January 28, 2026 • 51 mins
Anney and Samantha give an update on cozy gaming, and give reviews of three games they played for this episode (one new one, a Samantha recommendation and an Anney recommendation).
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Anny and Smantha and welcome to stuff
I never told you production of My Heart Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
And welcome to well this kind of fun episode. I
want to say, kind of fun. We've been planning on
doing another gaming episode for a minute now and I'm like,
you know what, let's do this. So here we are.
I am going to put a date on this because
we do have so many of these episodes, and I'm
sure we're going to continue to talk about it because
it's something that we both have interest in as well
(00:39):
as it's a growing industry that we want to keep
a watch on, especially when it comes to involving marginalized people.
So today is as of the recording January twenty seventh,
twenty twenty six. It'll be released on January twenty eighth,
twenty twenty six. That turnaround, Yeah, look, she's the best
we left. So in this one, we decided to review
(01:03):
at least so three. Picked out three games, one that
I have played and recommended, one that Aie has played
and recommended, and one that is new to both of us,
so that we were going to kind of break down
what we chose and how we liked them and what
we think about these games and then just to have
a con of conversation about how these games made us
feel or didn't make us feel. I don't know. But
(01:26):
before we get into all of that, I wanted to
take a minute about the state of cozy games and
gaming today and what it looks like if anything's changed again.
I think we started really talking about this. Was that
pre COVID or post COVID or mid COVID pandemic closed down.
I don't know how you say that.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I think it was like early COVID. I think that's
when we started to do it. Yeah, because I you know,
I've always been a gamer, but I feel like that's
when you started.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
I was picking up things because I'm like, I am bored.
I think it was a little past COVID for me
because Animal Crossing was not on my radar, even though
it was huge.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Yeah, it came out right where like shut down was happening.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
I remember you were getting like fan requests, like all
of our listeners like any you have to play this,
you have to play this, and they're like Samantha, you exist,
and then I'm like I kind of like it. But
all that to say, I think this journey has been
coming over a round. So we've been at least we'll
say five years for as a smnteezy interest, meaning we're
(02:24):
talking about it because you've been talking about that gaming beforehand,
because we talked about the doxing and as as such,
but specifically to cozy gaming and gaming specifically aimed at
women more so than not. Again, cozy games have been
marketed towards women more than men, but that doesn't mean
(02:45):
much because everybody enjoys animal crossing, am I right?
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah, And you can see the episode we did on
tech Stuff with Jonathan, Yes, where we talked about cozy gaming,
but no, they're just nice and there's a lot a
variety within the genre. So yes, even though it has
been marketed traditionally towards women, I think that pretty much
everybody has a cozy game that they could go to. Well.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
So since the growing popularity of cozy games, there have been,
you know it, some concerns, especially recently and what is
happening with the new games being released. One of the
conversations we had is the fact that cozy games have
really allowed for more diversity in the gaming community. That's
not one of the concerns, by the way, that's not
(03:33):
a concern, that's yays happening. Maybe things will change, and
different reports show an increase of women or non body
of folks being involved in the world of gaming, everything
from actually creating and developing, to reviewing and critiquing, to
playing and competing within these worlds, like there are some
big names coming out all of a sudden, like we're
(03:54):
excited to see it that are of the marginalized community. Now,
the gaming worlds outside of the Cozy games are still
mainly made up of men, with a lot of toxic
gatekeeping is still happening. It still exists, a lot of
dick pics, doxing, a lot of that has happened, but
the gozy games have helped change that a bit. So
(04:14):
in the GDC survey they report an increase of women
within the industry and this is specifically written in Women
in Games dot Com, so they write the latest GDC
State of the Industry report has revealed that twenty five
percent of the game's workforce are women, compared to twenty
three percent reported in last year's survey. So, you know,
two percent, we'll take it. It's not great, but wins
(04:37):
agains gros. So Meanwhile, they say six percent of the
three thousand developers who responded to the survey identified as
non binary. Men are still dominating the sector at sixty
six percent. However, as highlighted by the authors of the report,
that figure was seventy five percent in twenty twenty. Again,
all right, nice change, meaning that we've seen a nine
(04:59):
point change over the past five years. Elsewhere, the research
has aveuiled that LGBTQ plus representation has also increased, up
from twenty one percent to in twenty twenty four to
twenty four percent of this year. So again it's not huge,
but it's still progressed. So we're gonna take our wins
(05:19):
where we can, y'all. So we're going to and we're
gonna cross our fingers. It's gonna go upward, right right.
So some numbers that I saw while researching include these
from gnmnews dot com. Gender diversity in the game industry
has been a notable shift over the past few years.
