Discussion: [Indie Game] (spoilers!)

It’s the end of term at Discussion: [Indie Game] (spoilers!) and Rik and Jo celebrate with a bumper size chat about Swedish thriller The Samaritan Paradox. PhD student Ord Salamon is aimlessly bored and putting off writing his thesis when his friend Magnus calls him with some positive encouragement to read a book: specifically, the book Magnus lent Ord a little while ago. It’s not a game about rea...

Rik and Jo return to complete Shardlight. Did our hosts leave Amy in some kind of situation last week? Was it a good or bad situation? And does she manage to change her circumstances at all, if indeed she wants to?  Trying to avoid specifics is quite tricky when you’re midway through a game. But once this episode is over, Rik and Jo will have reached the end of Shardlight, and given you a brief ap...

It’s back to the future again for this week’s episode. Do Rik and Jo find themselves in an optimistic utopia, or is it another bleak vision of a broken future?  It’s the latter, of course, as today’s game is Shardlight, which begins with protagonist Amy Wellard doing an extremely dangerous job for rich men in silly outfits in exchange for the chance of vaccination against a terminal illness.  Our...

Rik and Jo are back with Alfie Banks this week, just as he takes up a new job, his first task for which involves visiting a bakery.  From this point, things rapidly get out of hand for Alfie, although he doesn’t really seem to notice until it’s much too late. In this episode, you can also enjoy an extremely dubious attempt at a generic ‘mob guy’ accent, Rik’s work in progress stand-up comedy routi...

It’s time for a real estate romp in 1920s Miami this week, as Rik and Jo tackle A Golden Wake from Grundislav Games.  It’s another two-parter, in order to allow the many career twists of protagonist Alfie Banks to be discussed in detail (with spoilers). In this first part, conversation turns to highly topical subjects that include WWF Wrestlemania on the Atari ST and Mr Crisp, the baddie in Kinder...

In today's episode, Rik and Jo are in Twin Lakes, joining Detective Francis McQueen and Officer Patrick Dooley of the local police department’s Darkside Division. Due to a number of factors, including our hosts’ refusal to do much research into the games they’ve wishlisted, bought, or even selected to discuss on a podcast, it’s a slightly different change of pace this week. Like the game itsel...

In the second part of their discussion (with spoilers) of Whispers of a Machine, we join Rik and Jo (as well as our hero, Vera Englund) at the start of Day 3.  We can’t say what’s happened thus far without sounding the spoiler klaxon, but hopefully you’ll have listened to the first part already. If not, it would kind of make sense to do that first.  Other than the major plot beats of the second ha...

This week, Rik and Jo are in Nordsund to investigate a series of murders in Whispers of a Machine.  It’s a two-parter this time, and in this first episode, our hosts discuss Grandma Vera, Vera Duckworth and Vera Englund, and how only one of them is a cool protagonist with an undercut and trendy jacket that attracts compliments from strangers.  Other topics discussed include bosses that sit and sta...

It's the first discussion (with spoilers) of the series, as Rik and Jo take a trip to Conwell Springs with Kathy Rain.  This is a bumper episode, with our crack team of producers electing to give you the full discussion in one hit.  Our hosts talk about why they discuss the original version, not the director’s cut (short answer: the original was in the backlog) and what exactly a ‘director’s c...

Rik and Jo are back with a new series of Discussion: [Indie Game] (spoilers!)  Before the first episode proper, our hosts reconvene to talk about the first series, meeting Dave Gilbert, and the pre-podcast version of our discussions of indie games with spoilers.  The extensive scientific process behind the selection of games for Series 2 is also revealed, along with the full line-up of discussions...

Discussion: [Indie Game] (spoilers!) is back, slightly sooner than expected, for a very special episode.  Rik and Jo are talking all things Blackwell yet again, but this time with Mr Wadjet Eye himself, Dave Gilbert.  Dave kindly got in touch to say he’d been enjoying the first series and to offer up some time to chat.  And that chat includes topics such as 90s adventures, the early days of Wadjet...

