Transcript
Speaker: Goblins. Oh, goblins. Did that scare you? You speak of my my brethren. oh and hot on um I need you to know that I'm very if you're trying to scare me, I need you to know a few things. I am closely related to goblins, gremlins, witches and vampires, a little bit ghostly as well. So when you're trying to scare me, just keep those things in mind. Hey, Roses, don't look behind you because there's a werewolf.
Speaker: I've slept with werewolves, so that's my connection to that. let me So they're not very scary to me. Hey, Roses, look under your desk. There's a there's a ah hold on. No, let me try again.
Speaker: Let me try again. here you You try one. See if you can spook me. Hey, Matt. What? Have you heard the story about the man with the loose crank?
Speaker: It feels like you're building up to a joke. Okay, no, I haven't. It feels like you have a punchline here. Have you heard the story about the... Oh, I don't have a punchline. I don't know where this is going.
Speaker: He was... Listen, listen. There was once a man who had a loose crank. He was arrested for public indecency. Matt! Well, that is kind of scary. ah Here's what. here Guess what?
Speaker: What? I'm a ghost! Oh, I like that. Fuck.
Speaker: It was kind of my dream to have like sex with a ghost. What's your... Okay. Not in a way that it happens in Ghostbusters. you know little Something better than that. Consensual. If I become a ghost, you can't just start hitting on me and trying to sleep with me. Oh, I see you're a ghost now.
Speaker: I'm still your friend, Matt, whether I'm a ghost or not. Yes, that's so much better looking than a ghost. Ha ha ha! Oh my god. Oh yeah, wait. that'll That'll be scary to both of us. If if both of us are just like, if if somebody's like, um hey, you are ah only somewhat attractive to me. And we're both like, hu
Speaker: No, um okay. what what's canno I cannot be scared. I'm sorry. What is the scariest thing to you? The scariest thing to me? Yeah, if it was in your, if it if it was, if you turned around and there's a murderer.
Speaker: No, I can make that into a fantasy too. What scares me? I guess. couldn't fantasy! Oh, Mr. Murderer. Oh, I see you're a murderer now. Don't murder me. Oops, my top fell off. Wouldn't you rather, you know.
Speaker: No, that doesn't scare me either. What scares me? so um No, I got this. something Something scares me. We're trying to be spooky, and it just keeps getting horny in here. You are a dude, and that's I am a little bit afraid of dudes. So I think just your dude-like presence is a little scary. Hey, Rose's guest turned... Don't look now, but behind you is a man! Ah!
Speaker: Ah! Ah!
Speaker: Welcome, ghouls and goblins, to the first episode of Save Your Game Spooky Month. I am your vampiric host, Matt Orkamp, and with me is the ancient mummy.
Speaker: yeah ya mummy The ancient crone. The ancient crone with a whoop big cauldron. It's pushing up roses
Speaker: Okay, you snapped me out of it. I was under a case so curse. curse. I'm glad I saved you. The word that snapped me out of the curse was high, which is really... Convenient. I like that. Convenient for me, but you'd think for like the spooky, um I don't know, ah goblin, i keep i I need to come up i didn' to have like a list of monsters near me for spooky month. because i You can't just use goblin all the time. few But the spooky goblin who cursed me, you'd think, it's a war he's a warlock. How about that? A spooky warlock cursed me. um
Speaker: Irresponsible of him. Yeah, very. It's almost like he didn't take an improv course effort. So like so like his first thought of like, and the word to snap you out of it will be, oh god,
Speaker: ah Hi! Oh, damn it. Damn it. That's not a good one. He panicked. I panicked. I'll send you a list of like every weird creature that I can think of offhand. All right, yeah, let's try. Mummy, Dracula, Skellington.
Speaker: Skellington! Werewolf, Goblin, Ghoul, Ghost, Ghost.
Speaker: you gotta You gotta get into the sea. You gotta do sirens and risottos. Sirens. Manatees. The Kraken. Kraken. Wait, manatees? Whoops.
Speaker: Aren't manatees like just potatoes in the sea? They're super friendly. What kind of spooky creature J.D. Vance? he's not a manatee yeah he's like um he's like a deflated blobfish like one that fucking died he's not even he's not even alive he's just type of a fish he's just say but a type of fish it he's a deflated blobfish those things are fucking awful um roses yes it's me
Speaker: What have you been enjoying this first spooky week of it's not really like this past week has been 90% not spooky. It's been still November, but.
Speaker: November. i said September and anybody who disagrees didn't hear me right. It must be the curse that you guys. Now it's on all you guys are have curse. And so you hear what I say wrong. And I said September. He said September.
Speaker: I have been. What have I been doing? Oh, guess what I did? i i booted up Mystria. Couldn't get into it promptly quit.
Speaker: I know what happened. I was like so stoked for it. I'm like, okay, remind myself of the controls. I got to get myself to there. Are they the, the mines? I guess they're just called the mines, but got to get there.
Speaker: open up the next thing and i did and i opened up the portal and i ran into march and he's like how's it going sweet stuff i'm like awesome i'm gonna go he said that march said that he did not say that he said you're not so bad roses and you were like but He's not a ghost, but he'll do. Yeah.
Speaker: So I don't know what really happened. Like, everything is still really cute. My animals were playing with each other. My house looks amazing. And I, like, notoriously am bad at decorating in any kind of sim game. Oh, yeah. I never do it. Horrible. Horrible. I was bad at it in Animal Crossing. The sims don't even get me started. i can't get anywhere with that unless I have, like, ah like a blueprint or something. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: but the But actually, my house in Mystria is really cute. There's skulls everywhere. Well, I'll tell you this. In Mystria, there's a thing, because there's a new feature called the Lost and Found.
Speaker: um It's part of the 1.0 update, I believe. i don't think it existed before. But when you leave stuff laying around... Throughout the week, like, if you if you harvest stuff and just leave it laying around, even if you leave it laying around in buildings or if your inventory's full and you harvest something and it plops onto the ground, um every Monday, there's a little bin where it all ah reappears. Like, yeah um like the the the the little kids, the dragon guard, go around and collect them and put them in the little bin every Monday. so
Speaker: I, an interesting thing about, about that is in that bin will also sometimes be house decorations, yeah but they're all really shitty. That's so funny. They're all like torn up carpets and broken down tables and ripped up curtains and stuff like that. So my secondary room in my house I was like, these are too cool to just get rid of. so the secondary room in my house is is just the shittiest looking room ever. It's just decorated with all that garbagey stuff. Nice. And love it.
Speaker: That's so, but you thrifted it. That's so funny. love it. um But so so it didn't it didn't work for you this time. Uh, I, I might've been in a bad mood or something, or I wanted to, you know, like sometimes I don't like gaming is good for your mood, but sometimes I need to be in a way better mood to sit down and like focus on Mysteria, but I will pick it up.
Speaker: I will get back into it and finish this somehow. Shut up. I'm going to do it. I'm going to finish this game. um Even though it's spooky month and then secret month, we have a lot of games to play. We do. So I have no time really, but oh, I played them on my switch too. I booted up my n sixty four emulator it played a game that I just remember being so stupid when I was young. I couldn't figure it out. It's called pilot wings. 64. Oh,
Speaker: Oh, I've heard of this. It's just a pile of garbage.
Speaker: Oh, yeah? Somebody please tell me that you've played this really boring, like, cheaply made game. It's just yourre you're like... People on like hang gliders and like um jetpacks and things of that nature. And you're just going through rings and then you're landing on the landing pad.
Speaker: And then when you do that, you can like, you can go to the next level, which is like, now you're using a jet pack and you have to dude when i landed, I crashed so fucking hard.
Speaker: And the game like let out this blood curdling scream. Whoa.
Speaker: I'm like did I just kill her um it was very violent uh and the worst game ever but I could not stop laughing I could not stop laughing at this game and every time I crashed like my poor person got destroyed poor person that poor person that's and all the characters are named after birds so there's lark kiwi robin I don't know. Some fucking other guy. Eagle? Probably not. I don't know. Are kiwis named after the fruit or vice versa? Or neither?
Speaker: Yeah. Okay. So they're called a kiwi is called a kiwi fruit, often shortened to kiwi. And it is named after the bird. Oh, interesting. Cute. Kiwis are cute.
Speaker: Yeah. Wait, the bird or the fruit? Or both? both Kiwi on the table. It's so cute. no like Kiwi birds are very cute. They're like super cute.
Speaker: Yeah. So that's that's what I did. i was like randomly hit with nostalgia. and I'm like, I'm going to play Pilotwing 64. and then on the third level, i couldn't find the landing pad or figure it out or something. So I came up. All go. Pilotwing 64. What have you been enjoying? It was knowing you. Yeah. Oh, wait, wait. I'm so sorry. please Before you go into that, I nearly finished Widow's Bay.
Speaker: Oh, how do you like it? I love it. It's great. It's spooky. There's a spooky show. Spooky, it's it's funny as well. It has some funny moments. I think I was not expecting kind of an overarching like storyline that's happening, like a bigger thing. Right. following I actually kind of preferred the first few episodes where it seemed like it was more one-off episodes, kind of like Poker Face, where they're like kind of looking at different things and solving different things.
Speaker: ah But now there's that they' now there's this kind of overarching story that's happening. But I really like it. It's very Stephen King. Did you get past, um did you see the Sunset Cocktails episode?
