Describing The Skybox

Frontside Varial Podcast Welcome back to the show this week! Today, we’re going to be talking about OlliOlli. This is a skateboarding game from 2014 that approaches the genre in a different way than it’s usually handled. While still definitely showing an arcade style high score type of design, your run will end as soon as you bail, enforcing an almost Meat Boy or Hotline Miami style of iterative g...

Podcasts AND zombies? This is seriously supernatural. Welcome! On this episode of the podcast, we’re going to be talking about TimeSplitters: Future Perfect, a game developed by Free Radicals and and the third and final entry in the TimeSplitters franchise, a console FPS franchise that rode the wave of multiplayer shooters released on consoles during the span of time between when Goldeneye release...

I suppose there are people who engage more freely with the podcast, and I do prefer it. Welcome to NOCLIP Pocket! Today, we’re talking about Tacoma, the second game from Fullbright, and one that shares a bit in common with its predecessor, Gone Home. The game is a walking-sim type adventure game, set on a space station, with much of your interaction coming in the form of interacting with documents...

This podcast is new to me, but I am honored to be a part of it. Welcome back! Today we’re going to be talking about Outer Wilds, the space sim/adventure/exploration game that, for people who connect with it, is an absolute gem. In this game, you fly around from planet to planet, each of which is individually authored with a surprising number of things to find and learn, and try to discover more ab...

More damage to basic podcast enemy, Welcome back to NOCLIP Pocket! This week, we’re going to be talking about Nanotale: Typing Chronicles, an RPG that uses a (surprise) typing interface and the follow-up to Fishing Cactus’s previous game Epistory, which we talked about way back in 2017. This new game sees them iterating on the concepts that were started in Epistory, with a more dynamic combat syst...

You got anymore dead podcasts back there? Welcome back to NOCLIP, and thank you for joining us for the conclusion of Mystery May! To round this month out, we’re going to be talking about one of the most prolific adventure games ever made, Grim Fandango. Grim is one of LucasArts’ adventure games from the heyday of the genre, and the studio’s experience combines with the Tim Schaffer’s stellar writi...

I can play saxophone and record a podcast at the same time. Welcome back to NOCLIP Pocket! To continue our celebration of Mystery May, we're going to be discussing Hypnospace Outlaw. This game is a desktop simulator set in the late 90's and revolves around a parody of the early internet that users visit in their sleep... What? You expected us to pick a game that wasn't super weird? We're going to...

If you’re looking for rain, dead bodies and podcasts, you came to the right place. Welcome to Mystery May! This time we’re starting with an arguably pretty contentious (or at the very least pretentious) title in Heavy Rain, a game developed by Quantic Dream. Heavy Rain is essentially an adventure game that is loaded to the brim with quick time events and branching narrative paths. Say what you wil...

Your podcast’s name is NOCLIP? We’re going to need to come up with a better name. Welcome back to NOCLIP Pocket! This time, for our first episode of Mystery May, we’re going to be talking about Telling Lies. This game is a follow up to Sam Barlow’s previous game Her Story, and the two share a lot of the same DNA. Both are desktop simulations that see you searching through a database to find clips...

Dwarven podcasts! Fine Dwarven Podcasts! Direct from Orzammar. Welcome back to the podcast! Today we're going to be taking another dive into the world of CRPGs, which of course means that Chad won't be joining us. Instead, Andy will be joined by special guests Daniel and Janelle to discuss BioWare's 2009 classic, Dragon Age: Origins. We'll be discussing engaging world building, intricate quest des...

This podcast has great tunes and water balloons. Welcome back to NOCLIP Pocket, where we are making our way through every twee indie game that has made its way to the Switch, apparently. Seriously though, Donut County channels the gameplay energy of Katamari Damacy, or I guess Feeding Frenzy, through a much less chaotic, more relaxed style and into a world that is characterized by clever writing a...

I’ll say something really teary at the funeral, like “Welcome to NOCLIP!” Welcome to the podcast! This week, we’re going to be talking about Jak and Daxter, which has been on the list for quite some time. Jak was one of the first of the 3D platformers that defined the genre during the PS2 era, and like many of its contemporaries, is one of the games that’s quick to come to mind for a lot of people...