Women and non buying developers now make up thirty two
(05:41):
percent of game developers, compared to twenty nine percent last
year and twenty four percent and twenty twenty two. Again,
men make up two thirds. We saw this and the
increase of diversity in gaming is positive as well. Quote
the industry has also seen a change in racial and
ethnic diversity in the game development community since last year,
though it's a little more difficult to quantify as many
(06:04):
of these changes are too small to draw conclusions. According
to the survey done by GDC, sixteen percent of developers
are East, South or Southeast Asian, one tenth are Hispanic,
Latino or of Spanish origin, and three percent are Black,
African or Caribbean. The combined increases did manifest in a
year over year decrease in the number of respondents identifying
(06:28):
as white art Caucasian, going from sixty four percent in
twenty twenty four to fifty nine percent today. So of
course that's a lot of numbers saying that, yes, there's
small changes happening, we are seeing better looks. It did
talk about EDI or DEI essentially being placed in a
(06:48):
lot of these companies, but we know we have regressed,
and these numbers come from twenty twenty four, so that
was before this awful administration occurred. Women of Silence moving on,
but again, so with the continued increase of women in
non byfolk in the industry, it is great, but slow,
(07:09):
very slow, very very slow. Again, a win is a win,
is a win is a win, especially when we see
how many games are coming now, So that means that
maybe even though we're seeing in percentage, the actual numbers
are higher than you would think. So that is good
(07:31):
to note because we see new companies popping up, we
see new developers popping up, we see new like companies
popping up, so you know, we're gon we're gonna be
really optimistic with that one. And again, it isn't surprising
to know that the cozy gaming industry has grown significantly
and not all of that is positive, like we said,
uh So, in twenty twenty four, one YouTuber ducky Games
(07:53):
states that the industry made around nine hundred and seventy
three million dollars, so it's getting close to a billion
and cozy games alone, I'm guessing in the next year
or so we're gonna hit the They're gonna hit that
billion dollar mark for sure. And she has noted that
the large quantity does not equate to quality. And again
(08:16):
she's not the only one to see this, and if
you go watch her videos, she's got a lot of
good stuff on gaming she I think, says she's not
necessarily a cozy gamer herself, like she loves gaming in general,
but this is what she's seen and doesn't love the
cozy gaming industry. Again, this goes back to the like
back and forth of like who's a gamer or who's not.
But she's not necessarily talking about all of that, but
(08:38):
is talking about again the quality that is being split
out right now and who is profiting off of it.
And I think that's always something that we should look at,
no matter what industry. Right So, the indie Game Culture
site talks a bit about this as well. They say
people value authentic and honest content and coverage, something that
(08:59):
is becoming harder and harder to find in mainstream gaming media.
And they continue, I know firsthand that plenty of the
big sites we consume now run on semi and full
blown AI rider models, and I know that the content
they produce is all about volume rather than quality, as
a system where they burn out contributors and cast them
aside like the used napkin, replacing them with a new
(09:22):
bump in the seat when they are of no further use.
But that's not what I want to point the finger
at today. I want to point the finger at cozy
gaming as a genre and why this niche pocket of
gaming is making it so much easier for websites to
trick consumers into believing that cute equates to quality. And
that's a complaint from many of the cozy game content creators.
(09:44):
So it's not just gamers that are talking about this,
it's those who would consider themselves in the cozy game niche.
They say that too. I've seen several complaints about that
big companies are trying to trick consumers with style, but
again they have no sub instances. So back to that
indiegameculture dot com article, they say, what I'm saying here
(10:04):
is that you are being sold marketing. If a game
looks cute and cozy is easier to sell, and when
you discover it was all style over substance, you will
end up feeling cheated. And that's not a mistake, it's
a pattern. And some argue that the term is what's
causing a bit of chaos within the industry. So from
(10:26):
her Cozygaming dot Com they write, the problem with cozy
game is the blanket use of the term cozy to
sell any game. A developer reached out to me via
email before Christmas to ask my opinion on whether or
not I felt their new game was cozy enough. I
gave my opinion and never heard from them again. I
feel like developers are slapping cozy in their titles or
(10:46):
descriptions of their game simply debate cozy gamers, and they
aren't the only ones arguing this. I think the question
is what are we or what are people labeling as
cozy games? Is it cozy or is it just that
this term is subjective, Like different people have different ways
(11:07):
of being cozy, and he likes to be sad eternally
that makes her cozy. That makes me want to throw ones.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
That's why I'm very I'm excited to talk about our
uh our Selections service because I think it showcases something
it does.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
It does by the way it does, but also like
there's a new genre like cozy horror games, cozy dark games.
We had the conversation because I said, I don't think
Zelda Breath of the Wild is cozy, and many people do.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Yeah. Well, and this is also we talked about this
in that episode with Jonathan. But there's also cozy games
and comfort games. And I would say last of us
is a comfort game. Yes, I would never ever ever
say it's a cozy game. That's a different thing.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
That's a different thing. And that's kind of the back
and forth, like who's using this term? Why are you
using this term? This isn't cozy, this is comfort like
this is a different Lyrically later and again Duckie Games.
Actually I had talked about that in her videos. She
was like, I have comfort games that I know are
not cozy like type of conversation. But because of this,
(12:14):
they really are putting this as a market. Again, one
thing can be certain in the world of capitalism, big
companies will try to take advantage of any profit margin,
seeking quick content for quick bucks. So again that was
my statement. We know this in capitalism point blank. If
they can make money off of women and marginalized communities,
(12:38):
they're gonna because the people who are buying the most
typically are the women of the family. And now that
women have hopped on board and be like, oh this
is made for me, and not feeling as ostracized as
if they were as they were in other games, finding
this community has become a new well obviously a big market.
