scared. He ran off. I killed the monsters. Now let me run to the right because it's you're going left to right. The bulk of the game. more blunt with the game that I've played. And then I see him and I'm like, okay, he's just showing what's going on. And then I do the hug button. And then it's like, okay, I'm good to go. And I'm like, Oh, like, sometimes you gotta just pause and give someone a hug. And then you can continue your day. Every game should have a hug button. Yeah. I'm saying it right now.
00:49:06
Speaker
Just so that the back button, the back one's useless. yeah just it's Be very useful in Elden Ring this weekend. yeah The touch pad, you just go, hug. yeah thank you If you just squeeze it as tight as you can, it's a hug. It's so good. But what I found really interesting And if this is actually the first part, I'm like, I'll be loose with spoilers or anything. But the thing that you're running ah from becomes the thing that you are fighting at the end of the chapter. So I thought that was a really cool like, oh, shoot, like I was running away. Now I have to get face you head on. um And the boss fight was a fight. um Yeah, I was dodge rolling. I was attacking and running away.
00:49:51
Speaker
um Because like I said, two hits and are I guess three hits and then you're done. So luckily if you attack enemies in succession without getting hit enough time, you recover health. So it becomes like, all right, well, in order for me to progress, I got to push forward, get some health, be some bodaciously radical and try to dodge a few more times and then keep going. It did take me two or three tries. But once you did it, I was like, yeah, Very satisfying like it was nothing cheap about the game. It was more so me being like alright I gotta be more careful. I gotta to make sure I hit him Which was amazing and that one of my favorite parts, but it gets me nervous about the game that unless there's accessibility options or approachability options that people who want to chill experience like these um Might not get that because the gameplay is gonna push back much much harder. I I was all for it. And I was like, yeah, let's do it, baby. this Because I think the push and pull is worth it because it's going to be a push and pull probably throughout the whole game.
Devolver Digital and 'Skate Story'
00:50:57
Speaker
But if it becomes overbearing and frustrating, and that's when it becomes more diminishing return.
00:51:01
Speaker
I think if if they perfect the the difficulty and the narrative, I think it could be like another, and I don't want to put too much pressure on this game, but like it reminds me of what they're going for is kind of like Celeste. Like it just reminds me of like the trudging through something and then it's just, ah it makes it so worth the the challenge. Yeah. The challenge is part of the message, the narrative themes. and I'm not saying they're going for that either. It just somewhat sounds like that's something to play into it. similar more yeah Yeah. And, um, the Andy from devolver digital was very tight lip about release dates, but I'm like, so it keeps saying 2024. He's like, yup, that is the scheduled date. So I'm like, it sure does. it sure can you Can you, can you tell me? You probably got that question about a hundred thousand times. Yeah. But it was, it was so good. And.
00:51:45
Speaker
Luckily, I didn't realize how long I was playing until I looked at my clock to be like, oh my God, I've been playing for an hour. um But there's one girl, I guess, behind me. So I i you finished the demo, you see this really cool animation that shows you like 30 more seconds of trailer. And it's like, thanks for playing. I'm like, Oh my God. And I take my headphones off from one, like literally a seven year old girl was like, Oh my God, finally. And then I'm like, sorry. um But yeah, it was a banger. And i I was like, there's no way any other demo can match this. And so I did play other really great demos. That was absolutely the highlight. and I was don't know. about That's that skim demo is pretty good. just saying Yeah. Well, I don i'm got that one saved. So I'm going to be jumping on that one.
00:52:30
Speaker
I like the idea that you don't have a watch. You have a clock. Cause you said you looked at your clock and I was like, I was like, you pull out a clock out of your bag. Play with watch. Yeah. I have a weird sense of words sometimes. No, it's just my, my Canon thing for you. Kitty. Yes. Before I kick into Kyle, I do have a quick, like. antidote with Devolver. Uh, the goal of the entire summer game festival weekend was me and Jill grow, trying her best to get a goddamn Devolver appointment. So there were, um, it seemed like there were two separate emails that got sent out. Uh, I got me and Jill got the email that was like, Hey, come to Volvie's birthday party, get some Volvie, read us, hang out, have a good time, play the cult of the lamb DLC, play some anger foot. Hell yeah. So in our minds, we were like, okay, they're just showing cult of lamb DLC and anger foot.