We come to the end of the first series of Discussion: [Indie Game] (spoilers!), as our hosts discuss rabbi-based mystery The Shivah. It's another's Wadjet Eye adventure, with tangential links to Blackwell, first released in 2006 and updated in 2013. Rik and Jo will be back later in the year with more spoiler-tastic discussions. But for now, it's time to ponder the question, ‘What is the work of Go...

All good things must come to an end, as Rik and Jo reluctantly part ways with the Blackwell saga.  Not before a good discussion (with spoilers) takes place though, as we deal with gym guys, TV stars, and a looming crack in the sky. If you haven’t played these games before, then listening to this episode first would be a great way to ruin them for you. So don’t do that – at least not by accident –...

It’s another two-parter for our latest discussion, with the culmination of the Blackwell saga necessitating a half-time interlude for orange slices and tactical advice from the manager. What are we talking about? Adventure games, of course! And in this one we visit a very cold New York, some very creepy houses, and the manager’s office of an electronic retailer.  Get ready for discussion of some s...

In Part 2 of this discussion, we re-join Rosa and Joey as they threaten a temp agency manager with the (now defunct) power of the press and blackmail a horny music producer. All before a final battle with an extremely powerful force, known only as ‘Gavin’.  ***KLAXON!*** ***SPOILER KLAXON!*** This podcast features spoilers for The Blackwell Deception. Links: Follow us on Instagram:  ⁠https://www.i...

As we speed into the penultimate Blackwell game, matters are getting a little more complicated.  And by ‘more complicated’, we mean ‘longer’. In Part 1 of this discussion, Rik and Jo guide Rosa and Joey out of the Hudson River, take a trip to meet an old friend, and delve into the world of dodgy psychics.  Time to pretend that we didn’t leave university all that long ago, head to a terrible nightc...

Episode 3 of Discussion: [Indie Game] (spoilers!) sees Rik and Jo move seamlessly onto the third game of the Blackwell series, The Blackwell Convergence.  In this game, art and business mix, with deadly consequences: a comment on the nature of capitalism, perhaps? You’ll find no discussion of such weighty topics here. Our hosts do, however, talk through another instalment of Rosa and Joey’s spirit...

In today’s episode of Discussion: [Indie Game] (spoilers!), Rik and Jo move onto the second of Wadjet Eye’s Blackwell games, Blackwell Unbound. Apart from helping more lost spirits on their way - but this time, in the past - there’s discussion of assault with a woodwind instrument, why this game isn’t like The Wedding Singer, and a brief pitch for a spin-off title featuring Harriet Sherman. ***KLA...

Welcome to Discussion: [Indie Game] (spoilers!) In today’s episode, Rik and Jo discuss The Blackwell Legacy, from Wadjet Eye Games. Despite all the talk of clearing digital backlogs, it’s a game they’ve both played before. But they’ve never discussed it on a podcast, with spoilers… until now. In between helping protagonists Rosa and Joey seek out lost spirits, there’s talk of annoying doctors, the...

Welcome to Discussion: [Indie Game]: (spoilers!) In another bonus episode, Rik and Jo again steer clear of the promised discussion (with spoilers) and instead poke through tales of their gaming pasts. Gamers need credentials, after all, so get ready to peruse - and be impressed by - a combined CV that includes being scared by Magic Maths from Codemasters, cheating to get to the end of Wing Command...

Welcome to Discussion: [Indie Game] (spoilers!) In their very first episode, Rik and Jo confound their own format by not discussing a specific indie game with spoilers. Instead, the podcast’s opaque title is broken down: what do we mean by ‘spoilers’ these days? What is an ‘indie game’? And how do you have a ‘discussion?’   While our hosts’ shared gaming past involved not being very good at Sierra...

This is Discussion: [Indie Game] (spoilers!), a new podcast series in which hosts Rik and Jo select a short, narrative-based adventure game, go away and play it, then come back to discuss all the details (with spoilers).