(13:02):
They're butt hit billion dollars in profits.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Yeah, well, and we have talked about this a lot,
and it's one of the things that frustrates me is
that women have been left out of the what we
call console gaming market for a long time and or
just been kicked out or been harassed out or whatever
it is, and it's not been a safe space. And
(13:30):
so it it frustrates me and it makes me sad
because cozy games are usually kind of relaxing, nice pretty
like music. The music is nice, the graphics are nice
and kind of simple with the controls, and they're they're
(13:54):
really lovely and I don't want to like make them
sound lesser at all. But it makes me mad because
it's clear that women do like games, right, and so
we've kind of put them in this will have your
cozy game then, right, Which if that's all you want,
that's that's perfectly fine, there's nothing wrong with that. But
I do think like it's clear that we've kind of
(14:17):
been like, okay, they.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Can relegate it to the space, yes.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
And now that they're like, oh, we can make money.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Right, And that's a bigger conversation is also, are you
trying to segregate women from other games essentially by creating
this category and not understanding the bigger picture of what
this could be again, like introducing Breath of the Wild
as a game option. Because you like this game, you
(14:46):
like these things, so why don't you try this type
of conversation? And I think it's a bigger point of
seeing that, like, oh, is that just cashing in on
bad games that are similar to other games? Again, like
you can get inspirations from other game and if it's good, great,
you know, like more power to you. You've made a
better version or just as good version. And people have
(15:08):
been wanting that, like I'm still waiting for some update
to Snuffkins. Why won't give me that? And is that's
one of the most simple games that you're ever gonna have.
But I loved the simplicity of it. I love the
tale of it, and I love the legend behind it.
It goes way back in the storytelling. So stuff like
that like made me very happy. It's very simplistic. There
(15:31):
are these levels of conversations that could be had of
like good games versus And I will say so each
of the sites that I quoted or used, they have
a lot of reviews and they do talk about make
sure you go to reputable people who do good reviews
so that you don't waste your money and they can
(15:52):
tell you first hand, because even they are saying, and
many people have said, even the headlines that we see
like the big grabs and like, oh you need to
these games are coming up, we're so excited can be
bought and are oftentimes bought, and so not all of
them are great. Just because they're on a list does
not make them an actual quality game. And to make
(16:13):
sure to wait it out unless it's something that you
already invested in, because I love kickstarters for that, because
oftentimes that does hopefully mean the likelihood of it being
better because people see the interests so they want to
grow on that. But allowing for reviewers to come in
and have talk to give you true, honest reviews and
(16:34):
be able to investigate and invest in a good game,
or do like me and wait till Anie plays it
and she tells you to pay play that game.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
I try, I mean I try to think of what
you would like.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Yeah, I think you do the job with that. So
with all of that, the one thing that has uppealed
to consumers like us are the indie creators and the
studios who are doing good quality work for better experiences.
(17:11):
So we're going to talk about a few of them.
I think we picked out some good ones. I don't
know that. I don't know if you think this any
but I think we did a good job. And we're
going to take some time to review three and let
you know our experiences thus far. Yes, and we're going
to start off with the one that was new to
us game like I just kind of reviewed it. It
(17:32):
is supposedly from an indie creator, women led or at
least women involved game called tavern Talk, So go ahead
and we put this in caveat. It is like Coffee Talk,
which we loved. You know this we did part one
and two because we really really enjoyed this level of
storytelling making simple coffees, which, by the way, in the
(17:52):
second one, I got stumped. I was like, I don't
know what you want. I don't know what you want.
I'm doing this wrong. So I did pause on that one,
but we'll get back to it. But tavern Talk is
very similar to that. And sometimes these games don't have
their own sites or don't update their sites well, so
we have to go to other people and back to
the game the indie game reviewer dot com. They wrote
(18:15):
this about Tavern Talk. Tavern Talk a self described a
cozy visual novel about running a tavern in a D
and D inspired fantasy where you serve drinks to high
fantasy adventures. It goes on as a seemingly nameless innkeeper
in the land of Hysteria. Your job is anything but simple.
Between posting up quests on the local board and trying
(18:38):
to pry drink orders out of chatty adventurers, everyone comes
to talk about their problems. Thankfully you are the patient
sort I hope. Okay, any I'm gonna tell you honestly,
it took me thirty minutes with the break in between
because I got frustrated. Oh no, trying to figure out
(18:58):
how to do the drinks is like, what the hell
is this? I even looked it up on like one
of those like how do you make drinks?
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Oh no?
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Because I was Yes, you have simple, simple simpletons like
myself who are like what this doesn't make sense? Am
I supposed to memorize what these are? You are not
you do like I had troubles? Okay, it it took
me a minute. It took me a minute. Once I
(19:31):
figured it out. Oh okay, okay, I got it. I'm there,
I get it. I get it. I finally jumped in,
and I have not gone far because I will say
your game distracted me pretty hardcore. So but I've gotten
into a few days. I'm like, okay, and thus far
I do like it. What what are your thoughts on
(19:51):
this game? Did you struggle? I know you didn't, but
you know whatever, I did a little.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
I So what I really like about this game obviously
the D and D yees component.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
This is where you and I go differentcause I have
no idea. I know the just of it, but I'm like,
I don't know if any of these significants. I feel
like they have all these significance because they've already had
inside Jos and I'm like, I don't know what that means.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Yeah, So this is why I think I was able
to probably get over my struggles more quickly, is that
it has the drinks are like charisma based or dexterity
based or constitution based, which is all that's all D
and D those are your stats?
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Is that the diceing?
