Off the Shelf is an interview format of the Pages of Play Podcast where we bring a guest on the show to talk about the following scenario: “Imagine you have a library full of books that represent to you the greatest video game narratives. If I were to pull 5 books at random off of those shelves, what would I find? How did each book earn a spot on your shelf?”

This week, I am joined by Raygan, host of The Short Game. Below you will find a link to The Short Game website, where you can find all the avenues to connect and listen to their show:

https://shortgame.fm/

The discussion of each game contains spoilers, so please refer to the timestamps below to avoid those as needed.

(00:00) Introduction & Spoiler Policy

(09:46) Gone Home

(21:20) Night in the Woods

(32:22) The Wizard Sniffer

(43:03) Immortality

(52:38) 1000xResist

(59:52) Bonus Game!

(01:01:12) Closing Comments

If you enjoy the show please join our discord to stay up to date on the podcast. Thanks for listening!

David, Caleb, and Erik nab some artificats and run! They will never think of museums the same way again.

Pages of Play podcast is a book club for gaming narratives, where the hosts discuss their personal experience with a game and its story via book club style discussion questions submitted by listeners. Please join our discord so that you can chat with the amazing Pages of Play community and ask discussion questions to be featured on our next episode!

The wonderful music in this episode comes from the Jusant soundtrack by Guillaume Ferran. Check it out here.

Contents:

(00:00) Intro

(04:27) Q1

(18:22) Q2

(35:52) Q3

(41:15) Q4

(48:19) Spoiler Wall: Story Recap

(52:18) Q5

(01:00:41) Q6

(01:07:55) Closing

References from the show:

Relooted Review

Ben Myres Interview

Between the Lines (BTL) is a sub-series of the Pages of Play podcast where we explore hidden gem indie games. In this episode, Erik and David interview Ben Myres, CEO and creative director at Nyamakop, the studio behind Relooted. This is a very "meaty" interview, as Ben puts it, so we hope you enjoy going layers deep into the making of this game with us.

Relooted is an Africanfuturist heist game that explores contemporary issues through purposeful game design and writing. The game released on Steam February 10th, 2026, which you can find ⁠here⁠ on Steam, or you can check out the developer's ⁠website⁠ for more details. The game is also currently on Gamepass at the time of writing.

The wonderful music in this episode comes from the Jusant soundtrack by Guillaume Ferran. Check it out ⁠here⁠.

Contents:

(00:00) Intro w/ Ben

(02:53) Interview

(55:05) Closing

David, Caleb, and Erik venture deep into the archives of a codebreaking machine in search of a stolen book.

Pages of Play podcast is a book club for gaming narratives, where the hosts discuss their personal experience with a game and its story via book club style discussion questions submitted by listeners. Please join our discord so that you can chat with the amazing Pages of Play community and ask discussion questions to be featured on our next episode!

The wonderful music in this episode comes from the Jusant soundtrack by Guillaume Ferran. Check it out here.

Contents:

(00:00) Intro

(04:08) Q1

(18:18) Q2

(26:14) Q3

(39:15) Spoiler Wall: Story Recap

(42:19) Q4

(49:24) Q5

(01:02:42) Q6

(01:06:53) Q7

(01:19:19) Closing

References from the show:

My Perfect Console w/ Jon Ingold

Between the Lines (BTL) is a sub-series of the Pages of Play podcast where we explore hidden gem indie games. In this episode, Erik and Caleb interview Alfred Nguyen, the creative director at Throughline Games, about the studio's upcoming game, Forgotlings.

Forgotlings releases on Steam February 17th, 2026. Wishlist the game here on Steam, or check out the developer's website for more details on the release dates across other platforms.

The wonderful music in this episode comes from the Jusant soundtrack by Guillaume Ferran. Check it out here.

