Save Your Game

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...

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...

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...

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 Europ...

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...

Matt and Roses are in a terrible struggle against the new villain of the podcast, but only a little bit. Mostly, we're talking about all the games we're looking forward to in 2025. There's a ton. Also, Roses started making salsa dishes and Matt played a deduction game about a very complicated family tree! Email us! mattandroses@gmail.com Games Mentioned: The Roottrees are Dead Obsession The Last D...

It’s our 2024 Wrap-Up episode! We talk about our BEST GAMES OF 2024, including some runners-up and some older games that we played this year and fell in love with. Also, about this intro, all we can say is we’re sorry. The views and opinions of Elmo do not represent those of your hosts, Matt Aukamp and PushingUpRoses. We do not endorse Elmo and we’re sorry for platforming him in this way. You can...

PushingUpRoses and Matt Aukamp welcome you into their trans-dimensional Christmas cabin to play a bunch of holiday-themed games with them and their amazing guests. We play a cat game with Crimson Diamond's Julia Minamata! We play an obnoxious boy game with Alasdair Beckett-King. We play a creepy depressing game with Francisco "Grundislav" Gonzalez. And wrap it all up by playing a demon game with P...

This week, we’re playing a game that made us so angry, we had to yell about it. And to do this, we brought in the internet’s best angry yeller: Pearlmania500. Comedian Alex Pearlman hangs out to tell us a bit about politic and then the 1994 “edutainment” game Wrath of the Gods. Matt talks a bit about Loco Motive, Roses talks a bit about Kings Quest 8, and we rank a few adventure games. Pearlmania5...

We’ve got a high-energy, Smirnoff Ice-fueled shorter episode here for you to kick off the month of December. There is some good news and bad news about the December schedule you won’t want to miss. Roses played a terrible mobile game out of spite. Matt played a rad PS1 throwback game. Then, we get some really good rolls on the Ranking segment. Games Mentioned: Virgin River the Mobile Game Crow Cou...

Happy American Thanksgiving, everyone! This is absolutely our yuckiest, most disturbing intro ever. And in the last episode, we talked about piss-proof toilet decals! And we are thankful you let us into your lives with this filth. This week Matt and Roses talk about two of the best Storiented™ mystery-puzzle games ever made, Case of the Golden Idol and Rise of the Golden Idol, by Color Gray Games....

So. We had already decided we were going to spend the entire episode ranking Adventure Games – many of which, we've never played – but then, we decided to start out by talking about piss for 15 minutes. Matt and Roses bring a bizarre, chaotic energy and a true EXPERTISE on Adventure Games to this ALL-RANKING episode! Plus, we talk about some games we've been playing and some newly released games!...

This episode was recorded on November 5th… Yeah. There’s a manic, ignoring-the-news energy to this episode where we take your listener questions! We also talk about Joe Richardson’s new game Death of the Reprobate and talk to our guest expert Joshua Cleveland of Adventure Game Hotspot about the requirements for “adventure game” status. Visit www.adventuregamehotspot.com Email us! mattandroses@gmai...

IT'S THE LAST EPISODE OF SPOOKY MONTH! We hope you all have a great Halloween. To help you one last time with your spooky mood, we talk about the SCARIEST GAMES WE'VE EVER PLAYED. WOOOOOO. And we talk about the new gothic point-and-click adventure game Prim. We love Deep Plots(TM). Email us! mattandroses@gmail.com Follow us on Instagram @SaveYourGamePodcast Games mentioned (some of them for only l...

TEETH UPDATE! For the teeth enthusiasts and teeth curious, we unveil a brand new chapter in the PushingUpRoses Teeth Saga ™. Roses discovered a detective game that Matt’s been telling her about since day one and Matt played some demos! Then, we dig deep into a world of horror, mystery, intrigue, and Japanese folklore in the Japanese ADV game Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo. We have A...

The first episode of the brand-new medical/dental advice podcast: Save Your Teeth! Call your Endodontist. Eat your allergy medicine. And don’t tell anyone we exist! The spookiest thing about this installment of spooky month is that we played these games at all. Matt and Roses review the Hugo’s House of Horror trilogy and a 1990’s 3D shoot ‘em up??? Also we talk about Phantom Fellows, some random 1...

Spooky Month takes a turn for the sad as we tackle a game about trauma, growing up, mental illness, and murder. Matt and Roses do a deep dive into Fran Bow. We also talk about some upcoming episodes and... a BOOK?! What are we, frickin nerds? Email us! mattandroses@gmail.com Games Mentioned: Phantom Fellows Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo The Ghost Stories of M.R. James (A BOOK, NOT A...

Guess what folks? The season of spookiness is upon us, and your spooky queen PushingUpRoses reins it in with Matt Aukamp, the real-life inspiration for Jack Skellington and their terrifying guest, Paul Korman – The Phantom Fellow himself. Paul talks to us about his newly-released game The Phantom Fellows (available on Steam   https://store.steampowered.com/app/1581490/The_Phantom_Fellows/ and...

Paris in the fall holds many memories for Matt and Roses. Memories of pushing their “woke” propaganda. Memories of pickles and olives. Before we do our DEEP DIVE into the classic GRAND ADVENTURE from Revolution Software, Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars, we talk about our new Stardew-like obsession with Fields of Mistria. Who is your new romance? Marsh? Celine? Well don’t touch!! Because they’...

Welcome in! PushingUpRoses and Matt Aukamp take your recommendations seriously! And they prove it by playing four of them and reviewing them in this episode: There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension, The Journey Down, Voodoo Detective, and Life is Strange. We also bring back some SPECIAL GUESTS for our RANKING EVERY ADVENTURE GAME segment. Email Us! mattandroses@gmail.com Games Mentioned: Muppets: Chaos...

We're not here to fuck spiders, we're here to talk about Adventure Games with our brilliant and charming friends Dani and Bill from Escape This Podcast and the upcoming Rise of the Golden Idol! We talk about nostalgia and the way it colors – or does not color – our views of games, and just goof the hell around. So, I guess we were here to fuck spiders, after all. Find Escape This Podcast and Solve...

This week we talk about a spooky cozy casual mystery plant game called Strange Horticulture that rules. Also, Matt raves about Fallout: New Vegas, Roses has a stylish mystery game to talk about and we rank a bunch of adventure games, ridiculously. Email us!  mattandroses@gmail.com Games Mentioned: A Case of Mistrust Fallout: New Vegas Zelda: Breath of the Wild Strange Horticulture Botany Mano...

PushingUpRoses and Matt Aukamp talk about dialogue trees in adventure games; What makes them good? What makes them bad? Do you skip them? Matt says some stuff that's likely to get him cancelled by Sierra-heads. Plus, PlayDate with Matt and RANKING EVERY ADVENTURE GAME EVER. We don't know. Whatever makes sense. Email us! mattandroses@gmail.com Games Mentioned: The Crimson Diamond King’s Quest IV Fa...

Stay hydrated, everyone! No matter the cost.  Matt and Roses talk about their favorite non-adventure games, plus PlayDate with Matt!, ranking every adventure game ever, and other silliness. Matt also pitches a weird game idea he had about Machiavelli and he's sorry (but also don't steal it!) Email us! mattandroses@gmail.com Games Mentioned: The Crimson Diamond Lamplight City ToeJam & Earl...

Hey everyone, we're so sorry about the two-week break, but we're back with ENERGY! Matt has two new segments to present. One that's very normal, and one that's utterly bizarre. Roses went to England and played some arcade games. Matt went to the Adventure Game Fan Fair and we talk about a bunch of demos. The rest, you're just gonna have to hear for yourself. Email us! mattandroses@gmail.com Games...