00:53:19
Speaker
Cool. No worries. Uh, turns out there was a separate email where, uh, the, you know, the IGN's, your game informers, your, your, the gamers, all, all these, uh, fancy folks, uh, did get the invites to play. Never. Um, plucky squire and skate story. And entire weekend, uh, me and Jill were trying our goddamn best to, to schmooze the PR folks, ah shout out to Kobe, um to get in, but they're like book solid. At some point, ah Stephanie from Tinsley just straight up laughed at me and she was like, no fucking way. That also sounds like what we had a few times at PAX where sometimes some of us would get like influencer emails and then some of us would get media emails. I'm like, this is confusing.
00:54:03
Speaker
But Skate Story did play too, and it was great. It wasn't my gym as a non-skateboard player, but i was it was really easy to pick up and play. And I'm like, I'm thinking this, maybe I will play skateboarding games. Because it it didn't it didn't make me feel stupid for not being able to do it well. It was like, all right, just try this again. And then you do it, and you're like, hell yeah, man. Maybe not. that was That was the one I really want to get my hands on. Cause I said this a million times. So like played it pre lock down.
Challenging 'Foul Damage'
00:54:32
Speaker
I was talking to Paul from Devolver and he was like, yeah, it, uh, it changed quite a bit since you played it. I was like, hell yeah.
00:54:38
Speaker
um We played it pre lockdown. We've known about that game that long. Yeah, it was that before I picked up from, yeah, before I got picked up by Devolver, cause Sam the developer, he's local to New York. um So he was very much in like the gumbo collective kind of scene. His previous games are about me and Harry got to play that like a play NYC, probably our first play NYC I'd imagine. Yeah, and was it was in the 20th story. Yeah. And that's what skate story like was first getting shown. And then I got my hands on it. it was the Paxis 2020. Cause I remember that that was when my, my jeans were ripped and I met the head of Indies at Nintendo and I was trying my best to not die and not ah ah show any extra skin that I did not want to show. Maybe I should have, maybe should maybe I should have. Kyle,
00:55:29
Speaker
kyle And that's what the mix. Yeah. I only played two other indies there in addition to one non-indie at play days, but we can talk about that in the post show. Um, yeah, we'll, we'll definitely talk about that one. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, one, uh, banger of a game, one, not so much the one, not so much one, which I, I love its premise and the look of it. It's called steel seed. Um, it's a stealth action adventure game. Um, I think it was unveiled that the at a mix show earlier as well. I think this was the second time it was shown off at a showcase at some point. Um, you play as, um, Zoe and with her little flying drone, Kobe. Um, and it's like, it's got mix of uncharted climbing with, um, the stealth action of a, uh,
00:56:25
Speaker
like a Metal Gear Solid with a little bit of more of like ah a soulsy like dodging parrying kind of thing going on. um It was a little janky. did It didn't run all that well. the The jump was inconsistent. I died several times because I kept mistiming the jumps a whole lot because of the the way it was running. um The really cool thing I like is that with Kobe, the drone, because the drone can you can use as an offensive measure and take control of it and turn into like a first person shooter and shoot enemies and lure them to other parts of the map. um You could also hack the enemies because all the enemies are robots. And once you hack an enemy, they will be on your side and can attack with you. um But it was very difficult. It was it was a tough game. um
00:57:14
Speaker
It says it's releasing in 2024. We'll see. I think it needs a little bit more time in the oven, but it was, it looked really cool. I liked the setting and the vibe of it all. The really good one is another showcase alum. It's foul damage. I got to play foul damage y'all. Oh my God. It's so fun. it's It's agonizing. It's frustrating like a Celeste where like, You're going to die. You're going to break that egg a million times. ah But the really awesome thing that it does, it reloads you so fast. Like you are right back in it. um
00:57:52
Speaker
And I just love the way it rewires your brain of how to platform. Like clearly you see the path, but if you jump too high and land, you're going to break. If you fall too far, you're going to break. So you got to choose the right platforms at the right height to maneuver your way through it. There were these cool, I forgot what they were. I think there were feathers actually similar to like Celeste where each certain screens have them to collect as like a a bonus thing as you go through it.