Speaker: Yes. Remind me of it. Oh, man. The Sunset Cocktails episode is where Patricia tries to... yeah throw a party and things are not quite as they seem that episode is wild I cannot that's it's one of those episodes that I just like cannot believe they pulled it off the way they did It's very good. Yeah, I that's kind of what I wanted more of of as soon as I saw that episode.
Speaker: I kind of wish it was just kind of more little vignettes about kind of the weird characters of this town. It's it's a very like dairy like town dairy from the Stephen King um stories. It's very like I want to know what more is off about this town and like more about the people in it, you know.
Speaker: Well, what I like about it is I think that every episode is a a tiny little story. Most of them, anyway. Yeah, I would say these. Are tiny little stories, and then there's just a a larger story building in the background. There's maybe two two or three episodes that just deal with the larger story. Yeah. But I think even some of the ones that – yeah, even even some of the ones that are larger story focused have – their own little vignette to them. Like um write episode nine.
Speaker: i don't, you probably haven't gotten there yet. I think I did. are there, I think I'm, I think I've only one episode left. and So there's an episode that ah jumps way back into the past.
Speaker: Yeah. I've seen those episodes. um And the, the one that jumps way back into the past is like, it, it is, It's own story. it is about yeah It is about what's happening in the town today, but it is a story that takes place in 1702 with haven't met before. And I didn't expect it to do that. I didn't expect it to dive into that part of the the story. and like That episode is also super funny.
Speaker: it is funny It is funny. Yeah. It's got a great sense of humor about it for sure. Yeah. Well, I'm glad you're watching it. i i I really love that show. I think that show is special. I think that show is like – I'm still just impressed that that show has pulled off what it's pulled off. Yeah, it's really good. And yeah, Sunset Cocktails is ah is is an amazing episode. It's like one of the best episodes of TV of all time. maybe i like that it i'm I'm going to remember that episode of television probably forever. right Yeah, it was really good. That impressive. Yeah.
Speaker: And I like that character too. I like Patricia a Oh my gosh, yeah. yeah yeah Hell yeah. What have you been enjoying? Okay, so I... ah like i Like I've been saying a couple episodes, like I've been playing a couple things a bunch of stuff and just not bringing it to the show. So I'll try and i'll try and tackle two games to get them off my to get them off my two talk about list. Okay. um So the first game i want to talk about is a game called Desktop Explorer.
Speaker: It's by Recurring Dream. um And it seems to be their only game. It's... ah One of these sorts of games, or at least starts out as one of these sorts of games where you are sort of in an interface. You are on somebody's old desktop that's running what looks like a Windows XP.
Speaker: Yeah. And you can click around the desktop and you can search some things. you you There's an app called the Chronologue that has... um Diary entries from your uncle who just what you find out is this is your uncle who's recently passed away or no, I think he's in the hospital with dementia.
Speaker: hmm. And you sort of inherited his laptop and there's notes to you on the laptop. um And you find out the laptop was also used by some other people in the past, but he doesn't know how to access any of their stuff. So it's just hidden behind these other screen names without, where where you don't know the passwords. Yeah.
Speaker: So... When you get onto this computer, he sort of instructs you. he There's a note specifically to you, and the note sort of instructs you to install and play this program called the Desktop Explorer.
Speaker: And the desktop explorer is a series of, it's like an adventure game where you're traveling through a a cave or a dungeon. um and the solution to each, one each yeah there's like a puzzle in each room. And the solution to each puzzle is doing something with the interface. So it might be,
Speaker: In order to pass to the next room, you have to go to properties and unhide hidden files and then open the hidden file and it has the password. Or you might need to rename a file from a text file to an image file. Then you open the image file and it's...
Speaker: um It's got the password. Or you resize a window ah full of text, and when you resize it to the correct thing, the text the random jumble of letters lines up and it gives you a word, and that's the password, right? So it starts out like that, which is really cool.
Speaker: But then some weird stuff starts happening. And your the the adventure keeps reminding you of some tragic thing that happened in your family's past and you start being like what the fuck why would this be why would my uncle have programmed this into his game um and it sort of it eventually leads you to a completely different desktop explorer game that you're like I don't know if my uncle this has anything to do with my uncle um
Speaker: And it's about these series of Egyptian gods. And it just keeps referencing things from your past. And all the images in it show up like, they'll say like, no escape, right? um and it just gets progressively creepier. And you start to get the sense like,
Speaker: Something is fucked up in this computer. There is something... you' are Either this computer is haunted or you're discovering something that it um sort of infected this computer a long time ago and infected the desktop explorer. And maybe...
Speaker: maybe the reason for some of the tragedies in your family's past, like may have inspired, say somebody to run away, for example. Um,
Speaker: It looks really cool. it's It's really cool. and very like windows It's not Windows 3.1, but it's got all those open old open windows that you can like have a million open. There's some 3.1 happening. It reminds me of Windows XP because it's got the ah system tray and it's got... Yeah, it's got the system tray. That's true.
Speaker: So, and i Windows 3.1 didn't have a start menu. It did not. That's why I'm like, it reminds me of 3.1, but it's not. Because, yeah, because it i remember it's too new for that. This prank I pulled on my family when I was young, I learned how to take screenshots um and put them in Microsoft Paint and alter them.
Speaker: So I spent like an hour creating a start menu. In Microsoft Paint. And then I put it at the bottom. And I tried to figure out the exact size to make the image look natural.
Speaker: and um when If it took up the full screen. And then i like put a background behind, like on top of the start, like above the start menu. And then put ah a bunch of icons there.
Speaker: And then i set it as the Windows 3.1 background. That's And then minimized Windows and made just made Windows an icon on the screen.
Speaker: yeah and set Yeah, I set the background as this thing I did. And I said, Mom, Dad, look, I installed Windows 98. Yeah, Windows 98 on the computer. And they came and they started trying to click on the start menu. Oh, my God. You are a venice. And then I just started laughing. i was like, haha, I drew that. and I did something similar in my computer class and the teacher got so fucking mad at me and she's like, you're breaking it. And I was like, no, it's just a picture. And she's like, you're breaking it. And she started clicking on all the exit. Like, cause I just taken a screenshot over and over and pasted and pasted. So it looked like a bunch of windows on windows. so She was trying to click all the X's and I was like, no, no, no, sorry. It's Microsoft paint.
Speaker: You just close out paint. And she's like, you're breaking the computer. She was clicking wildly. i was like, you're the computer teacher. i Shouldn't she know, like, that it's not broken? What is happening? Like, i don't I don't blame her getting confused at first. But then when she got panicked and angry, like, like and I'm saying, no, it's just ah it's just an image. Like, at that point, if you're the computer teacher, you should have enough expertise to go, oh, okay, I see what's happening here. Yeah, absolutely. What in the world? Um...
Speaker: Yeah, that was me being a mess. Anyways, so Desktop Explorer is a really fucking cool game. Yeah, it's cool. It looks really neat. i i I really enjoyed it. um And it's very spooky.
Speaker: Yeah, it it looks spooky. This next one is not spooky at all. Okay. And there is a caveat to this recommendation. And I think I'll say the caveat first, just in case anybody wants to, just so I don't get people hyped up for something that they are diametrically opposed to.
Speaker: Because I didn't know this until I finished the game. But this game ah has what admittedly is a small amount of AI in it. Okay.
Speaker: They used it to refine the text. I'm guessing they're not native English speakers. Okay. and They used for grammatical corrections. But then again, grammatical corrections from AI is kind of just like, ah what do you call it? That's that... um Spell check. Yeah. Yeah. I wonder if. Spell check. Yeah.
Speaker: was trying to be very conscientious about mentioning everything. Because they AI disclosure, they do say like, we consider it to be a supportive tool, but every detail is meticulously crafted with human intent as our creative process is firmly anchored in manual craftsmanship. But the really weird thing that I don't get is some of the pictures on the wall, apparently,
Speaker: were quote unquote refined with AI. Okay. Why not just not do it then? Right? like Yeah. like Or like refine it in Photoshop. There's filters. If you're doing it with like If you're doing this with... If you're not doing this with any of the game assets, if you're taking all your time to manually craft all the game assets, why then be like, I'm going to soil all this by putting an AI picture on the wall? It's just so strange. So...
Speaker: i I didn't know it was AI. i probably wouldn't have downloaded it if I saw the thing, but seeing how minimal the AI usage is, like i I don't feel too bad about it. like i feel like okay i'm I feel comfortable still talking about this game. um It is, because again, it is almost entirely built with human hands. I don't know why. I don't know why. at the ah the the the I don't know how many yards are there.
Speaker: In the 90th yard line, is there 100 yards? I think so. I don't know why in the 90th yard line. yes I'm probably using this wrong. um they They were like, all right, and we'll just do AI for the last 1% of the It's so strange. I mean, they must have been intent on having something in there.
Speaker: That they didn't have the talent to do. But everything else in the game looks so good. i don't know why Anyway. So this game's called Librarian, Tidy Up to the Arcane Library.
Speaker: what What? Say it again. It's called Librarian. Librarian. Tidy Up the Arcane Library.
Speaker: You're saying that the exact way There is an exclamation point on this title. Okay. and So... The premise of this game is you are the assistant to a librarian in a magic library.
Speaker: And like i guess you're probably an assistant wizard or something. And a fairy has come in and completely destroyed the library and thrown all of the books on the ground.