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Okay? Yeah, so like basically your character has high charisma,
which means you have a much better likelihood of charming
someone into doing something, or you have high dexterity, which
means you're much stealthier things like that, So they usually
ask for like I want to drink with high dexterity
(20:51):
or something, or they'll even let you choose. Sometimes they're
like either this or this. So I think because of that,
the way you make the drinks, it has all of
the traits kind of around a circle and you're trying
to make sort of a shape. And I was able
to be like, they want some dexterity here, this is here,
this is ever here. So I think my Dungeons and
(21:13):
Dragons knowledge really came in came in clutch. Also, I
did really like I've been nostalgic and missing Dungeons and
Dragons lately. My group, all of us are busy, we've played,
we haven't played in years, but I got asked to
DM a new campaign, so I'm feeling like all of
(21:36):
these memories are coming back. And I was also coaching
a new DM recently and DM being Dungeon Master, and
so it was nice playing this. But it's a very
common Dungeons and Dragons trope to have the bulletin board
to have the like quest on a bulletin board and
(21:57):
people can look at them. But they were the first
time I was a DM, I had this, I had
I made like all of these flyers, and of course
the one they picked up was the silliest one I made,
which was about Old Blumpy who was a fortune teller.
And they were like, you know, the wolves are killing
everybody over here and all of these other more important things.
(22:18):
They're like, let's go see the fortune teller. But so
I really appreciated that because there's an element of sort
of a bulletin board of as signing quest and trying
to figure out these characters and what they need as
being the innkeeper.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
So the innkeeper's the DM. Is that what we're saying, okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
I would say that there at least you're trying to
figure out, Oh I should give them this quest and
then they should do it with charisma, which is what
I did for the first one.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Oh okay. So yeah, so obviously those went over my head.
I was just trying to figure out what I was
doing because I did not understand what these were. I
understood they were potions that I got, so my navigating
it was a little more difficult because I'm also coming
from like Coffee Talk, which was very like these are ingredients,
(23:10):
I know, macha, sugar, honey great, So like this was
a little bit of a term. But I did like
the storytelling, the art, and the reminiscence to Coffee Talk
was really nice. That's why all the characters are fun. Yeah,
I'm enjoying that. Rearranging the boards, putting them in files.
That was fun. That's a new thing to add.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Yeah, it's very beautiful and it is funny because you
do have these characters in usually in Dungeons and Dragons,
and I always am embarrassed. The first one I played
was such a stereotype of like the person who never
talks to anybody, and they're so frustrating, Like how do
you play with a character that never talks to anybody?
(23:54):
And there's a character like that in this game? And
I was like, I know you, I knew you.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
I was you. Oh that's funny. Well how far did
you get into the game?
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Are you? I got to the second I've assigned two quests.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Okay, yes, I'm not. I've gotten all some several quests together,
like the I have like four quests up there, but
I've only assigned one and that was a whole back
and forth.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
That was the whole back. Yeah, that was well.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Did you not have this back and forth? It was like, yes,
are you going to? Do you want to? You sure
you want to? You kind of want to? What do
you what type of conversation.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Well, that's the one where you choose between charisma and dexterity, right,
And I said charisma. I think she's going to be
better with charisma for thinking of the same.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Yeah, I did too. We'll see what happens. But yeah,
so I'm I'm about the same. I think you're a
little farther ahead of me. Like I said, the frustrated
should have had me and I was like, no, that's
what's happening. No, but I do enjoy it thus far.
Now that I've got gained, I was like, okay, okay,
now gain knowledge. So I'm guessing I'm going to learn
some things about D and D maybe through this game.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Yeah. Honestly, I think that a lot of stuff as
complicated as D and D is, I think a lot
of it is pretty like oh yeah, if you have
a high dexterity, you can sneak around more. I don't know,
but yes, I think you will learn.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
More well, and this game has already expanded. There is
downloadable content. I did buy the package, and I think
there's a secondary one coming through. So it's it's building,
like it has become successful enough that it is building
is entirety, and I think there's a lot more as
we know when D and D can go forever. So yes,
we'll see, I guess with that, mm hmmm, we'll see.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
There's a twist with thee.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
The way it sounds to me that there is. Yes,
the way they're setting this up, especially with like the
clues and the previews and like the details of like
seemingly simple.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
But this could be another instance where we've just watched
too many Yeah, too many.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Horror figured out the murder mystery was not that complicated. Yeah,
moving on, So we'll see, we'll see, we'll come back
and report, But thus far, I do recommend. I think
I should have put this at the very beginning. None
of these are sponsors. Yeah, I want if you want
to talk to us about sponsors, just here. We enjoyed
these things, so come at us bro. And then the
second game was my recommendation and actually a Jonathan recommendation.
(26:29):
We did talk about this earlier, and that is Unpacking,
which is a big game. This has won all of
the awards. It is on top of every list that
could be created. It is women created, women created. It
is very fun, nostalgic.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
And this is from unpackinggame dot com. They write Unpacking
is a game about the familiar experience of pulling possessions
out of boxes and fitting them into a new home.
Part block fitting, puzzle, part home decoration. You're invited to
create a satisfying living space while learning clues about the
life you're unpacking. Over the course of eight house moves,
(27:06):
you're given a chance to experience a sense of intimacy
with a character you never see in a story you're
never told. And that took me a minute to figure
it out. I'm like, oh, this is her childhood home.
Oh this is our high school. Oh this is our
college times. Oh this is our first relationship. Like there
are so many things that you see that you slowly unpack,
(27:27):
and you slowly see I will say I did not finish.
I have not finished this game. I'm slowly working on it.
My partner's sister, like we sent this this game up,
specifically like this switch up and for him and his
family when I wasn't with them, and she played it
and loved it, and I was like, yeah, she went
through it very quickly apparently, and she finished it and
(27:50):
she was like, oh my god, this is so great.
So I'm like, okay, okay, I love it. But I
think it was very It is when I first started
playing it. It is very satisfying, and there's thing very like.