00:58:23
Speaker
um And I was having a great time with it. It was, ah we had people watching me and they were upset every time the egg died because it was so cute. And I was having a great time platforming, getting it ah you know you know down as much as I could. And then it got to a point in when we, the trailer we showed off where these giant robot worms started chasing you. Oh man, that is stressful. I previewed it when we were having it in in the our little presentation there. And it was one of those things where.
00:59:00
Speaker
The difficulty is there and you can learn the language I was telling you, but there's also like off the beaten path things you can kind of discover and just go get random crap like the feathers you did. And I was like, there's no way I can, oh, I, oh, I could see how I could, yeah, I can do that. And then you fail 30 times. You're like, ah, then you finally get up there. And it's, yeah, it's, it's awesome. It's really, really cool. It's like insanely smart. Like I'm so impressed at how smart the game design is with this. Um, and when he says you're back immediately, like, like, millionth of a second. You're dead back, dead back. It's incredible. Exactly, which I think is great for this kind of game, because no one wants a big gap in between. Foul damage is awesome, and I can't wait to play it when it fully comes out. September 13th. Is that the actual date? No, it's on July. According to Steam. Oh, OK. I don't think they mentioned a date when I played it, so that's cool. All right.
00:59:55
Speaker
yeah maybe they Maybe they got a date at the Girl Collective show. We were on a plane when that was happening. ah chart Kyle, when that metal worm shows up, I'm just like, no. I can't do it. I can't do it. No, no. Cause you not only have to manage what platforms to jump to, but also you need to predict when it's going to lunch and get out of the way. A hundred percent. But they do have like audio tells when you're taking on those worms where like, it'd be like, like, it's like warming up to like fire at you. Oh, I didn't play with headphones. They didn't have headphones there for me. That's probably really important for the record.
01:00:30
Speaker
Um, but it's one of those things where like when you're taking on the the metal worm, the robot worm, um, you, every time you die, you get like a little bit farther. So it's one of those things where you'll be doing the thing where like, okay, the first part I can do like with my hands, have my back. And then you get to the part you've never seen before. And you're just like, I don't know what to do.
Horrors of 'Fear the Spotlight'
01:00:49
Speaker
I'm dead. Cool. Wonderful. my My favorite part is I would make it to the end of the exact end and I would die. And then it would restart me in the next screen. Thank God. Did you get to the end of the demo? Yes. So ah at the end of when I played, they, they add water.
01:01:06
Speaker
And I'm like, you think, oh, that's not gonna, oh, it does. Cause it makes it to where you can fall from a higher distance and then you're slower. And I was like, oh my God, all it does add water and it's, it's a different game. Buoyancy. Oh, thank you, Mike. You're buoyancy.
01:01:26
Speaker
youre buoyant Why did you make buoyancy sound so hot? Can you say it again? ah ah see my That's an official voice actor right there. the there that That trailer. I don't remember what it was. Don't hurt me. I don't remember. Deathbound coming soon. Deathbound. There you go. Maybe maybe you'll hear more of me soon. Who knows? Who's to say? yeah there um Austin alerted us that there was pizza arriving in 14 minutes. I can rapid fire some, cause I only have two more and I have extensive notes for her. Yeah. Let's do one more round. If you want to do some rapid fire, cool. We'll we'll probably just do part two next week. I'd imagine probably. i am
01:02:11
Speaker
Thank you, Harry. In my defense, I did not think I was mute and not muted. I like,
01:02:23
Speaker
yeah Two quick ones I want to mention, um, and I won't go too deep into them here just cause I have the previews up on six one indie.com. Uh, the first being fear of the spotlight. This was my game of summer game fest. This is from developer cozy game pals. And this is, uh, the first project being published by Blumhouse games. Um, I wrote this in the preview, but i yeah, Austin, go for it. This one's already out, technically, right? so Am I wrong? Yeah, we'll get to that. Okay, cool. So I wrote in my, my preview, just like kind of like precursor of like under embargo. We got this invitation to go check out Blumhouse games in my mind. I was like, I'm going to play a Megan video game, a night swim video game, whatever. It's going to be a time, you know, I'm there for the vibes. That Blumhouse sizzle reel trailer,
01:03:16
Speaker
ah blew me away. I thought that was the most outstanding part of that show between triple A and indie. I totally floored me. um So later that day I found out that it was fear the spotlight that was playable on the show floor at play days. Fear the spotlight is a resident evil. Like there is your counter is a retro resi like, but um what cozy game pals is doing a bit differently is there are no jump scares. Um, and something I kept writing in my, or kept referring to in my preview is the narrative rhythm. A lot of the puzzles serve the purpose of driving the narrative forward. Like, like you know, it does the classic resi thing of like, you gotta find the key to open the case. And so to find that key, it's behind ah another door. So you have to find that key, you know, the, the whole, the resi puzzle thing. Um,
01:04:10
Speaker
But each of those elements is by a piece of environmental storytelling. Most notably, like I mentioned, the centerpiece here is a memorial of the premise is, or the setup is you are playing as ah a young student named Vivian and her quote unquote friend named Amy Amy knows that you are volunteering at the library and the library has an occult display because that's a normal thing in a high school. um And Amy wants to use the Ouija board to conjure some spirits because the high school has this tragic past where there was like this gnarly fire that took out over 30 kids.
