On this podcast, we're not afraid to venture the bravest, boldest opinions. The opinions THEY don't want you to hear. Opinions like: Myst should have a jump button.

A LOT of Chicago talk in this one, because Roses had a birthday and Matt went out to celebrate. We talk about pizza, Malort, a weird collectibles store... you know, Chicago stuff!

But the TRUE STAR of this episode is our now-infamous list of EVERY ADVENTURE GAME EVER where we pull games up at random and rank them whether we've played them or not! In this episode, we reach 100 games! Enjoy and feel free to email us to argue if we get something wrong!

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Games Mentioned - Look, it's way too many to list, so this time? I'm just gonna list the three we talk about that don't have to do with our ranking list:

• Myst
• Blue Prince
• Rosewater

Listen, the first 15 minutes of this podcast are about hair. We understand the inconvenience this may cause you. You expect a certain level of non-hair content from us, and we have failed to fulfill this responsibility. We will take accountability and reflect on our actions (and our hair) and, while we cannot promise that we won't do it again, we can promise that we had fun when we did it.

In addition to this, Matt has more to say about Blue Prince, and both hosts have more to say about Wanderstop.

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Games Mentioned:

• Myst
• Blue Prince
• Animal Well
• Wanderstop
• Stardew Valley

A very sleepy Matt and a very inspired PushingUpRoses welcome an incredible guest onto the show to talk about one of the weirder games we've ever played. Musician, video producer and hella talented dude Neil Cicierega is on the show to talk about playing adventure games as 90's kid -- your dad bringing home shareware adventure games to install on your Windows 3.1 PC and the entire family puzzling over it over weeks, months, and years -- and how to pass that experience on to your kids.

We also do a surprisingly DEEP dive into a bizarre 1993 game Cliff Bleszinski designed in Visual Basic when he was 17, called Dare to Dream. It goes... places. Like literal Hell.

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Games Mentioned:

• King Quest VI
• Icon Architect 1.0
• Dare to Dream
• Hugo’s House of Horrors
• Freddy Pharkas Frontier Pharmacist
• There Is No Game
• Unforeseen Incidents
• Day of the Tentacle
• The Dig
• Wanderstop
• Blue Prince
• Palace of Deceit
• Jazz Jackrabbit
• Curse of Monkey Island
• Monster Breeder

This week, Matt and Roses are joined by the first developer we ever talked about on this show, MEREDITH GRAN, the creative force behind Perfect Tides and the upcoming Perfect Tides: Station to Station. We take some time to discuss our feet before discussing art, nostalgia, and the creative decisions by – let’s face it – one of our favorite frickin’ games.

Then, we spend a LOT of time talking about a game that is FAR from our favorite: Freddy Pharkas, Frontier Pharmacist. And we’re sorry*.

*we aren't

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Games Mentioned:

• Perfect Tides
• Perfect Tides: Station to Station
• The Dig
• Freddy Pharkas Frontier Pharmacist

It’s been a wild (sic) since we’ve done a Q & A, so we address topics like our favorite references in games, games that we liked as kids but disliked as adults, Roses’ favorite Carmen Sandiego, and what franchises we’d like to see as adventure games!

But first, we talk about our thoughts on Wanderstop, which is an incredibly unique and interesting game.

And Matt drinks a lot of tea.

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Games Mentioned:

• Fields of Mistria
• Wanderstop
• Hugo’s House of Horrors
• Conker’s Bad Fur Day
• Spyro the Dragon
• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Grim Fandango
• Curse of Monkey Island
• Dreams in the Witch House
• Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon
• Discworld
• Batman: Arkham Asylum
• Spider-Man
• Marvel Midnight Suns
• The Abbey of Crime
• The Abbey
• Daria’s Inferno
• An English Haunting
• Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
• Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?
• Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego?
• Excavation of Hob’s Barrow
• Scarlet Hollow
• Backfirewall
• Smile for Me
• Roadwarden
• Legend of Kyrandia II: Hand of Fate
• UFO 50
• Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
• Atomfall
• Avowed
• Wayward Strand
• Torin’s Passage
• Star Trek adventure games
• Heaven’s Vault
• Blazing Dragons
• Pentiment
• Hypnospace Outlaw
• Kentucky Route Zero
• Silent Hill 2
• Cat Café Manager

R. Floppy K., Jr. can’t keep Matt and PushingUpRoses down. These two are gonna push through all the colds, the tiny guacabowli bowls, the loneliness, and the fork-and-knife taco crowd to play some Next Fest Demos!

We warmed you up last week, but this week we dive FULLY IN to some cool demos. But first, we have a long talk about player choice in games and the merits of seeing “everything” in a game, all because Matt misses his ancient robot.

Plus, Matt is sick and WILL HE SURVIVE TIL THE END OF THE EPISODE?! Listen to find out!

