The Short Game

Why do these squirrels behave so strangely? Use cameras and other monitoring equipment to track their movement, and uncover the secret hiding in Melmoth forest in this… animal surveillance adventure game? Nuts has a beautiful and impactful art style and a fun central mechanic, and hey, the squirrels are cute. You can play Nuts on Apple Arcade, as well as on PC and Nintendo Switch. The Short Game i...

Oh-oo-oh, we’re Talkin’ ’bout Bugsnax. We covered Young Horses previous game, Octodad: Dadliest Catch way back in 2014, and here in 2021 they’re back with a new and even weirder game. Bugsnax sends you on a mission to Snacktooth Island, a mysterious place populated by Bugsnax, which are half bug half snack creatures that cause weird, body horror effects in those lucky enough to eat them. This game...

Eliza is a near-future sci-fi story about the culture of tech, mental health, and the moral and ethical questions around the creation, use, and misuse of the eponymous AI counseling program, Eliza. It’s one of the most thought provoking stories we’ve ever seen in a video game. The Short Game is supported directly by our listeners on Patreon! Supporters at any level get access to our Discord, where...

We loved Carto, a friendly little puzzle adventure from developer Sunhead Games. It’s a breezy adventure that combines Carcassonne-style map tile laying puzzles with a cute adventure story full of sweet characters in a very strange world. It’s available on pretty much every platform under the sun. The Short Game is supported directly by our listeners on Patreon! Supporters at any level get access...

In this “Narrative Exploration Game” by Gareth Damian Martin you play as an AI that inhabits an advanced dive suit worn by scientist Ellery Vas as she explores a distant planet and encounters alien life for humanity’s first time. As an AI, you experience the world through a beautiful but cryptic user interface, and through Ellery’s description of the world around her. In Other Waters is available...

Transistor was The Short Game’s first Game of the Year , all the way back in 2014. This week we are re-releasing that episode, with some fresh Making us Happy in the intro. We’ll be back to our regular schedule next week!

Thanks for sticking with us in 2020. We can’t wait to see what next year brings. 00:03:20: Game of the Year 2020: Kentucky Route Zero 00:12:44: Shane’s Pick: Streets of Rage 4 00:20:37: Shane’s Bonus Pick: Grindstone 00:28:04: Nate’s Pick: Wide Ocean Big Jacket 00:31:20: Dirtbag of the Year: Mord 00:34:12: Raygan’s Pick: Blaseball 00:43:53: Laura’s Pick: Signs of the Sojourner 00:49:18: Non-2020 G...

Reigns developer Nerial worked with interactive fiction luminary Emily Short to adapt George Orwell’s classic allegory of the Russian revolution to video game form. But is it a farming simulator? Animal Farm is available for iOS and PC/Mac. A play-through is around 90 minutes to 2 hours, with many possible endings. The Short Game is supported directly by our listeners on Patreon! Supporters at any...

Abzu developer Giant Squid and publisher Annapurna Interactive released The Pathless last month, in a strange launch that positioned the game as one of the first “next-gen” indies while quietly also making it available on current gen consoles, PC, and even across all the devices that are part of Apple Arcade. It’s a departure from the Journey-derived style of Abzu but still brings some of that DNA...

Hades isn’t short! But we’re covering it anyway because we’re Supergiant Games superfans. We’re joined by friend of the show and Hades speedrunner Robert Hawks aka Rubella aka The Patron Saint of Bird Week, who helps us talk about the late game stuff we haven’t seen yet. Did we mention this game is long!? The Short Game is supported directly by our listeners on Patreon! Supporters at any level get...

We needed a low-prep episode for this holiday week, so we’re taking your questions! Thanks to our patrons and listeners who sent in their questions. We’d like to make this a recurring feature of the show, so if you have questions for the hosts, send them to us via Discord, Twitter, or the contact form on our website! (03:34) - Genres We Never Get To Talk About? (07:19) - What D&D Class Are You...

We’re continuing our coverage of IFComp 2020 with nine more games. We plan to return after the close of the comp to discuss the winners. Thanks for joining us for this year’s comp, and thanks to all the authors and to the IFTF for keeping the comp running! 00:02:01: Academic Pursuits (As Opposed To Regular Pursuits) by ruqiyah 00:09:03: Lore Distance Relationship by Naomi “Bez” Norbez 00:18:44: Ca...

The Reigns franchise from developer Nerial and publisher Devolver Digital leaves medieval-ish times and blasts off into rock-and-roll outer space in this Apple Arcade exclusive that shakes up more than just the setting. Links for this episode: Reigns: Beyond Taskmaster on YouTube Enthusiast! a podcast by Mark Bramhill Laura’s profile on Fallen London The Short Game is supported directly by our lis...