This is to me, the epitome of cozy. It's kind
of like how Animal Crossing became a beginning cozy as well.
It was part of the epitome of the packaging of
(28:11):
cozy gaming because it is puzzle solving but simple, and
the music is like appeasing and relaxing. That's my opinion though.
But Annie, this was your first time play through. What
was your thoughts? How far did you get through it?
Tell me everything?
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Okay. First of all, I have to say we dodged
a bullet, Samantha, because I almost downloaded the game called
Unboxing Oh No, and it was very poorly reviewed, and
I was like, surely this is not the games that
was talking about. So I found I was like, this
(28:51):
one must be the one. Yeah, yeah, you played the
right one. But it was a close call. You know before,
I've made this mistake on this podcast. Uh No, I
really enjoyed it. It was It's very funny to me
because I think this brings us to the crux of
our different games. We like. I really enjoyed it, But
(29:13):
it made me feel like I needed to clean up,
clean up my apartment.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
I was satisfied with that. I'm like, I'm done, I clean.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
I felt like I needed I was like, well, I
should go, and.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
It was judging you for not doing it to your
own place.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
I liked that you were figuring out this life of
this character through what you were unpacking. I was a
bit specific about where I would put things. Again, I
think I wasn't relaxing as much as I should. I
was like, well, space wise, you.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Said no, we should go here. Why are you not
let me? I did do that a couple of times,
like why is it? Why can't I put it here?
Speaker 1 (29:54):
I want to hear Yeah, like if you have a
desk and I can't fit all of the computers stuff
on the desk, you need a bigger desk. But yeah, No,
I really did enjoy it. I thought it was fun
and it was really easy, like it was a very
simple thing to pick up, and it was soothing and
(30:17):
it was satisfying when the blocks would close up, like you.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Did this, nicely done, nicely done. I feel like now.
And then they would throw things in there. They're like, yeah,
where'd that come from?
Speaker 1 (30:31):
There were some things I couldn't even tell what they were.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, it's definitely like so we know,
like the like almost pixelated animations is kind of associated
with cozy gaming as well. It's the throwback level of
gaming that we know. But like it is it was like, uh,
what is that?
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Is that a toy?
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Or is that a what is it?
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Is that a toilet bush? There are a bunch of
like small, little like spiral looking things.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
I was like, where does this go? It's very tiny.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Yeah, I just put them all on the shelf and
it's like it seemed to belong together, so that's where
they go.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
I did really like when you figured out what something was,
like a stuffed animal, but it went to different places
as you grew up.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
I was like, oh, yeah, it does have a lot
of moments like that where you feel kind of almost
somehow nostalgic for yourself. I have the animal that's gone
here or whatever it.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
Is, like it saved with me, but it's no longer
in this prime spot. Oh yeah, yeah, I'm fine, Everything's fine, everything. Yeah, overall,
how far did you get? How long did you get
this one?
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Four rooms? Okay, I've done.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Four so as opposed to like open world like, this
does have like a fine finality to it. So I'm
sure for you that's but nice.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Yes for listeners who don't know, open world games stress out.
The cozy games can stress me out, but open world
games are like homework to me, and I'm freaking.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Out finish at all?
Speaker 1 (32:10):
Oh my god, I never I got it. Tomorrow's the
school day and I haven't finished all of these things.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
Yeah, but we know this one has I'm surprised, and
I could be wrong because I haven't looked it up
because we know things like Animal Crossing actually just supposedly
got free content for a new version. I couldn't find it.
I only saw that for Nintendo's switch too, which is
gonna make me very sad because I'm not buying a
(32:36):
new switch. I ain't got money like that. No, we're
not buying new things anymore people. But I wonder if Unpacking,
I'm not gonna lie I didn't research this bart has
new updates to it because it was such a successful game. Yeah,
I feel that's when I imagine they're not going to
(32:58):
grow it.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Again for it nothing on here is a sponsor.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
I played Unpacking on my Steam deck, and I feel
like when when I was downloading it, there was another
version or something else as long. I just don't get
the basic the basic one.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
Okay. The newest thing I see is they have merch.
They have merch, which we didn't talk about that earlier,
but yeah, that's a big conversation too, like as a
money maker as well, that they use merch, knowing that
if it's cute enough and it can be merchandised, you
might have a great concept. Especially you have McDonald's deals
because like Animal Crossing got huge in March World and
(33:45):
crossovers and collaboration. So uh. But I don't see anything
new for them outside of the being on phone games.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Just been patches sometimes Steamjeck does that.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Yeah, interesting, interesting, interesting. Well I'm glad you enjoyed it.
You have to let me know we'll come back when
we both finish it. I feel like I got to
finish it too, so we will come back. I think
I'm in a room like six or seven. I'm kind
of sad about it ending, so I kind of paused. Yeah,
I did that with like TV series too, like it's
gonna be ending. I can't I can't watch the end.
That means it's so over. So that's just my own thing.
(34:37):
So coming to our final game, it is Anie's choice.
You want to talk about that, Anie, Yes.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
This is a game that I absolutely love. I have
talked about it before on this show, back when I
had a brief lived idea that I would do like
game reviews during the pandemic. It was the first one
I reviewed. It is oxen Free. I love this game.
It was a recommendation from my brother, my little brother,
(35:07):
and I'm so glad that I took him up on
it because a lot of times people are like, you
should play this, and I'm like, I will, and then
I downloaded it and I never do, but I'm very
glad I did. So. This is from Night School Studio
dot com about it. Oxen Free is a supernatural thriller
about a group of friends who unwittingly open a ghostly rift.
