The EDGIES are here—again! In the second annual special awards episode for Edge Guard, we are back with six new award categories, ranging from “Least Game” to “Best Lofi/Chill Game to Relax/Study To.” We reminisce about some of our favorite games from the past year and give an account of what made the best games the best, and the weirdest games the weirdest (in a good way, of course). We also reflect a bit on the state of the podcast and the current moment in indie gaming at large. 

Here are links to the games featured in this episode (award spoilers!):

1. Lo-fi Chill Games to Relax/Study To
   1. Kyoto Red Gates
      1. https://cavesrd.itch.io/kyoto

This week, we play “Assimilation” a game with no genre listed but which Jordan describes as a “stealth platformer with survival horror vibes” (Blake is skeptical at first of the “stealth designation,” but he comes around). We talk about the many pop cultural reference points of this games machine dystopia, including Blade Runner, Robocop, Inception, and Star Trek. We also talk about how the game combines mechanics from different game genres, with varied results: platforming and stealth, collection and survival, and so on. Also, Jordan breaks the game.

Follow the creators on Twitter: @jestersheepy

Play the game here: https://jestersheepy.itch.io/assimilation

This week, we play a student game called UNDEFEATED, in which you play as a superhero who beats the shit out of bad guys. We talk about how the game feels arcade-like even though it isn’t arcade-style, which leads to a long digression about how the context in which a game is played affects its design. We agree that the boss fights are extremely tricky, but applaud how fast and punchy the game feels. 

Find the game on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1116960/UNDEFEATED/

Follow the creators on Twitter: @undefeated_game, @UMA_hero_16, @kelu_alfheim39, @wolfboy_1210

In this episode, thanks to the generosity of designer Max Krieger, we check out the pre-release build of CROSSNIQ+! If you’ve been listening to the podcast from the beginning, you’ll recognize this as the full build of a game that we played almost two years ago. We talk about how this game builds upon other arcade puzzlers, and spend quite a lot of time being impressed with its “y2k aesthetic.” Seriously, it’s great. Hopefully this means y2k-era visual design is coming back into vogue. But hopefully not y2k-era pants.

Find updates about the game here: https://www.crossniq.com/

And follow Max Krieger on Twitter: @MaxKriegerVG, @crossniq

In this week’s episode, we play Over the Clouds, a puzzle/exploration game by WASD Productions, a group of game design students in Barcelona. After an opening digression about nepotism and Zeus, we talk about first-person puzzlers, common tricks in platformer design, the definition of a button, the “Unreal Engine” look, and how we both love the way the level design of this game uses recontextualization. We also discover that Blake and Jordan have different strategies for playing puzzle games. 

Download the game here: https://wasdproductions.itch.io/over-the-clouds

And follow the creators on Twitter: @WASDproductions

In this episode, we play Au fil de l’eau (Blake gives a noble attempt at correct pronunciation), a game about a river trip by Samson Auroux. We both love the way that it makes use of comic book panelling in order to tell a story, and remark that it manages to use fixed-point cameras successfully. Some of the controls are a work-in-progress, but we base our evaluations on the game as it is going to be, not on the game as it is right now. 

Download the game here: https://samson-auroux.itch.io/au-fil-de-leau

And follow a creator on Twitter: @samson_auroux

This week, Jordan and Blake got together IN THE SAME ROOM to record a very special 100th episode. The game of the hour was Owen Senior's "Wibbly Witches" - a couch competitive platform shooter where witches zip around the stage casting spells to defeat their opponents. Your hosts discuss playing the game head-to-head, as well as the various strategies that they used to take each other down. Be sure to stay until the end of the episode to hear some trash-talk audio that was recorded during the play session!

And follow Owen on twitter @OSTsenior

This week, Jordan and Blake dive into the ecological disaster puzzle platforming game “Plasticity”. This leads to yet another conversation about the concerning condition of our planet and the potentially dark future ahead if changes aren’t made. However, the game takes a hopeful stance on these issues, and your hosts...Try to do the same. Also, for some reason, Blake teaches Jordan about how the band Gorillaz is actually a virtual band, which he somehow didn’t know!

Be sure to checkout the game on steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1069360/Plasticity/

In this episode, we play Neon Boost, a speed-based parkour game built around wall running and rocket jumping. We talk a bit about the nature of rocket jumping as a mechanic, and why it might produce some mechanical dissonance by its very nature. We also talk about how much we appreciate the, uh, “wonky shit,” to use Blake’s technical term, that the game allows you do. The episode ends with the revelation that our hosts disagree about whether “videogame” is one word or two. 

Find the game on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1057850/Neon_Boost/

And follow the creators on Twitter: @PlayNeonBoost, @montyrell, @jramonespinosa, @bernieltartas

In this episode, we explore the first chapter demo of The Last Survey, a narrative game by Nicholas O’Brien. We talk about how much we like the animation style of this game, the ways that this game manages to portray the halls of corporate power in an alien and unnerving way, and how its themes of decision-making are related to its form. Then we go on a long digression about climate change and how annoying Elon Musk stans are. 

Download the game here: https://m3m3x.itch.io/the-last-survey

And follow the creator on Twitter: @__nkO