Speaker: Jesus. And it is 3,000 books. Uh-huh. And they are all just laying on the ground. And you're the game literally just opens up. It's like, here you go.
Speaker: You're in a library. All the books are on the ground. There's not a tutorial or anything. It's just. oh wow. Here you are. The books on the shelf, I imagine. And all you do is put the books on the shelf. And like, there's a few things you unlock, right? Like at some point you can, there's some chests. And if you find the four hidden keys, you can unlock a jump button. You can unlock the ability to carry. You start out only being able to carry 10 books at a time, but you can unlock up to 15 books at a time.
Speaker: um but You can unlock the run button. Yeah. um And as you go as you every every couple shelves that you completely fill, you get these other abilities. you get these you You get major magic spells, which will be like, and they have a big long cooldown. Probably not as long of a cooldown as they should. Some of these spells, when I unlocked them, it was like, they were too easy to use and they were too helpful. And it almost like... ah
Speaker: It changed the nature of the cozy game I was playing. Sure. um But because like ah one of the spell is if you pick up a book and you press this button, every other book in the series that's within a certain range will fly into your hands. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: So you stand in the middle of the room and you press that button and now you have the entire series of the all 10 of that book in your hand. I actually just saw that in the trailer. as you That was really weird. As you were explaining it, that's exactly what happened. And that's a little much. There's another one where you press a button and it immediately throws...
Speaker: all the books in your hand if you are standing in front of the shelf that the books go on it throws all of them on the shelf i just saw that too amazing you're like in sync with the trailer that i'm playing but for the first so it it becomes a slightly different game by the end as you use these power you start using these powers to do it quicker and more efficiently or whatever yeah but for the first hour of the game you're just walking through this massive messy pile of books picking up books that have maybe like similar covers and then going to the and it'll be like history of you know i don' i don't know i'm trying to think of some of the cool names of the books um it'll be like uh i should have written some of these down because some of them are really cool yeah um
Speaker: It'll be like ah the a comprehensive guide to healing magic. That's not one of the very cool I was going to say, that a little average. Or or um oh they they worship these black slabs, a guide to a guide to the outworld.
Speaker: Nice. The outer world. um
Speaker: ah guild treasury and reward system management. So like, here's one. Here's one. True love between a 20 year old lady and an 80 year old tycoon. Oh, ah that's in the romance section. So you then what a romantic title. You then go to the map and you look at like the sections and it'll say like romance to, ah I don't know, to romance novels is to L.
Speaker: Yeah. Looking at a screenshot. um And then you take the book to 2L and you put it on the shelf. And then you go back down and you pick up some more books. Great. It is so relaxing and then completely addicting.
Speaker: Trying to get all these books on the shelves. I bet. Yeah. Man, I bet it' like butt it's like good for mindfulness, honestly. I wouldn't suggest playing it the way I played it. Okay. Which is I played it seven hours straight.
Speaker: Oh, good. You picked up books for seven hours straight? i mean, I got up to like feed the guinea pig and to like have lunch and to like do something. like And i left I left it paused. But yeah I just, I got obsessed with i don't I don't know. it just grasped me immediately. And I was like...
Speaker: I need to get the all these fucking books on these fucking shelves. Yeah, for sure. but I was listening to a serialized podcast as I was doing it. So that probably helped. But um even for the first hour, I didn't even listen to a podcast. I was just listening to the really good music that's in the game nice and um laughing at the titles of the books and just like walking back and forth and putting them on shelves and Yeah, so these satisfying tidying up games. Librarian, tidy up the Arcane Library. if If you can stomach the fact that there's a little bit of AI in the game, which I'm not trying to minimize it. Like, I drew truly think it is a little bit of AI. If I felt like it was more than that, I would say that. Because yeah i I fucking hate AI. I hate that they used AI. Same, yeah. I don't think it's necessary.
Speaker: No, it did it doesn't feel necessary. And it feels like... It feels like they sullied it, right? Like, I would have given this a full-throated recommendation if they hadn't used AI, even if the pictures on the wall looked shitty, right? Like, I wouldn't have even fucking cared. Yeah, I wouldn't either. If the pictures on the wall looked shitty. still yeah Game developers, don't do this.
Speaker: ah don't do it don't just don't do it and apparently roses there's a whole fucking genre of these so if you look at them more like this on steam of this thing there's one where you just put rubber ducks on the shelves you see that there's one it's like there's one where i just lost it because you know steam if you reload shelves and sorcery Yeah, where you're putting like potions on shelves. Yeah, potions. There's like a wand one.
Speaker: Yes. ah
Speaker: Wild. But I don't know. i This one i thought was really cool. And and i felt like the lore that it implied by just the titles of the books was really captivating and made me wish that I could like spend more time in that world. I will say it is only one library.
Speaker: right Yeah, I see that. And that I feel like that could get a little redundant. Right. I wish, I almost wish that it was 2,000 books instead of 3,072 books.
Speaker: And then you go through a portal and then you do another 2,000 books in a completely different looking library, right? Like I wish that it was levels almost. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, hear it. I can see that being the case.
Speaker: But it's really satisfying and I really i really enjoyed it. And I... You can also throw the books, which is fun. I do love throwing books, especially on the ground. So we have plenty to talk about today. So I think I'll stop there and save my other things I've been playing for a future episode, especially because some of them are so are also spooky.
Speaker: Yes. Good call. But yeah, those are the those are the things I've been enjoying. Nice. Well, I'm excited to talk about even more games.
Speaker: Because in this episode, we are concluding our recommendation list. Our ultimate recommendation, Eleganza Extravaganza.
Speaker: Yes. And then we have some... ah we We have... ah I believe in you we have We have some spooky games to talk about after that.
Speaker: absolutely. Man, if we knew this would have spilled over to a fourth episode, we probably would have saved the horror one for this. That would have been very smart, but we didn't do that. I don't think we realized it was going to be four full episodes. But, Roses.
Speaker: Yes. How about... We step back for a second. Okay. Listen to some really fucking, just some fucking old ass music. but And then come back and talk about walking simulators.
Speaker: What?
Speaker: everyone, welcome back to Save Your Game. i am one of your hosts, Pushing Up Roses, with me as always, the spooky, the vampiric, the, what's another, dwarfish?
Speaker: I'm just trying to think of any creatures, like any mythical species at all. That's like a D&D species. That is a D&D species. The wonderful unicorn, Matt Aukamp. Boo.
Speaker: Boo. Boo. How how are you? I'm good. How was your break? It was good. I ranted at you about AI the whole time. We ranted a little bit. i've been Mostly Matt. Mostly Matt ranting. That's true. And me being like depressed over AI. I should tell people because it's ah it's a good recommendation. I'm reading Cory Doctorow's book. um I won't get into what it's about like I just did to you. um But I'm reading Cory Doctorow's book, ah Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After ai Yeah. And...
Speaker: It's really fucking good. Yeah. Y'all should pick it up. Pick it up. It's great. right, so we have got to finish our ultimate recommendation extravaganza. Eleganza extravaganza. Wow, I'm fucking up my own title. We need to finish this, Matt. This is going on forever. We need finish it. It's gone on for so long.
Speaker: Luckily, we have only one genre left. And it will segue into spooky because I have a spooky game on here. Ooh. Yeah. I have some spooky games on here.
Speaker: Honestly, a lot of walking sims ah translate well to like spooky things. And I think one of the reasons is because one of the first walking sims, or at least one of the most, the first popular walking sim, was this really smart...
Speaker: they They did this really smart thing where they ah sort of feigned being a spooky game. Yeah. And then kind of left turned at the end. so Yeah. Which I'm sure we'll be talking about that game in just a minute. But let's define it.
Speaker: Okay. So, A Walking Sim is a narrative game in which the the player's primary responsibility is walking. And... Interacting with the environment, ah often causing little to no change to the environment through their own determination, right? So basically the scene is the same when you start as when you end. Maybe you've opened some boxes or some doors.
Speaker: m But you don't you're not, so for the most part, you're not solving puzzles. You're not talking to characters. um For the most part, you are just experiencing...
Speaker: a story as if you're just, you're almost like a passive character in it. Right.
Speaker: um What, how do you feel about that? I think it's good. And I think we'll, if something comes up within the games, we say we can add or detract from it. But i agree.
Speaker: it is mostly walking around, examining, you know, finding things like letters, things that kind of give you the story. And they're oftentimes first person.
Speaker: Yes, they are often first person. That's true. So sometimes not, but mostly. Right. Yeah. and ah but yeah. So what's what's your first one? My first one is mouthwashing. Okay. And one where you do talk to other characters. You do talk to other characters. I also had mouthwashing.
Speaker: Nice. Nice. um Yeah, it it has it has dialogue in it. um But for me, it mostly resembled um just other walking simulators that I've played, except this one is is very, very spooky and kind of surreal. And there are weird things happening. I have a whole video on mouthwashing. I think we have an episode on it, too.
Speaker: Yes, we do. I think we talk about, I think it's like ah it's like a split episode with some other game, but yes. Yeah. And it's not that the environment is not changing. It is changing, but it is like restrained.
Speaker: it's It is linear, is is what I'm saying. is There's no other way to experience this story than by doing it in the order that it is. So like walking somewhere, talking to somebody, trying to unlock a door, being in a room. And and then there's these very spooky, surreal parts where you literally are just walking. You're just walking.