We’re continuing our coverage of IFComp 2020 with a new crop of games, and J.J. Guest, winner of IFComp 2018 for his game Alias: The Magpie, is joining us to discuss several of this year’s games! 00:00:00: Intro – Thank you to our guest, JJ Guest! 00:03:52: J. J. Guest on The Magpie Takes The Train 00:06:46: Mother Tongue by Nell Raban 00:12:44: Vampire Ltd by Alex Harby 00:21:53: Jay Schilling’s...

With Reigns: Beyond coming to Apple Arcade on November 6th it seemed an appropriate time to re-release our episode from 2016 covering the original Reigns. This unlikely series has spawned a sequel, a Game of Thrones spin off, and numerous imitators, and is now heading to space. Neat! We’ll be back next week with more coverage of IFComp.

World of Horror draws inspiration from point and click adventure games, retro computers, horror manga, H.P. Lovecraft, and even recent rogue-lite games, and it’s a unique synthesis. It’s also notably a game “made by one dude in MS Paint”. Anything that gives us an opportunity to talk about Junji Ito for nearly a quarter of the episode is OK by me. Happy Halloween! The Short Game is supported direc...

Morris Lupton is the recently deceased museum curator of the tiny British island of Shelmerston. He’s also the only one who can stop the volcano at the center of the island from erupting. Morris and his ghost-dog Sparky use their ghostly x-ray vision to uncover the mysteries of Shelmerston and save the town they loved in life. This was an odd one. I Am Dead is a beautifully crafted game, badly ser...

Our IFComp coverage continues, this time with a guest! Long time interactive fiction author and first place 2016 IFComp winner Robin Johnson joins us to talk about a fresh crop of games! 00:00:00: Intro – Thank you to our guest Robin Johnson! 00:05:08: A Rope of Chalk by Ryan Veeder 00:14:48: #VanLife by Victoria 00:20:56: Quest for the Sword of Justice by Damon L. Wakes 00:28:39: The Eleusinian M...

It’s fall, and that means IFComp is upon us again. This quick hit episode introduces our coverage of IFComp 2020, and covers the handful of games we were able to check out between the opening of the comp and our recording deadline. More to come soon! 00:11:44: Move On by Serhii Mozhaiskyi 00:17:46: Congee by Becci 00:24:05: Trusting My Mortal Enemy?! What a Disaster! by Storysinger Presents 00:31:...

Paratopic is a cursed Playstation 1 game. Or perhaps it’s an experiment in first person storytelling. Or perhaps it’s just creepy AF. This award winning game from 2018 just came to Nintendo Switch, and it’ll take you under an hour to play. Paratopic is available on PC (Steam and Itch.io) and on Nintendo Switch for $5.49. Expect it to take about 45 minutes to complete. The Short Game is supported d...

In the tradition of great arcade racing games like Daytona USA and OutRun2, Hotshot Racing brings fluid 60fps to Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and Steam. 8 The Short Game is supported directly by our listeners on Patreon! Supporters at any level get access to our Discord, where we discuss games, plan episodes, and talk about what we are playing in real time. You can also support us by writing a...

This week we’re talking about a pair of very short very wet games. Spitkiss is “a story of boundless love, told through precision platforming.” Navigate the challenges of polyamory by spitting loving loogies through spikey levels. Spitkiss is available for iOS, Android, and Steam. The Good Time Garden is a beautifully animated surreal adventure game about bodies. It’s available for free on Steam a...

What The Golf? for Apple Arcade, Nintendo Switch, and PC, is not a golf game. It is, however, a good excuse for a Raygan Rant. The Short Game is supported directly by our listeners on Patreon! Supporters at any level get access to our Discord, where we discuss games, plan episodes, and talk about what we are playing in real time. You can also support us by writing a review on Apple Podcasts! You c...

We are now participating in the cultural event of Blaseball. Recorded during the final game of the Season 4 Internet Series, we are joined by narrative designer, writer, and Hades Tigers fan Cat Manning . Cat wrote the best explainer article out there for Blaseball . We discuss the game itself, the community around the game (is there any difference between the two?) and what game design lessons ca...

Killer Queen Black is a team-based arcade strategy game based on the original arcade-only Killer Queen. Two teams of four players fight for the glory of their hive, with three ways to win. It’s available for Steam and Nintendo Switch. The Short Game is supported directly by our listeners on Patreon! Supporters at any level get access to our Discord, where we discuss games, plan episodes, and talk...