01:04:46
Speaker
um So in the library, you get to see this memorial of all the kids. So that was like something in that the puzzle led you to. um It leads you to some to some documents about like maybe the school was doing some shady cover-up shit, but of course in the demo it was locked away. um So it just had a nice pace and a nice rhythm. like The developers clearly understand like how to manipulate horror in a way that doesn't rely on jump scares. And it's in like the brief 25 ish minute demo. I was floored and all of that kind of complimented and helped build up
01:05:21
Speaker
a sense of dread throughout. And I know I didn't spoil it in my preview and I don't want to spoil it here. um The, the ending of the demo, like the climax of the demo is gnarly. It takes you on such a ah killer ride, very similar to like what a low layers of fear does with it's changing environments and super great. I haven't stopped thinking about it since I went hands on with it. um If you want more in-depth thoughts, 6.1d.com. um I know I said I was going to be rapid fire. I'm so sorry. And then the other quick one, lush foil of photography SIM. um This is the like, Oh, sorry, Austin, to answer your question with, with fear of the spotlight. It came out in 2023. That's when Blumhouse caught wind of it. They approached the developers like, Hey,
01:06:05
Speaker
We are you know believe in the game, really cool stuff that you're doing. We're happy to throw you some money so you can kind of like finish your vision. So they took it off steam. They didn't revoke access to any of the players that currently have it, um but they took it off steam to pretty much like up development a little more. um I think currently the game and its current state is like one to or like two to three hours. with the Blumhouse funding, they're able to add like another three hours
Diving into 'Replaced'
01:06:29
Speaker
of content. So it's going to be like a five-ish hour experience. Um, so yeah, super excited, super excited. And like the most delightful husband wife development team. This is, you may have already said this, so I apologize. Is this the one ah you just, you just answered it. You said there was a husband and wife. yeah So yeah, I was just about to ask, is this the one cause they announced like what, like six games or something like that. So like, it'ss it's just hard to, it's just hard to keep them all online. Yeah.
01:06:54
Speaker
um um i would I would rapid fire, but I will save my last two for part two, if that's okay with everyone. That's totally okay. Two more quick rapid fires. um Sure. lush foil photographyy for annaurna hyperrealistic just, I guess walking sim, if you want to call it that, but you, you have access to a camera and it is an in-depth literal photography sim where every setting under the sun that you could think of in photography is in this game. What I found most profound and you can read about it in my preview. um I had like quite the emotional response to this game. Cause like with how grounded and realistic it is,
01:07:29
Speaker
I really felt like I was wandering around Japan and like experience it like I was there and I kind of equated this to like nourishing my fear of flying and like getting to experience something so hyper realistic on my own, in my own pace and on my own merit. a place that I'll probably end up never going because of my fear. Um, so super cool. Uh, go check out six on indie.com for that. But the last thing to close myself out, um, I'd be remiss to not mention replaced ah the long awaited indie from a Ukrainian studio was a sack sad cat studio, I believe is the name during play days. It was right next to the booth. I was at all day. So I got, I was just staring at it the entire time. Cause I was like, man, this thing is gorgeous.