Speaker: Those I think may be... could have been shortened a little bit but there was a part where your character is just walking in a void it just looks like a scary a scary void but i definitely put it as a walking sim just because it's not that's i think that's how you play it essentially the puzzles are talking to people exactly and i think it's as close to a walking sim as you're gonna get i mean there's a puzzle where you have to open a locker and there's a there's a few puzzles that um are
Speaker: There's like there's like ah a series, there's a collectible. that oh yeah, there's a collectathon. There's one little collectible. There's one one series of collectibles that is like in very different chapters of the game, you can get everybody's IDs and all you get, you get an achievement. And some of those are hidden behind puzzles. um And then there's one section that is you sneak.
Speaker: Sure. There's one stealth section that sucks. ah but Other than that, ah yeah. i would agree I think most walking sims have some kind of puzzle, even even if it's a puzzle of just unlocking a door yeah or just unlocking a drawer. But these are not you know these are not the same inventory object puzzles that you would find in a point and click or in a text parser. There's no platforming to this game or anything like that. It is very story rich.
Speaker: And it is disturbing for a walking simulator. Yeah. What is the story? Why don't you tell, why don't you bring people in to. Yeah. I don't want to go too much into it. Cause I think for some of our last categories, we just explained like the games in its entirety and we have to stop ourselves from doing that. But yeah. Mouthwashing. You are on like a space freight, um like a spaceship.
Speaker: Is it a spaceship? You're in space. Yes. You were on a spaceship. Yeah, you're in space ah with your crew and um the spaceship is basically... Somebody sabotages it. I won't say who, but somebody sabotages the spaceship and basically you and your crew are probably going to die. You're probably not going to be found. um And the game is about...
Speaker: You, the player, actually kind of, loop well, I don't know, maybe most of the the team was losing their mind, but you, the player, are kind of losing their mind now because you know you're not going to make it home. It's a game with a lot of themes. ah it It especially talks about abuse of power and abuse of men.
Speaker: um and it's it's it's really disturbing and it's really, really good. It doesn't even really feel like a walking sim because it is there's a lot of action for a walking sim. And when I say action, I mean like there's there's disturbing moments, right?
Speaker: I really like this game a lot. I didn't think I would like it because it is the the play ah like original PlayStation, weird Lara Croft, weird graphics. Horror is doing this for some reason, in especially in indie gaming. They're using weird. Just like retro lo-fi Yeah, lo-fi. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. it I didn't think I would like it, but I did because the writing was was good. The writing is spectacular. Yeah, I was able to like suspend my disbelief that the characters did look like this. It's tough, you know? like it's It's tough to go back to um ah visuals that are so antiquated. But i do, yeah, I really liked it. I think it's a walking sim. I think it is a good example of a modern walking sim that is doing like experimental horror Yeah, I mean, it's ah it's a game that really makes you think, um really makes you feel um to be a little um glib about it. it
Speaker: It's infuriating, too. It'll make you mad. Yeah, it's it's in it really is an incredible an incredible little story um that that is very affecting yeah um and disturbing. so A lot of this game is very disturbing on a deep thematic level and on a surface horror level.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: um So that was both on our list. Okay, cool. I put mouthwashing also, so I'll move to my second one, which is... I almost guarantee it's going to make it to our show list. It's Firewatch. Oh, that's on my list too!
Speaker: ah ah So is... released in 2016. It's a first-person walking sim where you are...
Speaker: it it's just ah it's a first person walking sim where you are For a reason that becomes clear, eventually you have decided to spend the entire summer ah in a...
Speaker: in it's you're in then It's in the 1980s. You decided to spend the summer in a fire tower overlooking the Shoshone National Forest. um This is a thing that I don't know if they still do this, but they used to hire temp fire lookouts. So somebody was watching the forest for the entire dry season to make sure if a fire started, they would call it in.
Speaker: yeah And then they could, you know, fire department could either contain it or, um you know, sometimes in forests you have to let them burn little bit. But I just wanted to make sure, to observe it, make sure they don't get out of control. um And you don't need experts for that, so you could just hire any random person to say if you see a fire, call it in. And people would live there in these towers for an entire season, and that's what you do here. And as you're doing that, you become...
Speaker: ah through your walkie-talkie, you start to develop a sort of friendship with your supervisor um who is in a neighboring tower.
Speaker: okay And you also start to kind of become interested in a news story that developed in this part of the forest a few years back. and you become curious about whether...
Speaker: the things that the media reported happened actually happened that way. um I... I don't know. I think this game is very moving.
Speaker: moving um There's a...
Speaker: it's got okay It's got a great soundtrack. It looks beautiful. Walking around the forest and looking at the scenery looks beautiful. um And the relationships you develop are very touching. The resolution to the game is very surprising. and It is surprising. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: um there's ah There's a slight horror aspect to certain parts of the game. Yeah. Very slight, though. Yes. The voice acting specifically. It's Rich Summer from Mad Men. Yeah, from Mad Men. That's right. And Sissy Jones, who does a lot of video game voice acting. She's also... Isn't she...
Speaker: ah she's is she She's in the Walking Dead games. Oh, is she? But I can't remember who she plays. Anyway, they're great. These actors are fucking great.
Speaker: um And... I don't know. What else do you want to say about this game? I loved playing this game. This game made me want to move into a fire watch tower. like it made it it it Yes, there are some scary parts to it because I think that just is the atmosphere that you're in But i haven't loved walking around the game that much in a long time. Just walking around. and like yeah Everything you find, you can obviously...
Speaker: It feels like you're hiking. it feels like you're hiking. You know, a big part of this game is leaving the watchtower and just looking around and like ah every, it was was our neighboring tower Diane? Was her name Diane or something else? Delilah.
Speaker: Delilah, that's right. And I love talking to Delilah. There's like a little bit of a. Of a of a ah chemistry going going on there. It's presented really well. It's a little vague. But there is a part. That's what's so good about this game. Is that there are all these subtle nods. To deeper stories.
Speaker: yeah That. Are. Are kind of like. what ah what ah What do you call them? Like they're.
Speaker: They're how do you man i'm I'm having trouble they're like these late there's these motifs that don't become entirely explicit. and Yeah. like Is there romance here is there horror here it like. Yeah.
Speaker: It's good. Yeah. I like finding turtles and reporting them to Delilah. Mm hmm. Found a turtle on a rock. So it's got a little bit of a sense of humor to it as well.
Speaker: Yeah. Firewatch is fucking fantastic. Highly recommend. Highly recommend. What is your next? My next is somewhere...
Speaker: Uh, my next one is gone home, which is probably the walking simulator. I also have gone home. Well, our list is all the same. list is the same i i i The last two, I'm curious, but I know at least one of mine won't be on yours, but gone home. Tell us about gone home. Gone Home. I think that was pretty much the walking simulator. Tell us about Gone Home without spoiling Gone Home. I won't spoil gone i don't have to spoil Gone Home. though The most tragic things about Gone Home are that people were arguing that it wasn't a game and thus didn't deserve... it was So Guys, you had to be there. It was so stupid. it was so stupid. even like i kind of argued it this way. Let's say, categorically, let's say it's not a video game. Fine, we won't call it a video game. Who is it for? It's still for gamers. This is who's going to buy
Speaker: this I consider it a game. So I'm calling it a game. and call I a consider Walking Sims to be games. I'll say this. This is something that I'd forgotten. And i am I'm just being reminded of now. But this was at the same time as that game.
Speaker: It was the game um Proteus? I don't remember. Also came out at the same time, which was literally just about walking around. yeah Yeah. And these both came out the same year. So the argument was already happening. yeah. oh yeah It was happening. i feel like Gone Home was short, though.
Speaker: Yeah. So Gone Home had a story. Proteus, I think, didn't. And it was just about walking around and looking at the pretty things. And... That made people mad.
Speaker: And so people were all set to be angry at a game like Gone Home. but yeah Which has more of an LGBTQ. It has those themes and plot points in them. So people took that and went even further with it. I just thought the whole argument was dumb.
Speaker: i don't really care. just like i don't care what it is because it this the the people this is for are gamers yeah so i don't don't care this came out in 2013 yeah by the fulbright company and you really just walk around a house yep and you pick up you for some reason your parents aren't there you you're supposed to you were supposed to arrive on this day um Back to your childhood home and the house is empty and you don't know why.
Speaker: And some of the stuff that your sister wrote about when she was a lot younger was about a ghost. And then there's some other stuff she wrote about that's a little more vague. And so the game sort of almost tries to make you think there's something haunted going on. Yeah. um but the way The way that people talked about this game made it sound like...
Speaker: It's simply nobody should play because it's not good quality. But when I played Gone Home, I'm like, this is great. like i I've never really played a game like this before. it was probably my first, like quote, walking sim. I'm like, I don't understand. like This is a good game.
Speaker: People, please. In five years, you're going to be like, what were we doing? What were we complaining about? Yeah. Yes. So there it turns out like the...
Speaker: The actual horrors in this game are very human. Yes. um And not spectral. Not not actually not actually things, not you know. but Yeah.
Speaker: really smart the way the story slowly unfolds the way that different parts of the house reveal themselves to you at a the they put the Fulbright company put so much thought into the way you're most likely to traverse this house so that they can reveal things to you in what feels to you like a natural way um
Speaker: The way they sort of, it's just the design philosophy here is so amazing, the way they sort of guide you to where they want you to go. Yeah.