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Games Mentioned:

• Night Trap
• Kathy Rain 2: Soothsayer
• Rise of the Golden Idols: The Sins of New Wells
• Heaven’s Vault
• Fran Bow
• The Alpinist
• Deck of Haunts
• Do No Harm
• Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping
• Return of the Obra Dinn
• Promise Mascot Agency
• Deliver At All Costs
• Wanderstop
• Isle of Reveries
• Blue Prince
• Disney Dreamlight Valley
• Elroy and the Aliens
• Orion Burger
• Brassheart
• Dr. Priori’s Time Escape
• INAYAH: Life After Gods
• Little Problems

Communal Actions:

• Amazon      Boycott March 7-14.
• Nestle      Boycott March 21-28.
• Walmart      Boycott April 7-14
• Economic      Blackout 2 April 18

You know him, you love him; The one and only Dave Gilbert is on the show this week to talk about our relationships to gaming as we all get older. Is nostalgia inherently good or bad? Is ET for Atari as artistic a feat as Perfect Tides? We get really really deep into it.

Also, Roses and Matt each played a few Next Fext demos (maybe more to come next week?) and Dave Gilbert played Obsidian’s answer to Unavowed, Avowed!

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Games Mentioned:

• Old Skies
• Avowed
• Unavowed
• Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
• Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping
• Do No Harm
• The Alpinist
• Getting Over It w/ Bennett Foddy
• Deck of Haunts
• Kathy Rain 2: Soothsayer
• Horizon Zero Dawn
• Assassin’s Creed: Oddysey/Valhalla
• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Curse of Monkey Island
• Blackwell series
• Perfect Tides
• Dragon’s Dogma II
• Citizen Sleeper
• Cloudpunk
• Quest for Glory series
• Knights of the Old Republic
• Hypnospace Outlaw
• Crow Country
• Sanitarium

Communal Actions:

• Amazon Boycott March 7-14.
• Nestle Boycott March 21-28.
• Walmart Boycott April 7-14

Look, you all knew this was coming eventually. Matt put it off as long as he possibly could, but the time has finally arrived. Despite it having practically every element that PushingUpRoses hates in adventure games, we play one of her favorites of all time: Sanitarium!

Roses is still playing Cabernet, trying to get the good ending. Matt is Playing Heaven's Vault and it's incredible.

And the less said about the intro, the better.

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Games Mentioned:

• Cabernet
• The Crimson Diamond
• Heaven’s Vault
• Overboard!
• Sanitarium
• Space Quest VI: Roger Wilco in the Spinal Frontier
• Ninja Gaiden

Economic Blackout Day is Friday, February 28th. Don't buy anything!

Amazon Boycott March 7-14. Nestle Boycott March 21-28.

Roses and Matt roll up their characters and embark on an adventure, avoiding Killer Tomatoes and sadistic oral surgeons, leveling up their scratching skills with Itch Simulator VR 4000, and making their way to becoming full-fledged blood-drinking vampires!

This week, we discuss the new vampire game Cabernet, an adventure/RPG hybrid in which you live two months as a vampire in a small eastern European town in the 1800’s. We review the game and talk about the differences in our playthroughs. Then, we discuss the intersection between RPGs and Adventure Games, and what makes a game lean more heavily to either side.

Also, we rank some adventure games we’ve never heard of and wonder what the word “Cabernet” means.

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Games Mentioned:

• Cabernet
• Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector
• Final Fantasies 1-8
• Flat Stanley RPG
• RPG Maker VX 8
• Stardew Valley
• Heaven’s Vault
• I Was A Teenage Exocolonist
• Disco Elysium
• The Thaumaturge
• Planescape: Torment
• Grim Fandango
• Itch Simulator VR 4000
• Skyrim
• Morrowind
• Fallout: New Vegas
• Through Abandoned: The Underground City
• Super Jazz Man
• Apprentice
• Enola

Come take a train ride with Matt and Roses and help us solve the murder of Lady Untervald. If only Matt still played adventure games, instead of SGG (Shoot-Gun Games). First, though, some orders of business: We have a surprising TEETH UPDATE. Roses got a new toy! Matt's new favorite game was finally release. And two cool games got release dates. 

And now, the main event: A retro-styled murder mystery adventure game set on a train that HONESTLY WE SWEAR WE'RE NOT JUST SAYING THIS BECAUSE IT GETS SAID ABOUT EVERY POINT-AND-CLICK GAME has major Lucasarts vibes.

And, by popular demand, Ranking Every Adventure Game Ever makes its triumphant return.

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Games Mentioned:

• Blake Stone
• Stardew Valley
• Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector
• Kings Quest V
• Cabernet
• Rosewater
• Loco Motive
• Pine Hearts
• Orion Burger
• Valiant Hearts: The Great War
• Puzzles in Motion: Backstreet Boys
• Backstreet Boys Save Christmas