01:08:15
Speaker
Yeah. Um, uh, the, the way the demo was set up, it was split into three sections. There is a combat section. There was the prologue, which was very just narrative set up. And, um, essentially the first chapter of the game, just kind of like, let you go. Um, combat. Oh, It hits. That that scared me. Cause I can say horrible. The combat is fantastic. It is, you know, parrying dodge rolls, counter attacks, like everything under the sun. And the way ah it compliments the aesthetic and that 2.5 D like vibe and art style, it just feels so fluid and like everything is in motion the entire time. It it really feels like an immersive experience.
01:09:06
Speaker
Awesome. Did you play Katana zero? Yes. Is it like that? But I mean, I'm not one to one, but like they're going for that vibe. Like, okay. Okay. kind of that vibe, I would say it's more like weighty in a good way. Like you feel the impact of every punch. You feel the impact of every hit that goes your way. It was awesome. Combat is killer. um The prologue stuff. I, it's the kind of game that you need to experience at home. It's dense. There's a lot of dialogue. There's a lot of stories set up. It's one of those games and complimenting that is the actual first chapter of the game. I played maybe
01:09:41
Speaker
15 minutes of it. um I wasn't expecting how dense the game is in terms of like characters, side quests, side narratives, how many things are happening on screen at once, how many areas are to explore, how many like little nooks and crannies you could go into. Like it's no wonder, well granted, obviously the Ukrainian war its took effect because of this game and the development, but it's no wonder why this game took so long to to get to where it's at. um
01:10:12
Speaker
I, it's one of those games that when you booted up, you're just going to get lost in it in in a good way. Like, yeah. Hello, Austin's cat times two. They'd be fighting, but yeah, replaced is so far in my limited time with it. It's, it's meeting those expectations that a lot of people have been ah eagerly awaiting for. I cannot wait for that game. Also decide, no, play Katana zero. if it If it replaces anything like a time zero, it's going to, it's going to be a must play. Just saying, yeah, that's a great game. Not as fast, not as like fluid issue. It is fluid, but not like not twitchy. I know what you mean. I know what you mean. Yeah. Yeah.
Preview of 'Quiet Things'
01:10:52
Speaker
Who wants to go next? Now that the pizza has arrived, Austin, do you want to do rapid fires? You want to save? I want to save my last two for part two. That's okay. If everyone, Becca saving a rapid fire. Uh, yeah, I'll rapid and fire a couple real quick.
01:11:06
Speaker
the The ones I don't want to talk about as much because it was like really short demos. um Quiet things, like a first person narrative. It seems like it's going to be a tearjerker, really sad, but it's mostly just um kind of like like a little girl like loses her mom and it's just kind of like the aftermath of that. And so you kind of are walking around and. interacting with objects in her house in the demo and stuff, and it's kind of pulling the narrative together just by interacting with the items. But really pretty, but it seems like it's going to be really sad. And I have a hard time getting into something that I know is going to be really sad. So if I think maybe it'll be sad, then it's not as hard. But something I know is just going to be really sad I have a hard time with. But that one looks really good.
Mixed Reactions to 'Thank Goodness You're Here'
01:11:56
Speaker
um I played um Thank Goodness You're Here.
01:12:00
Speaker
Yes. Which is so good. the The art style is incredible. And it's just, it's like, I genuinely, I can't think of the last game I played that made me laugh out loud that much. And the demo is like, the demo is like 10 minutes, 15 minutes. Like it's just, it's, it it's so good. and And they announced that Matt fucking Berry is in the game. Let's go. Whoa. Yeah. I'll be a contrarian. I put, you v I did not like that game at all. Honestly, I could see that. yeah I could honestly see that. And I wanted to like it so hard. I'm like, none of this is funny. And none of this is making me want to play this. Wow. I didn't pretty much understand that from you. And I was so crestfallen because I was like, I'm so hyped. It looks so good. um But maybe I was in the right headspace that evening. maybe like Because this is also at Tribeca, but I'm like, I'll just play it at home. It's the same one.
01:12:59
Speaker
yeah Yeah, it did not connect, but I'll try it again later. it like If it's a short one, I know it's a timed demo, so I can just hopefully try it again later, but yeah. yeah it's also It's being marketed as a short romp, so I'm very excited for just a short two, three hour banger.