Speaker: And you can carry that duck all around. You get an achievement if you carry the duck through the whole game. Oh, good. I'm glad. I don't think I got that achievement. so If you bring the duck that's outside um the house, if you bring it all the way to the ending room.
Speaker: You know, I was introduced to Gone Home... um first as a i saw a video where somebody was trying to speed run it and i thought that was the funniest thing in the world because this is so not a game about that right like that's it's like a game that is not in any way arcadey and i think that's so fucking funny there are people who do speed run like adventure games yes which i think is fantastic
Speaker: um Okay, so my, do you want to are you ready to move on from Gone Home or no? Yes, we can get on. So my next one is, i this is the last one that might be on both of our lists, but I don't know.
Speaker: It's what happened to Edith Finch. You know what? i didn't put it on my list. Okay. I liked it a lot. i loved i loved either Edith Finch. I have a video on it. I really loved it at a lot at the it's What Remains Edith Finch. What Remains, yes. What Remains of Edith Finch.
Speaker: Yeah, I... ah totally see why you're recommending it. i I feel like I don't remember enough about it. And I feel like when I discovered Walking Sims, I played a lot of them at the same time. yeah So now I'm like, i don't I don't remember that. So because I don't remember Edith Finch, I know it takes place like in ah in a mansion, like a home, um and you're learning about a family, right?
Speaker: Yes. So it's an Annapurna game. might have been the first Annapurna game. Yeah, I think it was the first Annapurna game, which, man, ah they've kind of fallen off over time. But hey, they they they're the first several years of Annapurna was like, yougue you couldn't go wrong picking up an Annapurna game. sure. They were all fantastic.
Speaker: um But you are a 17-year-old returning named Edith Finch. And you're returning to your family home. um And there seems to be some sort of curse on your family because it is all about how every member of your family but you has died.
Speaker: And as you explore their abandoned rooms in this bizarre house. It is a house that it was like it was like a mansion that they just kept building onto um in really architecturally unsound ways. um And there's there's there's secret doors and there's trap doors and there's like attics upon attics upon attics. There's like ah there's like weird houses that are built outside of the house that are like off its roof. Oh yeah. There's like very surreal moments as well. I remember that really specifically about this game. Well, that's what's amazing. So you when you go into everybody's room, in order to explain what happened to this person, what their life and death were like, you will sort of be transported into these other... um Like these other sorts of gameplay.
Speaker: Yeah. Right? There is a um There is a... child There's child death in this. Yeah. I remember the like the bathtub.
Speaker: And when you're exploring her life and death, you sort of turn you turn into a bird. And you fly around estate.
Speaker: it sort of metaphorically...
Speaker: and it' sort of it it it sort of metaphorically um
Speaker: illustrates to you the psychology of this this this ah kind of this young this young girl who yeah who passed away way too young um and Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker: It goes so many places ah that are are really interesting, and each of them speak to different aspects of human life and what is difficult about it and what is beautiful about it um and the ways that death can be tragic, but the ways that death can, again, also be beautiful and And it's sad and scary and joyful and mysterious.
Speaker: um I can see some criticisms of Edith Finch. There's some places where the writing, like the specific, like the dialogue writing is kind of clunky. Some of these metaphorical sequences, these, you know, fantasy sequences are shitty to play. It's kind of boring to play. Agreed. Yeah. um And there's some points where the pathing gets confusing and you're like, where do I go next? Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: So, you know, it's not the best of these, but there's there's some there's some really magical stuff in this game that I yeah really think it's a game that everybody who is interested in video games as a storytelling medium should try what remains of it essentially just once.
Speaker: Yeah, i I'm kind of on board with you now. I feel like that could definitely, now that I'm like re-talking about it and re-remembering it and all the like the vignettes and eat Like stuff in different styles. Yeah, I would say that's a really good recommendation.
Speaker: Yeah. Second to that. but Cool. um What else you got? That's really, put Death Stranding on here just as a joke. Yeah, that's funny. haven't played Death Stranding. own it. What else do you do besides, like, fucking walk around be intense? You just walk around intensely. But I think maybe I'd like to give a nod to, like, Night in the Woods.
Speaker: Okay. I think that that is a ah good story-rich walking simulator. Yeah, it sort of breaks the conventions of Walking Simulator, but it is good. it is Do you want tell people just like the broad strokes of what it people just like the broad strokes of what it is Yeah, so you're playing a little kitty cat named May. It's a highly stylized game. They almost look like they're meant to be like kind of these paper cutouts. Everyone is an animal. um You live in this little town ah with with animal friends and a group that you hang out with. And it's very, I think when you start playing, I don't know if it stays this way, but I remember it being very autumnal.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: like the ground and now you think that that a murder has happened essentially um And it's, yeah, it's just this sweet, it's not scary. i don't that I don't know if that made it sound scary or not. It's strangely not scary. It gets a little eerie sometimes. Yeah, there there is there is this a horror element to it that yeah pops up. There's like, um again, like a lot of these games, there's sort of this like, hey, is something...
Speaker: Horrific is something really creepy going on. Yeah. You'll have to find out. Yeah. But ultimately it was just a really good game about people with anxiety and like neurodivergence. And it's super cozy. Like I said, because it's autonomous and very Gen Z humor too. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, that's true. I would say Gen Z or or even like some millennial humor. Yeah, maybe. It goes into that. the characters talk like Gen Z-ers entirely, but there's so yeah there's some millennial humor there too.
Speaker: i I really love Night in the Woods. I haven't played it in a while. I've got a video on that, too. I actually really like walking simulators. I have like a a video on all these things, except for Dunstranding.
Speaker: I'm putting 40 hours of my life into that. Yeah, I got i gotta to play that game eventually. But i'm for that reason, yeah, like what you just said, like I'm so hesitant to be like, okay, everybody says this game is like...
Speaker: ah
Speaker: frustrating in a specific way some people really got into yeah it's long but some people really got into it yeah it seems you have to work through hating it in order to learn to love it and i just don't know if i have like i'm always like do i have that in me i will one day have that in me and some days i do but like i look at the game and i'm like You know, do I have that in me today? i don't think so. And then, ah yeah.
Speaker: All right. Well, then I am done. ah That is my list. Do you have one more? ah Yes, I do have one more. there You know, there's a lot of... i do want to talk about, for real quick, the um the the funny thing. There was a naming convention that started to move through these...
Speaker: these games for a little while that I think is very funny because there was the suicide of Rachel Foster. There was what remains of Edith Finch. There's the vanishing of Ethan Carter. Right. Yeah. Vanishing of Ethan Carter. I've played all of those. Yep. um Vanishing of Ethan Carter's. All right. um I liked it. It was fine. so I didn't put it on this list, but I did like it Yeah. There's a lot. I didn't put on this list. I didn't, you know,
Speaker: I played Dear Esther. I didn't wasn't in love with it the way that some people are. play that? i See, I don't even remember if I played that. I played The Invincible. I considered putting that on here. But the game that overrode... The the game the two games that were neck and neck for me...
Speaker: to put on here for my last one were the invincible. And then what I decided ultimately to put on here, which is still wakes the deep. I have not played that one, but I hear that it's very, very good. Yes. There's a, there's a horror element to it. You um are on a oil drilling platform.
Speaker: uh it's it's also a period piece like a lot of these walking simulators for some reason um it's a period piece set in the 1970s it's got like um it's kind of got a the thing sort of deal going for it because you are you are trapped in this very specific situation um moving your way. It's a little amnesia. Like, oh, people wondered why the amnesia games didn't pop up on our horror games, and it's just because... Because I haven't played them. Give me a break. I did play m and I wouldn't... There's just... i would I wouldn't really recommend them, you know? Sure. Somebody asked... Similarly, somebody asked... Somebody emailed us, and they were frustrated that we didn't get into any text...
Speaker: adventures when we were on our text parser games and again it's just because we wouldn't recommend i wouldn't recommend them yeah i don't i don't have any that to be really honest with you i don't have any games from that genre that i would really put out there maybe maybe just for the sake of of history like colossal cave adventure um yeah no they're just not not our thing Yeah, and so I think people need to understand that's they like this is our list. This is our list of things that we recommend. This isn't a list of the most influential or important games in each of these genres, because otherwise we would include dar ah Dear Esther here. Yeah.
Speaker: But it's what we recommend. It's what we love the most. um But anyway. so That's funny because i did I did mention that to you off recording. I'm like, hey, we never did like non-graphic. We never did that. But also, I i i can't speak on something I haven't played. i just don't love those games. Yeah.
Speaker: So anyway, back to Still Wakes the Deep is a little bit more amnesia-like where... you ah You do have some... You are navigating your way through some horror stuff. There is some ah stealth sequences. But the largest part of it is just walking through this oil derrick.
Speaker: Sometimes in flashback and sometimes in the present. and
Speaker: Meeting... and just like... While you are... while you are
Speaker: trying to escape in what seems to be an increasingly hopeless situation like the the feeling of isolation and hopelessness in this game the feelings of isolation and hopelessness in this game are so palpable and so intense um and on top of that it's like very very the thing ask right like that's those are the feelings that are most present in that movie the thing On top of that, it's also like an interesting picture of what it would feel like. to what it What life working on an oil derrick is like.
Speaker: And the way that in and of itself is isolating. Sure. um And yeah, i I really liked this game. I thought it was really, really interesting. And everyone's got cool Scottish accents. Nice.