(35:28):
Play as Alex, a bright, rebellious teenager who brings her
new stepbrother Jonas, to an overnight party on an old
military island. The night takes a terrifying turn when you
unwittingly open a ghostly gatespond from the island's cryptic past.
How you deal with these events, your peers, and the
ominous creatures you've unleashed is up to you. You determine
(35:51):
every aspect of Alex's story while exploring Edward's Island, uncovering
the bass dark secret, and changing the course of your
friends lives. So, first of all, this is what I'm
talking about when I think it's very funny, the differences
in our Because I would call this a cozy game.
(36:12):
I think a lot of people would not.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Oh, I would definitely call it a cozy game.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
I think it is. I think this is the closest
of a game that I absolutely adore. That is a
cozy game, But I think some people might not think so.
But it is a very like atmospheric, kind of eighties
the Goonies, Stranger Things type vibe. But it's mostly just
(36:41):
there are these very brightly colored text bubbles that you
can choose for your character Alex to say to her friends,
and through that you get points with certain characters. It's
very kind of like way Haven almost where.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
You're you're change your adventure type of game.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Yeah, yeah, and you mostly outside of that, you just
kind of walk around and explore, and it does. It's
very It does have its creepy moments. It's got time travel,
which I love, and when you based on what happens
when you get to the end, the story can change
(37:23):
the second time you play it, and there is a
sequel and the story can change in that based on
what you did in the first one. So I love it.
I have played it. I was looking at it when
I suggested it to you because I was like, Okay,
this one is one I can just talk about. I
don't need to replay it, even though I desperately want
to now, and I've played it for fifteen hours. It's
(37:45):
not that long of a game.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Noh. So I was when I first started this game, Annie,
So it was like, hey, heads up. The dialogue boxes
go quickly, and you're right like I thought at first.
I was like, I'm pretty fast reader, Like I'm pretty
quick to make decisions that I'm but sometimes it would
just disappear, like you look away for a second, it
is gone. I was like, oh, something was done. I
don't know what just happened. But I loved this game, Nnie,
(38:11):
like you you got who knows? Because I was like,
what is this? I actually jumped a few times in
the game, and I was playing it on the switch
when I first played, so instead of because you can
connect this to your TV, and I have a very
giant TV all with surround zund so you could get
all the effects if you want it, which I did.
As I'm going through my second run through, I haven't
(38:31):
finished it, but I'm going through my second run through.
That's which I liked it. I've got very into this
game of like what is happening? What is this game?
They're in this because you did tell me, hey, you
also your choices will affect everything, and I'm like, okay, cool, cool,
cool cool cool. So in that first run I was like,
all right, I figured out I am still scared to
(38:53):
be judged even in games, like I can't make mean
comments or mean decisions even in games.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
I'm the same Samantha. It's very hard for me to
do it.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
I was like, I don't like this, to the point
that when I was trying to do the second one,
I was like, I'm want to do the opposite. I
still couldn't do the opposite. I didn't realize I was
picking some of the same choices.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
Yes, no, I am absolutely the same. But I don't
know if this ever happened to you. But if you don't,
I should have said this when I warned you. But
if you don't choose a text bubble, then it just
gives you the negative, the most negative response. So it's
not like, I guess it is bad, but you don't
have to choose a text bubble. Not choosing a text
(39:40):
bubble actually is a choice.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
Is a choice.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
Okay, that's unfair.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
Well, I've also discovered that you can't go like in
the second run through, because again you open a gate
and you don't realize. I try to see if I
can refuse to do it. I just wanted to see
if you cannot. There's several they kill you out because
I try to go to the wrong way. They're like, you
can't go that way. We have to do this thing first.
I'm like, oh, okay. My partner came in while I
(40:06):
was part playing it. He's like, oh, there's dialogue, there's
actual texts, because like you you see that and like
gave the Last of Us and all that, but not
in many cozy games, like you don't see that level
of acting voice acting. So he was actually kind of shocked.
I will say, this is a Netflix studio, which threw
(40:27):
me off.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
It was when it was okay, I didn't think.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
So, I didn't think I doubt it. It was it
was too.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
Quick, like it was an indie game first, but then
it was very successful and then Netflix now yeah, now
you can see it on Netflix, and it always blows
my mind.
Speaker 2 (40:44):
I'm like, yeah, shrew me off. I was like, she
puts a Netflix game. That's interesting. But I assumed in
my head. I was like, I bet they bought it
out because that's what Netflix does. Uh not that whatever,
whatever it is, what it is. But as you heard
in the beginning of our episodes, there are some eyebrow
raising when it comes to corporation. Yeah, anyways with that,
(41:05):
but this game was thoroughly enjoyable, very kind of sad
that I was like, oh God, this subtext is really
like kind of heartbreaking. I don't I'm I'm also very
as you can tell when we were talking about simplistic
things and plots and then we go bigger and lay no,
there is conspiracy theories. This isn't even worse in my mind,
(41:26):
this is worse. Like when I left, it seemed like
a happy ending and I was like, I don't know,
I don't think it was. There's so many questions to this,
but it was very enjoyable. The mystery was interesting. It
was easy play, like I was able to catch onto
this way faster than Tavern talk.
Speaker 1 (41:46):
I'm so glad because I haven't played this in like
I think six years. Yeah, I love it. But when
we were discussing this, I kept running into I do
not want to fake a game. Samantha will late. I
want to she might enjoy it. No, it's fine, but
I was like, I remember being pretty easy to pick up.