Gameplay of 'Takayaki Surprise'
01:13:15
Speaker
Yeah. All short games should have that as their tagline, short romp. I like that a lot. I did a George from Papa Jenna who's doing the PR for this game. you know I jokingly said a sequel to a short hike, a short romp. That would be a banger of a name. um A game I really desperately want to be good at, but I don't think I ever will. Takayaki Surprise. Me and every game I've ever played. um is It's like an arcade game, but you control you control a little octopus and like a little swordfish and you're on. It's got like um Pizza Tower kind of art style.
01:13:55
Speaker
um where you're so you're controlling them both at the same time i tried uh keyboard and controller i hated both of them um so like i know there's an audience for this game but i don't think i'm it but i had i but i loved it like the the demo like the the amount of the demo that i played before i was like i can't play this i really really loved and i think other people will this is why i think it's worth mentioning but you basically control both of them with one you control one with one hand and one with the other hand like different control sticks if you're on the the controller um and there's like the level is moving and you have to try and like take out as much as you can that could hurt your octopus with your swordfish so you're like attacking stuff with the swordfish and you're trying to avoid anything that you're missing with the swordfish with the octopus so like the octopus doesn't have any kind of attack you're just moving around trying to avoid stuff on the level while as the swordfish you're trying to like get rid of most of the stuff so that the octopus doesn't have to do that much work um
01:14:52
Speaker
This kind of sounds like the Bayonetta origins game where you have two characters and you're like simultaneously moving them. It's really, yeah, it's really, really difficult. And your swordfish has like special abilities. So you're not just like spamming the button all the time. He has like a ability where you can like hold it. And then he does like a big spin attack and stuff. Um, but super fun and adorable. I just like, I went, it was one of those things where I was like, man, I wish I was good at video games because this is so good.
Fun with 'Blood Typers'
01:15:21
Speaker
Um, the last one I'll rapid fire and I'll leave the other ones for next week is blood typers. It's like, um, it's like, uh, I had the same head. That could be, that could be anything. That could be like a, like a doctor Sim. That could, that could be, that could be anything in anime. It's like it's like stus House of the Dead, ah ty typing of the dead, typing of the dead. It's like typing of the dead. But you're also, it's not like we're um in like in typing of the dead where the characters are coming at you and you're just typing the and words that are on like the zombies that are coming at you. You also type to move your character around.
01:16:02
Speaker
you type to pick up items, you type to like switch your weapons out. um And so like if you're good at typing, like it's great. I think I played, like before I died on my first playthrough, I played 30 minutes um before I finally died because I i kept getting sticky keys.
01:16:22
Speaker
Because you turn your character with the shift button and I couldn't remember how to turn off sticky keys So I ended up dying because of sticky keys. But yeah, it's like um It's like a pixel II kind of ah art style like the art styles just okay But the gameplay play is so so much fun and it's very ah like let's let's name drop it again very Resident Evil You have a bunch of zombies coming at you. It's just like action and you have to decide and what kind of weapon you want to hold because there's more of a chance that you'll get injured if you're using a melee weapon because then like you're obviously getting closer to things. So like if you use a weapon, but then you have to worry about ammo. And so it's like a give and take kind of situation, but, um, it was super fun. And then you're finding like a key for like, you find the blue key for the blue door and then you have a brand new area to open up and stuff like that. So.
01:17:10
Speaker
It's really fun. And I thought it was interesting that like you, you, you literally typed to do everything in that game. So I just thought that was really cool. Oh yeah.
Conclusion and Teasers
01:17:20
Speaker
Harry, I think we saved the rest of the Tribeca stuff for next week. Cause I have a lot of questions about all those games. Oh my God. Yes. That lineup is a banger. It sure is. And Kylie, the last thing you played was the triple A thing we're going to talk about. Yep. Well friends with that, It's pizza time for Austin. Yeah. Let's go. Let's go. Thank you so much for hanging out for this episode of the six way. Indicast. If you liked this, be sure to drop a comment, like the video, break podcasts, all that good stuff. Uh, six way. Indi.com is your place to follow us anywhere and everywhere. Uh, we look very much happy to be back to somewhat on a normal schedule ish for the time being, but yeah, it happens. Goodbye.
01:18:05
Speaker
but my Time to talk about Sonic and Phantom Blade Zero, baby. Let's go. yeah