Speaker: Hot. So...
Speaker: What's our show list? I think Firewatch, obviously. ah Yes. Fire. Yeah, I was going to say I put that on there already. Definitely 100% Firewatch. I'm going to say this. We have what we have on our personal. We have three on our personal lists that all. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. So the initial instinct is, why don't we just move mouth-washing, fire-watching, gone home over? Yeah. But let's at least think about that for a second, just in case.
Speaker: Because you felt compelled by the what remains of Edith Finch argument. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So...
Speaker: How do you feel? So I would be okay if we did Firewatch, Mouthwashing, and Gone Home, but I want to give us the opportunity to think about putting What Remains of Edith i think now that we've spoken, now that i have refreshed my memory on the game, that I would put Edith Finch on there with Gone Home instead of Mouthwashing.
Speaker: Right. So my only hesitation, and enough I'm happy with that because I i love those three games. Oh, no. And mouthwashing is so specific.
Speaker: It is specific, but it's also like special and it kind of a standout. I don't want to give people like the same game. now I'm not saying these games are all like the same, but I think... But they are all similar. yeah They are similar. So maybe putting mouthwashing is a good thing because it's a little bit... like you know Tonally, it's a little different. Yeah. Right.
Speaker: if If maybe you don't like these other two, hey, try mouthwashing instead. Yeah. I agree. um But...
Speaker: And Gone Home is obviously the classic. Yes. But is What Remains of Eden Finch a little better? I think it is better. Yeah. I think it is better. Just because you have a classic doesn't mean that it's like the best of its time. You know what I mean? Yeah. I mean, it is. ah And don't get us wrong. It is good. I like it It is a classic. But I think if I were to replay one of these, I'd probably put What Remains of Eden Finch before Gone Home.
Speaker: I put Firewatch before either of them. Yeah, yeah. Firewatch needs to go up there. And i I think Mouthwashing is an astonishingly good game. But I also probably wouldn't replay it. Which doesn't mean it doesn't belong to on here. like i i don't think replayability is necessarily the number one. i Yeah, I agree with Mouthwashing and What Remains of Edith Finch. Nice. it's a good Yeah, I think those that's a good recommendation.
Speaker: All right, Roses, before we move on to talking about our spooky games, yes do you want to, we can go back and forth if you want, but I'm wondering, do you want to read all of our recommendations, the entire recommendation, eleganza, extravaganza list Save Your Game? All right, if you get tired of reading them, just let me know and i'll and tag me in.
Speaker: Okay, I'm going This spreadsheet, Matt, maybe a little cooked at this point because we added so many stuff to it. so I'm going to go down the list and then over
Speaker: that make And then over, like in a spiral? I'm going to read this in a spiral. ah We started with point and click and our recommendations are Curse of Monkey Island, Unavowed, and The Drifter. Then we went into Text Parser, Crimson Diamond, Enclosure, and The Infectious Madness of Dr. Ducker. Got Mystery, Colonel's Bequest, The Seance of Lake Manor, and Paradise Killer.
Speaker: Then we went into Deduction, the Case of the Golden Idol, Return of the Obra Dinn, and Duck Detective, The Secret Salami. Oh, I love that game. And then we got into Immersive Sim Slash Adventure.
Speaker: We recommend Her Story, Papers, Please, and Strange Antiquities. Now I'm going over here. To...
Speaker: Action adventure, Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild, Lair of the Clockwork God, and Uncharted 4 at the end. We've got adventure RPG, Disco Elysium, Esoteric Ebb, Quest for Glory 1.
Speaker: We've got Mistlikes and Metroid Brainias. Of course, we put Mist on there, which is wild for me. Like, that's silly. Mistlikes. I was so prepared for Myst not to make it. And I think you you said it immediately. You were like, I think Myst has to be over there. It needs to be there. miss And I do love Myst. I love Myst. I think it's a great game. I i really enjoy it.
Speaker: Yeah, it i I came to enjoy it. ah Maybe that's because we played it together and I'm like, oh, what a great memory of me and my friend as I got every puzzle wrong and missed. But yeah, well, hey, but it needs to it needs to be there. So missed blueprints and Outer Wilds.
Speaker: Then we've got Puzzle Adventure, Lorelai and the Laser Eyes, The Witness, and Limbo. And then we have Escape Room, which I had zero recommendations and had Matt take that entire thing. Cube Escape Collection, is this game trying to kill me? And I expect you to die.
Speaker: That's the name of the game. I'm not saying that. I played some cool... I played some cool... I played a cool ah ah Cube Escape inspired series of horror games the past couple weeks. um Oh, good. Save it for next Spooky. Yeah, yeah. You're right. You're right. You're right. What are you doing? Save it. know. I get excited. as Speaking of Spooky, we then did horror. We've got Scratches, Clock Tower, and Burnhouse Lane. Comedy. Thank goodness you're here. Untitled Goose Game and Death of the Reprobate.
Speaker: Visual Novel, Paranormous Sight, The Seven Mysteries of Hanzo, Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney, and Danganronpa. Hidden Object. Yes, finally, Murder, She Wrote is number one on our recommendations. Murder, She Wrote, the Hidden Object game. It's so funny. you know why we put Murder, She Wrote there? Not just because you love Murder, She Wrote so much, but it it was our stand-in for every game that was kind of like that. Because they're all the same. know.
Speaker: but this one's actually a little good so go play it yeah um my brother rabbit and tower full of cats and then we just finished it out with firewatch mouthwashing and what remains of edith finch that's our whole thing wow yeah go play so go play all those um what is that 45 games go play them that's your itinerary that's your that's your homework that's your homework and then we give homework here and then report back to us yeah definitely report back i want to know um all right roses that was a fun little experiment
Speaker: It'll probably be a long time before we revisit this. We're never doing that again. Fucking long. What's that? ever We're never doing that again. It was so long. It was fun. But fuck was that long. was long.
Speaker: ah So. Do you want to play some really, really like fucking old, old music? Yes. And then come back and talk about.
Speaker: the Midnight Scenes series of games. Woo-hoo!
Speaker: Hey, everybody. Welcome back to... Save your game. I'm Maddo Camp. I'm very scary and spooky, and with me is also ah spooky. The always scary and spooky...
Speaker: She's a regular fright fest, this girl. It's pushing up roses. I was going say freak. She's a regular fucking freak.
Speaker: Not wrong. Not wrong. You're a fright fest. I'm a fright fest over here, guys. You're a spooky-themed person.
Speaker: and i hate I hate that I'm so harmless. You wish you were dangerous and scary. I dangerous and scary. What's dangerous about you? Didn't you feel a severe sense of danger we hung out?
Speaker: No. No. little bit. yeah um So do you to tell everybody what we're fucking talking about here? It's a spooky. It's a spooky game. It's very spooky.
Speaker: It's a spooky. We are talking about a series of games that we found. I think we just found it randomly right on Steam. It was on. um yeah We one appeared on our ranking every adventure game ever segment. Oh, OK.
Speaker: The games had a name attached to them. In that sort of way where it's like, the way this name is attached to this game almost makes it seem like this guy is somebody that adventure game fans should know. Mm-hmm. And then we looked into it and it was like, oh, shit.
Speaker: This guy did, Octavio Navarro is his name. And he did this huge series of these these games called Midnight Scenes. And they're these pixel art. um we'll get We'll get into what they are. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: But there's a bunch of them, and they're beloved. Yeah, yeah, there are they are beloved, for sure. um And we neither of us had played any of them, so we were like, all right, I think we got to play these fucking games. Yeah.
Speaker: And so, for this spooky month, not only for did we... Not only did we play some for this episode, but we are going to play all of them over the course of this month. Yes.
Speaker: So what what are the two that we play? what What are the two that we played today? And then let's get into the first one. Yeah, so we played the first two games, which are Midnight Scenes The Highway, h and then Midnight Scenes... What's the episode two? the the go The Goodbye Note. The Goodbye Note, yeah. So yeah, those are the first two games in the series. They are in black and white, and both of these first two games seem to be inspired by The Twilight Zone.
Speaker: Yeah, so they are... they are They have a framing device on them where there's this this thing called the eye that pops up and does a Twilight Zone type narration. From what I can tell, the eye was added later. Because these games, the the first game was made in 2017. The second game was made in 2018. But they were both remade in 2020. Remastered in 2020 and then looks like maybe 2026. Okay.
Speaker: um and Or at least they were released on Steam in 2020 and then maybe remastered in much later. It was a little hard to figure out the timeline. But um when they were remastered, it seems like that's where the framing device was added.
Speaker: um and it's very Twilight Mm-hmm. it's very twilight zone um in which the eye acts as Rod Serling, telling you, like, this is Claire Barnes, age 29. This was the day when everything she knew about the world suddenly changed. Yeah.
Speaker: Yes. um It's not... there's It's not voiced. There's no voices. um This is all... What do you call it?
Speaker: This is all just text. Yeah, just text. So. Very much like a classic King's Quest in in terms of like pixel art, but but still point and click. No, i guess I guess, yeah, classic point and click art, I would say.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah. a little bit chunky. not Not the last door chunky, but chunkier than like, I don't know, some of the other. Yeah. Yeah. point But it is it is very detailed. I'll say that. um And I think they get more detailed as they go. Looks like it. And they add color eventually. Just like the Twilight Zone did. That's true. I'll also say the one other difference between this and the Twilight Zone is this is scarier than the Twilight Zone.
