For this week’s episode, we play Dear Future, a cryptic exploration game about taking pictures of an abandoned city. We talk about the strange allure of this game’s world, as well as discuss the strengths and weaknesses of its central crowdsourced premise. Though we were skeptical of some aspects of the game at first, in an epilogue recorded later, we revise our judgements in light of the game’s ending. 

Find the game here: https://dearfuture.itch.io/dear-future 

This week, we play Kendra: Heavily Pregnant Defender of Earth, a charming game about Kendra, a woman 8-months pregnant who saves the planet from an army of invading aliens. We talk about why the game is so charming, and realize that the narrative is even more clever than we had thought. Jordan coins the term “Chekhov’s pre-natal vitamins.” 

Download the game here: https://gophergames.itch.io/kendra-heavily-pregnant-defender-of-earth

And check out the creator’s other games: https://gophergames.itch.io/ 

In this week’s episode, we play Casadastra, the newest game by Milosoft, the creator of Hissy Fight, which we played in a previous episode. It’s a thoughtful, surreal maze game about trying to navigate a space in the dark. We swap strategies, and Blake is impressed that Jordan did half the game without pen and paper. 

Find the game here: https://milosoft.itch.io/casadastra

And follow the creator on Twitter: @milomilosoft

This week, we drop some sick dunks in Grapple Hoops, a game about grapple-based movement and slam dunks. The grapple mechanic prompts an extended discussion about swinging and grapple mechanics in games, and we talk about our favorites (Blake likes Spiderman, whereas Jordan is a Pathfinder main).

Download the game here: https://gamedevandrew.itch.io/grapple-hoops 

And follow the creator on Twitter: @gamedevandrew 

This week, we played Divarr, a one-button game—literally just one—about splitting missiles, shooting bombs, and not shooting dudes (don’t shoot dudes, dude). We talk about why this game just “clicks,” as well as its clever sound design. Blake revels in his high score, arrogantly and in bad taste. No, I’m not bitter, why do you ask.

Play the game here: https://abagames.github.io/crisp-game-lib/?divarr

And follow the creator on Twitter: abagames

Yep, you read that right. We play “OnlyCans: Thirst Date,” a, um, game about taking pictures of sexy cans. You might think cans can’t be sexy. You would be wrong. Oh, and Blake tells us a story about an unfortunate encounter with chocolate-flavored soda. 

Find the game here: https://oxyoxspring.itch.io/onlycans

And follow the creators on Twitter: @OxyOxspring

Things get a little spooky in Veinless Property, a horror game with a visual style inspired by Junji Ito. We applaud the game’s attention to detail, and talk about why horror games are so much scarier than horror films. Jordan confesses that he was unable to finish the game, and had to just watch his girlfriend play it instead. What a weenie. 

Download the game here: https://tenkaiyo.itch.io/veinless-property 

And follow the creator on Twitter: @Tenkaiyo

For this episode, we explore The Anything Gallery, a procedurally-generated museum that displays Google and YouTube searches as works of art. We talk about our respective journeys into the depths of the Internet, and share some of the strangest galleries we came up with. Highlights include three men talking (at length) about how to please women sexually and bad sketch comedy about school buses. 

Download the game here: https://jan-malitschek.itch.io/the-anything-gallery

And follow the creator on Twitter: @malitschek

For this week, we play Teenage Blob, a zine-like music game by Team Lazeream and The Superweaks. We talk about the game’s charming weirdness, the overlap of indie gaming and zine culture, sick boots, and, uh, naked… blobs. I dunno dude, just play the game yourself (it’s good!).

Find the game on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1096060/Teenage_Blob/

And follow the creators on Twitter: @teamlazerbeam, @thesuperweaks

This week, we play the… game(?) MENU NEW GAME +, an experimental fiction about exploring four menus for fictional games. It’s a unique game, surprisingly funny, about everything that happens in a game before you even start playing. We talk about which of these games we most want to play, and discover that the patch notes for one of the games were generated via neural network.

Play the game here: https://spelafort.itch.io/menu-new-game-plus

And follow the creator on Twitter: @steven_sych