Speaker 3 (42:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
Easy. It's an easy, simple gameplay, but very intriguing storyline.
You get to make choices, you have to figure things out.
It was easy on my easy year with my switch
because I was able to do touch screen first, because
some of them remote stuff, even though they are very
good and giving you specific instructions to do this use
(42:31):
this if you're if it looks like you're stalling, like
if you're confused, it knowes that. So when I played
it on the TV, which I am now in my
second run through, which is really fascinating to do now
because now I know what's going on a little bit,
so but doing it on the bigger screen, I very
much enjoy this, just like Unpacking. Actually, the composers for
(42:52):
this are award winning composers, the same as it was
for Unpacking. They were award winning BAFTA winning composers, so
they made sure they did this purposely. They put quality
content and everything in music and dialogue and acting, so
in artwork like they were purposeful both Oxen Free and Unpacking,
So we love when that happens. Uh tavern talk too.
(43:16):
I don't see much about their music, but I know
they really worked on their artwork, but these two specifically
award winning level, so I did find that interesting. I
loved the cartoonishness, but not the cartoonishness, the ability to
like it was very clearly marked that what you can
interact with even though you might miss it. I figured
(43:37):
that out after I was like, oh I missed that
the first time round or stuff like that, things that
you absolutely have to do, you have to do the
way they market for you. You realize what you're supposed
to do because there's a radio involved and you got
to play on that. So all of those things were
very interesting. I didn't have to jump do these type
of things, like it was really easier to figure out
(43:58):
both on the controls and on the switch. So being
able to do all of that really made it easy. Again,
the touchdown level helped me, like the touchscreen level helped
me navigate it first and then realizing what I needed
to do with the controls after the fact. I'm like, okay, this,
I get it. I get where I'm at. I'm not
gonna use The storytelling was really good. The choice is
(44:21):
very interesting. Again. The animation was it looks like a
flipping TV show, Like literally the static level like this
is like this is a game. This is what you
do for a like a movie level.
Speaker 1 (44:37):
Yeah, well that's cool. The contrast because the characters are
kind of animation y yeah uh, kind of cartoony, but
then the setting is not. The setting is very much
like you're creepy, the something is off here. So I
love that contrast of it. I do. I love the
(44:58):
music of it. Something else that I was trying to
take into account when I was picking a game for you,
and so I knew for you you had said previously
that you didn't like like combat necessarily and you didn't
like games where you die necessarily, and so I was like,
I'm pretty sure an oxyd for you, like you never die,
you don't have to release.
Speaker 3 (45:18):
I can't fall off a cliff. I actually walked off
of this. I didn't glad, And it is nice.
Speaker 1 (45:29):
It's nice to play a game like that where you
don't have to worry about that, where it's just you're
trying to solve this mystery and you're seeing these like
character relationships and deciding like do I want to be
with this guy? And maybe I don't do I hate
my step Yeah, I like.
Speaker 2 (45:44):
Who you just met, which were like how do you
do this? But interesting we do? I was like. The
only hiccup I really had. There's a portion in here
where they ask you some questions and at one point
the screen flips and I was so confused. I kept
pressing the wrong button even though though I knew the answer,
and that ticked me off because I hate being wrong
(46:06):
I'm like, I know that answer. It just flipped the
screen and I can't. I can't forgeret which button to use.
Now I'll see that did that? Did that? Was the
time of was like oh but I mean again, now,
if you heard me talk about flipping experience, you're like, what
that's the level of fascination in these optics, Like they
use every way to kind of discombobulate you without doing
(46:28):
too much, but it does it in such a way
that it does feel like is this alien's is this ghosts?
Is this a possession? Is this a dream? Like? There's
so many points to this in this that they I
feel like they put a lot of genre, yeah into
the into a game. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Again. I'm
(46:48):
now on my second replay because I liked it so much.
I will be purchasing the second one, uh soon after
because I want to see what the second run through
looks like. And I again I will say, I think
we need to give content warning if you do play
this game. It does involve death and loss of a sibling,
which comes like oh okay, which you find out pretty
(47:09):
early on, Yeah, what has happened? But like I was like, oh,
that's kind of dark. Oh, this is real dark. Like
it kind of was one of those moments of like, yeah,
and he just likes to be sad. I don't like
to be numb, and he likes to be sad or
scared like those two things.
Speaker 1 (47:30):
Yes, and they do have. That's another thing in it
is that it's like oh, and then you will hear
like a scream.
Speaker 2 (47:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
Yeah, and it's like from out of nowhere.
Speaker 2 (47:41):
I jumped a couple of times. I was like, what
where did that come from?
Speaker 1 (47:46):
Definitely my type of game, It wasn't your.
Speaker 2 (47:49):
Type of game. But I also surprisingly love this game
to me, And if we have another run through, I'm
gonna make you play the Snuffkin games. It's that same
level of like simplicity and like narration and you can't die,
you can't really you can lose, and you have a
few little things, but like it's just the storyline that
(48:11):
just goes through, like you just have to walk it
through to find the ending. But like, but it's a
lot more childish and animation is obviously a lot but
more bubbly. In Snuffkins. They have like spots that you
can go to that they'll let you do that and
just see views like you can put it on a
screen where you see stars. Because he's laying down to
(48:32):
look up at the gorgeous stars.
Speaker 1 (48:34):
I'm like, oh, yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:38):
Like I think I see you a picture of me
playing huge TV. Yeah. I was like, this is amazing.