Contents:

(00:00) Intro w/ Alfred

(02:22) Interview

(01:02:17) Closing

The Meeting of Makers is a sub-series of the Pages of Play podcast where we bring together various content creators to discuss the art and craft of making content. The panel for this episode includes the following folks:

John: Gaming in the Wild

Jason: So Many Games

Dave: Tales from the Backlog

Dan: The Greatest Story Ever Played

Michael: Tiny Game Chronicles

Rick: Pixel Project Radio

The wonderful music in this episode comes from the Jusant soundtrack by Guillaume Ferran. Check it out here

Contents:

(00:00) Intro

(03:10) Panel

(01:08:21) Closing

(01:11:21) Outtakes

David, Caleb, and Erik take a look back on 2025 to discuss some of the standout moments and stories from the year. This includes reflecting on podcast highlights, disussing the Stories of the Year (SOTYs) submitted by listeners, and doing a deep dive into Clair Obscur: Expedtion 33.

Pages of Play podcast is a book club for gaming narratives, where the hosts discuss their personal experience with a game and its story via book club style discussion questions submitted by listeners. Please join our discord  or find us on bluesky so that you can chat with the amazing Pages of Play community and ask discussion questions to be featured on our next episode!

Also, please do us a huge favor and share your feedback on Pages of Play podcast by filling out this short survey:

https://forms.gle/zjvQZ6Tv4k2vCSEG7

The wonderful music in this episode comes from the Jusant soundtrack by Guillaume Ferran. Check it out here.

Contents:

(00:00) Intro & PoP 2025 Recap

(18:56) SOTYs

(52:11) Clair Obscur and Closing

David, Caleb, and Erik find themselves underneath a steel sky in the indie gem, Metal Garden.

Pages of Play podcast is a book club for gaming narratives, where the hosts discuss their personal experience with a game and its story via book club style discussion questions submitted by listeners. Please join our  discord so that you can chat with the amazing Pages of Play community and ask discussion questions to be featured on our next episode!

The wonderful music in this episode comes from the Jusant soundtrack by Guillaume Ferran. Check it out here.

Contents:

(00:00) Intro

(04:05) Q1

(12:18) Q2

(21:23) Q3

(34:34) Spoiler Wall: Story Recap

(37:24) Q4

(47:36) Q5

(01:06:11) Q6

(01:13:44) Q7

(01:20:47) Closing

References from the show:

Pixelated Playgrounds episode on Metal Garden

Between the Lines (BTL) is a sub-series of the Pages of Play podcast where we explore hidden gem indie games. In this episode, Erik interviews his children about the game, Stray, a 2022 adventure game developed by BlueTwelve Studio and published by Annapurna Interactive.

The kids (6 and 3 years old) recap the story of the game, share their favorite moments, and explain why the narrative was so compelling. I had such a blast recording this episode because I had no idea what my kids were going to say on-air. They certainly kept me on my toes!

I hope you find this episode as precious as my little ones are to me.

The wonderful music in this episode comes from the Jusant soundtrack by Guillaume Ferran. Check it out here.

Contents:

(00:00) Intro

(03:45) Interview

(29:07) Closing

Off the Shelf is an interview format of the Pages of Play Podcast where we bring a guest on the show to talk about the following scenario: “Imagine you have a library full of books that represent to you the greatest video game narratives. If I were to pull 5 books at random off of those shelves, what would I find? How did each book earn a spot on your shelf?”

This week, I am joined by Jason, the editor and chief of So Many Games. Below you will find a link to the So Many Game website as well as the developer interview that Jason mentions on the show.

So Many Games

Horace Interview

The discussion of each game contains spoilers, so please refer to the timestamps below to avoid those as needed.

(00:00) Introduction & Spoiler Policy

(09:16) The Alters

(26:10) Horace

(37:57) Journey

(50:23) Spiritfarer

(01:04:10) Citizen Sleeper 2

(01:23:48) Closing Comments

If you enjoy the show please join our discord to stay up to date on the podcast. Thanks for listening!