The podcast’s name is NOCLIP. Saying it’s name will anger it. Welcome back to NOCLIP Pocket. We’re a ways off from Halloween, but today, we’re going to be talking about Phasmophobia, with our regular guests Dan, Janelle and Steven. Phasmophobia is a cooperative ghost hunting game where you and (hopefully) your friends use a variety of tools to determine what kind of spirit is occupying a space in...

Try to focus on maintaining the proper podcast! Welcome back to NOCLIP! Today, after many months of preparation, our sweat and tears (but fortunately no blood) have culminated in this episode about Ring Fit Adventure! Ring Fit Adventure is a game about exercising set within in a pretty self-aware RPG. You travel from place to place and fight monsters, yeah, but all of your general movement and att...

Aw, poor baby! Welcome back to NOCLIP Pocket (monsters)! Today, due to some scheduling conflicts, we are not going to be talking about Phasmophobia, but instead the 2000 match 3 puzzle game Pokémon Puzzle League. Puzzle League is a game that both of us played a good bit in our younger years, but wasn’t quite notable enough to really maintain any level of popularity long after its release, coming o...

He ain’t eatin’ the podcast, Jack! I made that for him! Welcome back to NOCLIP! Today we’re going to be touching on a somewhat out of season horror game, but fear not (or fear yes, in fact), as there is a sequel coming in just a couple of months. Resident Evil VII, which released a few years ago, before the series began remaking its games like it was going out of style, marked what is a long await...

A fish ate my podcasting license… Welcome back to NOCLIP Pocket! Today, we’re going to be talking about A Short Hike, an indie adventure game and the third game in our deeply important series of bird based games on Pocket. A Short Hike is a very minimalist game, both in style and length, but there is still a good bit to do and explore, even if the game’s world isn’t so big. Part platformer, part a...

Your podcast provides you with a certain mindless strength, but such power has its limits. Welcome back to the podcast! This week, we’re, along with everyone else over the last few months, talking about Hades, Supergiant’s action Roguelite game. One of Hades’ most successful design decisions was to make the game extremely hard to become frustrated with. With an extensive list of unlockable abiliti...

This podcast was recorded in “Arm Swing” style. Welcome back to NOCLIP Pocket, where this week, we’re going to be talking about Downwell, a Rougelike platformer where your goal is just to fall all the way down to the bottom. Obviously this is more difficult to do than it sounds, but even with as difficult as this game is, it’s that simplicity that makes it stand out. You only ever need to move lef...

I know it’s selfish, but this is my podcast! Welcome back! Twenty years after the game’s release and five years of doing this podcast, we are finally going to talk about our first Final Fantasy game. Ten specifically is a game that we have a history with and which has been specifically requested, so we carved out the time to talk about it. FFX is the first Final Fantasy game to be released on the...

Underneath your seat, you will find your complimentary Podcast Snap-A-Lot 9000. Welcome back to NOCLIP Pocket. Today, we’re going to be talking about Penko Park, a game that uses unique assets, but is solidly in the very small genre shared by Pokémon Snap. The game’s controls and objectives are largely the same, as you drive around in a self propelled cart and take pictures of the creatures that i...

The annual awards show everyone isn’t talking about. Welcome to the NOCLIP Awards 2020, where we decide the best games we played this year in different categories. Our newly moderated debate format will help show the minute distinctions between which games really were the most perfect for the Switch, or what child in games this year most deserves the coveted Burger King birthday crown. And of cour...

Coconuts are more valuable than podcast lives! Welcome back! Today on the podcast we’re going to be talking about No More Heroes, a hack’n’slash action game, and likely the game that made Suda51 a name people recognized. A definitely very quirky game with a, uh, we’ll say virile sense of humor, No More Heroes is a game that seems like it tries to make as many choices as it can to stand out and be...

We Scythians loathe podcasts, Welcome back to the podcast! Today, we’re going to be talking about Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP, an adventure game originally released on mobile platforms. You’re given a sword and a shield and a quest to go do, but the game takes a very irreverent stance toward all of it, meaning the tone is a lot lighter and more jokey than you would expect from a game of t...

Podcasts don’t always have a tidy beginning. Welcome back to the podcast! This week we’re joined by Janelle and are going to be talking about Heaven’s Vault, an adventure game with a focus on linguistics that was developed by Inkle. As you can imagine based on that description, this game has a very different way of engaging you mechanically than other games, even within the adventure genre. While...