The Safe Room

We are back with Dead Space 2! Grace and Rose talk the 2011 sequel’s action focus, its silly attempts at exploring survivors guilt, and edgy marking campaigns.

Rose and Grace enter the very heart of survival horror in Sweet Home. We talk over the genre's (now mostly-absent) RPG roots, the game's campy and self-aware charm, and its systemic adaptation of the source material.

We are joined by Dovewhether cohost AP to talk the sci-fi thriller Parasite Eve! We talk over the thrills and foibles of its retro vibes, how protagonist Arya Brea fits into 90s “strong female protagonists” and its weirdo action RPG combat.

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Listen to Grace on Dovewhether talking about Hunter x Hunter https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/serving-hunter-x-hunter-feat-grace-benfell/id1716976125?i=1000685179969

cw: suicide, self-harm, drug use

Rose and Grace are joined by Cameron Kunzelman of Ranged Touch to talk over the Sega Saturn game D and its Dreamcast pseudo-sequel D2. We discuss how D2 at once presages the modern "cinematic" game and is something totally different, its wide swings at serious profundity, and how damn long everything takes in both of these video games. Tune in next time for Parasite Eve with another special guest!

Sorry, We're Closed is a lush and vivid look at relationships, love, and break-ups with shades of Buffy, Silent Hill 3, and Killer 7. Grace and Rose discuss its eroticism, grounded writing, and combat contrivances.

Alisa is both thematically light and aesthetically ornate, a loving, smart throwback that is super annoying. In this episode, Grace and Rose work through how exactly it curates such a clockwork feast and how it manages to grate and delight in equal measure.

Next time: Sorry, We’re Closed

We return to the Fatal Frame franchise with its Nintendo debut, this time with a new co-developer Grasshopper Manufacture. Join us as we discuss the game’s various Wii-era “innovations,” the many facets of its bloated story, and whether this moonlit adventure shines as bright as previous entries in the series.

The Safe Room takes a detour into the surreal and absurd with 2024’s Indika. We discuss the game’s commentary on religion, the unique and entertaining formal choices the game makes, and the second hand pain of playing a video game that features a bunch of straight people. Also, this was nominated for The Game Award’s Games for Change?

cw: suicide, death, the plague

Grace and Rose enter the plagued town and explore its thematic shades of death and life, roles and personhood, ease and difficulty that permiate its walls and earth. Find some bread and meat and sit down with us!

I wanted to get a Handheld Talk episode out for the holiday but unfortunately, due to my own carelessness, my files for that have been lost. Instead, enjoy this little playlist I threw together featuring songs from games we played this year. Hope you enjoy! See you soon for our Pathologic 2 episode. —Rose

Playlist:

"Two of Everything" by Tori Beaumont from "Immortality"
"Kusabi Love or Die Remix" by Masafumi Takada from "The Silver Case"
"Clair de Lune" by Claude Debussy, arranged by Masafumi Takada from "The Evil Within 2"
"Fear II" by Yutaka Minobe from “Rule of Rose”
"Koe" by Tsukiko Amano from “Fatal Frame III: The Tormented”
"Miracle Workshop" by Vasily Kashnikov from “Pathologic 2”
"You Came Back" by Ockeroid from “Crow Country”
"Dead Space” by Jason Graves from “Dead Space”
"Silencio Zero" by Vasily Kashnikov from “Pathologic 2”
"The Tormented" by Tsukiko Amano and Ayako Toyoda from “Fatal Frame III: The Tormented”
"The Reverse Will (Unseen Paths)" by Akria Yamaoka from “Silent Hill 2 (2024)”
"Opening" by Nainita Desai from “Immortality”
"Fairtale Town" by Ockeroid from “Crow Country”
”Shoot Speed" by Masafumi Takada from “Killer7”
"Twyrine" by Vasily Kashnikov from “Pathologic 2”
"Backbiting" by Yutaka Minobe from “Rule of Rose”
"The Attic" Yutaka Minobe from “Rule of Rose”
"Rave On" Masafumi Takada from “Killer7”