Speaker: You think so? Yeah, because the Twilight Zone... Didn't have horror elements like... There was no gore in the Twilight Zone. Sure. There were rarely threats of actual violence in the Twilight Zone.
Speaker: um There weren't like... I think there's some very horrifying episodes of the Twilight Zone. There... I mean, it's not that it's not scary, but usually the scary thing is like you are subjugated by a technology or subjugated by a...
Speaker: um
Speaker: by like an alien race or something like that. Or, you know, you have been thrust back in time and sometimes people die in the twilight zone, but it's not usually like there's a monster that's coming to get you.
Speaker: it's It's a little more morbid than that, I think. There are paranormal things in the Twilight Zone, but it's not... Yeah, it's it's more like than that. Yes. So in this game, you play as Claire Barnes. she Her car breaks down is it um as she is driving through this little little town.
Speaker: um no her car doesn't break down. I'm sorry. uh she she approaches like uh a telephone pole that is like ah it that is in like um a puddle of water water and it's like and she needs like she needs to get past that and she can't get past it um so we have to stop basically at this farmhouse uh Which is telling a little bit of a story about the people that lived there, the family that lived there.
Speaker: Yeah, there's a, there are missing posters hung up of a boy. And the first one that I came across, and I think the first one you're supposed to come across, his face is all, there's a big X across the poster and his eyes and his mouth are all like drawn over in it. It's so fucking creepy looking. Yeah, it's creepy.
Speaker: um And yeah, your your goal is very simple. Get around this downed tree with the electricity. You know, like you can't just walk through it because there's a big electrified puddle. You can see the...
Speaker: like I'm going to spoil this final puzzle because it doesn't matter. Right. It's not, it's not the ultimate solution is you s snap, you snip, use a wire cutters to snip the electrical cable.
Speaker: Right. um The, the, the question is like, how do you get the wire cutters? And um yeah, like the the puzzles are bigger than that, but yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: let me think Why didn't she just fucking pull the cable Out of the pult puddle Because you'd be electrocuted Right? No not holding the side not holding the cable The rubber insulated cable Okay If you wouldn't get electrocuted by snipping it You wouldn't get electrocuted by pulling it Just pull it out of the fucking water Claire She doesn't know she't known to do that
Speaker: she's being safe um But, yeah, you – there's a lot of differences between – so, okay, hold on. What else do you want to say about this story?
Speaker: I like how it tells the story, actually. It's got a little bit of ah of a stranger than Stranger Things kind of essence to it. You're finding these posters of this missing boy or this missing child, and you're in a – you're finding – don't if i want to spoil this or not.
Speaker: Well, you find another broken down car and there's a trail of blood leading from it. Yeah. And yeahre because it's a point and click adventure, your way is barred, right? Like it's difficult to follow this trail of blood and you have a series of puzzles you have to solve to be able to follow the trail of blood. But that's that's basically what you're doing in this yeah story.
Speaker: I liked the, the it's it is a very short game, you guys. You will finish this game in 10 to 15 minutes, depending on what you want to look at and if you want to like think about it a little bit. But it's it's ah it's a great little horror vignette that tells a story really effectively without really any characters. Yeah.
Speaker: Yes. it it's also ended like a Twilight Zone thing where the narrator is like, ah and Claire went and reported this and nothing was found. Like, oh, how lovely. Did you play the original? So you did you play the original or the remaster? Because through Steam, you can click on one or the other.
Speaker: Just the original. Oh, really? So I played the remaster first, which expands on it a bunch. Does it? Okay. um There's some extra puzzles.
Speaker: So you didn't see the wolf or the owl? No. Okay. So there's some extra puzzles where, and you didn't see the fingies. i I guess not. I guess not. No. So maybe I saw a little more gore than you. and Okay. I didn't see any really. I saw very limited, limited gore. Okay. So I think the original is a little more Twilight Zone like you're talking about. Okay. where I mean, there is some dead body. But there
Speaker: the updated version. um so like So you didn't see the eye narrating in the first game, just the second game.
Speaker: Correct. Okay. So in the first game, now the eye narrates. Okay. um At first you stop by a gas station and talk to a police officer. or no, sorry.
Speaker: You don't talk to a police officer. those that That's at the end. you stop at a You stop at a gas station and you talk to the guy and somehow that's supposed to be part of the story, but I didn't quite get how it tied in. Right. And then you have to do a few extra puzzles to be able to um get into the the like the farmhouse and the the backyard and one of them involves um walking through the woods okay and there's like a there's like a wolf and an owl that's cool it's cool that they expanded it then and there's a bunch of jump scares in ah the in the so there's definitely a couple jump scares in what i played okay yeah this has like a creature that keeps appearing
Speaker: Oh, I see. Okay. um And then just that thing where it scatters away, crab walking backwards. Oh, God! um you also have to do You also have to find some coins to get to make a telephone call. like There's a bunch of little... And the story is actually a little bit different in this one. um
Speaker: I'll say this and maybe we can beep it out, but there's a second boy.
Speaker: I kind of was wondering a little bit about that, honestly, even with my own playthrough of it. Okay. Okay. Yeah, there's a – he's in the pictures and everything. There's a – Okay. Got it.
Speaker: um So, yeah, I thought this was really good. I thought it was a really promising start to the series, and I can see why – I could see instantly why these were beloved.
Speaker: I mean, yeah, especially for horror fans, Twilight Zone fans. I love a good little vignette. And now that all these games are out, you can just kind of play them as an anthology almost. But yeah, I really enjoyed the first one.
Speaker: It is not the most scary game you will ever play, but it is scary. It is a scary story. It is a scary event. uh that is happening i love the black and white i don't typically like black and white games but this is done in a way that it's just easy to look at oh yeah absolutely it's kind of soft and it is soft yeah so i don't so far and just the first two games maybe i shouldn't give overall all thoughts yet maybe i'll save this okay okay so let's talk about what why don't you tell people about the second game Yeah, so there the second game is a little bit longer.
Speaker: ah it is called The Goodbye Note. And this is a also a great like little horror vignette game. I was so impressed. um So you are playing a what I only can assume to be a scientist.
Speaker: Yes. And it starts the game in um in the present moment. Does it start in the present? does Does it go backwards? Hang on, let me think. Yeah, it starts in the present where he's, ah the framing device, well, there's it's nested framing devices. The first framing device is an eye is telling you, like, this was a this was the most terrifying experience of Richard ah P., Dr. Richard P. Griffin's life. um And then it cuts to him writing a goodbye note. Correct, yeah. um And this one is really great. um
Speaker: He is basically, he is needed to go somewhere um because something has been compromised. I don't know how spoilery I want. It's hard to, because these are short games, yeah i'm trying to give I'm trying to lure people to play them without spoiling too much, but um it takes place in a science center for the most part. Some of it also takes place on a plane.
Speaker: which is very Langoliers. It's disturbing. um But what kind of story would would you, would you call this veering into like sci-fi due to the thing we're trying to, trying to protect? Yeah.
Speaker: Yes, definitely. i would say this is horror sci-fi. Yeah. um Because there is a mysterious object that you're trying to protect from something else that's mysterious. Yes.
Speaker: this is, you know, it's like yeah they they find an object... It's one of those stories just like, oh, we found a mysterious object. I won't give much away, but we found a mysterious object and now something funky is going on. Yeah. And we have to keep it under watch at all times. And then there's an anxiety that he seems to have. So this is all in flashback um because, again, the framing device is he is writing a goodbye note. Yeah. And you you know that he has...
Speaker: I guess, absconded with this strange object and things in his life.
Speaker: And so as he's fleeing, something appears to be chasing him, something that has powers beyond um the physical realm. um And that's probably as much as I'll get into, spoiler-wise. But I think that is...
Speaker: yeah that fits horror sci-fi right did you think were you scared did you find any any parts particularly tense no i think i found the first one scarier than the second one um i think there's a there's a twist about halfway through yes i don't want to get even slightly more specific than that um There's twist about halfway through that I saw coming.
Speaker: And then, like any... You can expect this. This isn't a spoiler because it's... Every fucking Twilight Zone and Twilight Zone inspired thing has a twist at the end.
Speaker: Right. um So there's a twist at the end of this that i I don't know that I totally saw coming. I didn't know that that was how the story would wrap up. I didn't either. It's it's not a good ending. I mean, a lot of Twilight Zone endings aren't great. Right.
Speaker: But yeah, no, I don't think I was quite expecting that ending either. The the the game actually gives me very big Enclosure vibes or um the second Trilby game where they're in the space station.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, yeah. um So some of those parts were like making me feel afraid because I was thinking of the space station in the Trilby games. And that game horrified me. So I was getting like little mini flashbacks.
Speaker: Yeah. But there's always something i think I think I was more frightened by the second game because for me there's always something a little more frightening about like weird science stations. and like Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, it it did that, whatever that genre would be called, it did that very well. Yes. And i I thought this one had a way more Twilight Zone ending than the first one.
Speaker: it does. Yeah, it does. And there's... there's
Speaker: There's some a mystery here about like what... at the end By the end, you obviously know what was chasing him and and whatnot, but you don't you still don't really know its nature by the end of the game.
Speaker: You don't really know what it is, what it looks like, what it can do... Yeah. um and And I think that's true of the first game, too. We don't really know what happened there. And I think that's a good, successful horror vignette.
Speaker: Because we are very accepting that maybe we... And that's that's something i I have critiqued before. It's like, I need to understand this. But the way these games do it in this kind of vignette form, I don't need to know where this mysterious entity came from. I don't need to know those things. I'm deeply invested in this like short vignette, this short little window of watching this moment in time. So yeah, I, I, I really like these. I think these are, are like perfect little horror games. Yes. I think they're, yeah, I think they're great. I think they're great little horror point clicks. um
Speaker: The next one The art style is a little different. It is different. And I and i wonder... becomes a little like NES or SNES. Yeah. It's in color, too. I wonder... It's in color.
Speaker: We haven't played them yet. I don't know if you've played them. I have not played them yet. I don't know if it is still carrying on with like the Twilight Zone things, but... Or if that was just like the first to fit into Twilight Zone style and then the developer goes into different styles. i'm not sure what the – I'll have to play it and figure it out.
Speaker: Yeah. So the next three – so I think we're going to cover three more. yeah In the next episode. And then, so I think that's how that's how spooky month is going to work this this year, folks, is um two Midnight Scenes games this episode. Next episode, we'll cover three. And the following episode, we'll cover two, especially because they get longer as they go. good did Yeah. Not like insane long. Like, this isn't a series that's like 14 hours. but
Speaker: But to play the last two is going to be, the last two are each, as as far as I can tell, are each like, two-ish hours long. Two-ish hours, yeah. So like, you know, that's four hours of game where this yes this was... Not even an hour Not even an hour for both games. Yeah. So next episode, we're going to talk about The Nanny from the Woods.
Speaker: Ooh. And, oh, wait. am i am i Am I mixing it up? Is there only four left? Yeah. There's four left. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, we'll do two next episode and two the following episode. I'm sorry, everybody. I'm sorry. Don't be mad at me. Oh, my God. We're so furious. um Yeah, two next episode and then two the final episode. So next episode, we'll do the nanny and from the woods. Yes. And the final episode. Or the that' the two episodes from now, we'll do a safe place in Among Graves.
Speaker: Nice. Yay. Yeah. um
Speaker: Yeah, so I think that's an episode, Roses. We did it! We did an episode! did it! And we talked about so many fucking games!
Speaker: As usual. This isn't even the most amount of games we've ever talked about. I would be curious as to which episode we just kept going.
Speaker: I mean, yeah, there are some times that we talk about so many games. We can't include all of them in the in the show disc the show notes. Yeah. I will. You're like a little more perfectionist than I am. I'll just leave stuff out. ah I don't care. I'm like, a Matt will probably put that back in. Yeah, sometimes i if i if it's something that I remember. So it's like.
Speaker: You often have me look over your show descriptions before the episode gets posted. And if it's something I remember talking about, I'm like, I'm going to add that in. But if I don't if i don't remember it it, then it it wasn't worth adding back in. Yeah. ah um Yeah, but...
Speaker: I think I'm excited about spooky month. I'm always excited about spooky month, man. And the weather has been so nice over here in Chicago. It feels like fall. I went to Apple fest the other day. i ate an apple eclair. It was so good.
Speaker: an apple eclair. I've never had an apple. It was so good. Oh man. excited.
Speaker: We have an announcement. I mean, you've already heard the announcement, but i we have a ah we want to remind everybody we will be at Adventure X. That's us. Yay. we We're doing a live show on Saturday, November 7th in London at the Adventure X. The the the Adventure Expo 2026 narrative game convention. um i think it's 530 is the time that we go on.
Speaker: We're on during rush hour? The fuck? ah So yeah, we do we yeah so there's a we we'll be doing a live save your game. it will We will post it here on the feed afterwards, but there is some visual components. So, you know, if you can be there, you're going to want to be there. We will not have video. There will not be video of the event. So, you know, correct if you want to get the full experience, you're going to have to be there. Otherwise, you you'll get audio and audio.
Speaker: you know And my autograph. We might release the um you might release the PowerPoint presentation that we do so you can follow along, but you won't see the whole thing. you want to Yeah, that's a good idea.
Speaker: it's It's funny. I was looking at... um I pulled up the website and... there's everybody looking all like everybody's portraits, the guests, the speakers and panelists, and everybody's looking all professional and attractive. And then there's me who's taking a selfie where I'm like, I'm looking like I'm confused at the fact that a thing can take pictures. Yeah.
Speaker: I think it's What is this picture box? I thought it was so funny when I sent that in Now I'm looking at it amongst everyone else. And I imagine people are opening this, oh opening the speakers and panelist. They're like, what the fuck? What the fuck is this?
Speaker: Hey, at least I look hot in my picture. um someone's got to lure the people into our panel maybe somebody thinks this looks hot maybe somebody thinks i look hot in this picture i love confused men i'm more confused the better ah yeah but come see us at adventure x uh please visit us otherwise come back and uh listen to the rest of spooky month all through the spooky month I really love Banoffee pie. For anyone listening in the UK, please bring me some. ah Because last time I tried to get some and I didn't. and Oh, really? Yeah. Like the the only place that had it like closed early because everything fucking closes early. I'm from Chicago. So everything's open really late. So I was like confused. I'm like, I don't understand why I can't just get Banoffee pie.
Speaker: And that's my story. that happens That happened to me one of the nights that I was in London. I might have told the story in this podcast already, but I was, i you know, was wandering, as I do when I'm in a foreign city, i was just wandering around yeah until, like, for hours. because I think that's a fun thing to do in a foreign city. love that. So it was just wandering around aimlessly, and it got late.
Speaker: And then I was like, ah, I'll pick up some food on the way back to my ah my little hotel. um And everything was fucking closed. Yeah. And it was like 10 o'clock. And i was like, what the hell? This is a major metropolitan city. Why is everything closed? And i had to eat at a fucking McDonald's. I i had i hadn't eaten it at a McDonald's in 20 years. How could you buy do this? They had a vegan...
Speaker: They had like their vegan menu was ah advertised on the outside of the building and everything else was closed. And i was like, okay, fine, fine. You win McDonald's. And guess what?
Speaker: It was horrible. I'm sorry. It was so fucking bad. You know, what's pretty good is the impossible whopper. This is the, um, for, for Londoners. This is the Soho McDonald's. Wow. sucked. Um,
Speaker: the impossible whopper is great yeah it's pretty good yeah pretty good but yeah i like i often get it rest stops if i'm on a road trip oh yeah um across pennsylvania on the pennsylvania turnpike uh i think like two or three of them have burger kings and i will get a impossible whopper yeah they're good no pickles Definitely no pickles ever on any burger. Why should it be on a fucking burger? Like, and I don't even hate pickles, but why the fuck?
Speaker: I think it's a scam. I think there's something that happened where where the pickle... Like, there's, like, some pickle magnate was friends with the... ah With, like, two or three of the major fast food chain owners and was like, hey, what if you just tell everybody that pickles belong on a burger?
Speaker: And you can buy... And we can go into business together and you can buy all my pickles. And people will just believe you that pickles go on a burger and it'll be great for the pickle industry. Yeah, that's what happened. Big pickle happened. Because there's no other explanation why for why so many people would believe that pickles go on a burger.
Speaker: Hashtag big pickle. Also, olives are gross. What else where else? Olives are terrible. Olives are way worse than than pickles. We're going to get in so much trouble. Everyone hates us now. I tried to say that really quick because I know how passionate people get about olives. I really hate them. Truly. Me too. It's like, why? You're so salty and gross.
Speaker: It's like, oh I want to chew on some salted rubber for a while. Some oily salted rubber. Not even just – and I'm not even talking about just like it has a rubbery texture. I'm saying it tastes fucking rubber. kind of does taste like rubber. Yeah.
Speaker: It does. You're so right. Take it. Don't put it on my pizza. Don't put it on my salad. Don't do anything with it except make olive oil. I'll eat Get it away from me. Yeah, I like olive oil. I like olive oil. Hey, where else can people find us? People can find us at our Instagram at save your game podcast. You can email it up. Email us at Matt and roses at gmail.com. Email it up people. We love emails. Comment at us. Give us suggestions. Rant at us. That's fine too. Join our Discord. We have a great Discord channel. We have so... I'm not exaggerating. We have so much fun there. Sometimes creators don't go into their own Discords. We are in there. talk to you guys. We love talking to you guys about games. We're honestly the best people.
Speaker: Yeah. Great, great community in that Discord. so Hey. Hey. And they like when when we mention them. So, yeah. Hey. Hey. Do you want to know what the worst thing about being alive is?
Speaker: What's the worst thing about being alive? It's laundry. It's Do you agree?
Speaker: don't mind doing laundry. I hate folding laundry. hate laundry. i don't mind I don't mind washing the laundry. I just don't like folding and putting it away. But you know what the best thing about being alive is?
Speaker: Podcasts? Yes. But most importantly, podcasts with my best friend. aww April Matt Allcamp sorry no Matt please that's so good at ruining friendships yeah no I love i love doing a podcast with you and I love ah doing a podcast where our listeners can hear us have fun um why is that Matt because here's what I think podcast is art
Speaker: In podcasts, or sorry. Wow, I fucked it up. That's okay. It's okay. I'm editing it in post. like Yeah, just kidding. You can do this.
Speaker: I know you can do it. I'm rooting for you. I'm over here and I'm rooting for you.
Speaker: And art is suffer. Suffer.