It's a lot shorter game than any other games I
think you play in any form, but instead of venturing
like it shows you where you need to go, it
kind of tells. It tells you a story. It's not
so difficult that I have to be in combat all
(48:58):
the time. They're surprise is here and there. There's a
few things that wake you up to make sure that
you remind you you were playing a video game. I
enjoyed that very much, and this one really did have
me wanting to know the next part, make the next choice,
make the next move, see what can happen to this?
Oh it's over all right, We're coming back to this
and want to relive some of these things to really
(49:20):
do these choices. So really great game. Ten out of
ten recommend to anyone any gaming person I think would
love this aspect in this game also feels like it
as a personality desk. I told my partner I wanted
him to play so I can see what he chooses.
Speaker 1 (49:38):
Yeah, it does for sure.
Speaker 2 (49:44):
So yeah, I know again, some of these games that
we've talked about past, we've been listener recommendations as well.
I think that might be our next episode. We'll pick
a few games out that we've not played from listener
recommendations and we'll talk about those.
Speaker 1 (49:59):
Yeah. Yes, and you all thank you so much for
sending in your recommendations. If we have not responded to you,
I promise we've gotten it just behind on the listenermil
but we really appreciate it, so thank you, thank you,
thank you, and we would love to do that would
be really fun. I'll look at what you all like
(50:21):
in our plane. So if you would like to contact us,
you can or email us Hello at stuff Wenever Told
You dot com. We're also on Blue Sky at mom
Stuff podcast, and on Instagram and TikTok at stuff We
Never told You. We're also on YouTube. We have some
merchandise at comp Bureau and we have a book you
can get where you get your books. Thanks as always too,
our super producer, Christeam, our executive producer, and your contributor Joey,
(50:43):
thank you and thanks to you for listening stuff I
never told you. Production by heart Radio. For more podcasts
from my heart Radio, you can check out the heart
Radio app Apple podcast where I really listen to your
favorite shows,
Hey, this is Anny and Smantha and welcome to stuff
I never told you production of My Heart Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
And welcome to well this kind of fun episode. I
want to say, kind of fun. We've been planning on
doing another gaming episode for a minute now and I'm like,
you know what, let's do this. So here we are.
I am going to put a date on this because
we do have so many of these episodes, and I'm
sure we're going to continue to talk about it because
it's something that we both have interest in as well
(00:39):
as it's a growing industry that we want to keep
a watch on, especially when it comes to involving marginalized people.
So today is as of the recording January twenty seventh,
twenty twenty six. It'll be released on January twenty eighth,
twenty twenty six. That turnaround, Yeah, look, she's the best
we left. So in this one, we decided to review
(01:03):
at least so three. Picked out three games, one that
I have played and recommended, one that Aie has played
and recommended, and one that is new to both of us,
so that we were going to kind of break down
what we chose and how we liked them and what
we think about these games and then just to have
a con of conversation about how these games made us
feel or didn't make us feel. I don't know. But
(01:26):
before we get into all of that, I wanted to
take a minute about the state of cozy games and
gaming today and what it looks like if anything's changed again.
I think we started really talking about this. Was that
pre COVID or post COVID or mid COVID pandemic closed down.
I don't know how you say that.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I think it was like early COVID. I think that's
when we started to do it. Yeah, because I you know,
I've always been a gamer, but I feel like that's
when you started.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
I was picking up things because I'm like, I am bored.
I think it was a little past COVID for me
because Animal Crossing was not on my radar, even though
it was huge.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Yeah, it came out right where like shut down was happening.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
I remember you were getting like fan requests, like all
of our listeners like any you have to play this,
you have to play this, and they're like Samantha, you exist,
and then I'm like I kind of like it. But
all that to say, I think this journey has been
coming over a round. So we've been at least we'll
say five years for as a smnteezy interest, meaning we're
(02:24):
talking about it because you've been talking about that gaming beforehand,
because we talked about the doxing and as as such,
but specifically to cozy gaming and gaming specifically aimed at
women more so than not. Again, cozy games have been
marketed towards women more than men, but that doesn't mean
(02:45):
much because everybody enjoys animal crossing, am I right?
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah, And you can see the episode we did on
tech Stuff with Jonathan, Yes, where we talked about cozy gaming,
but no, they're just nice and there's a lot a
variety within the genre. So yes, even though it has
been marketed traditionally towards women, I think that pretty much
everybody has a cozy game that they could go to. Well.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
So since the growing popularity of cozy games, there have been,
you know it, some concerns, especially recently and what is
happening with the new games being released. One of the
conversations we had is the fact that cozy games have
really allowed for more diversity in the gaming community. That's
not one of the concerns, by the way, that's not
(03:33):
a concern, that's yays happening. Maybe things will change, and
different reports show an increase of women or non body
of folks being involved in the world of gaming, everything
from actually creating and developing, to reviewing and critiquing, to
playing and competing within these worlds, like there are some
big names coming out all of a sudden, like we're
(03:54):
excited to see it that are of the marginalized community. Now,
the gaming worlds outside of the Cozy games are still
mainly made up of men, with a lot of toxic
gatekeeping is still happening. It still exists, a lot of
dick pics, doxing, a lot of that has happened, but
the gozy games have helped change that a bit. So
(04:14):
in the GDC survey they report an increase of women
within the industry and this is specifically written in Women
in Games dot Com, so they write the latest GDC
State of the Industry report has revealed that twenty five
percent of the game's workforce are women, compared to twenty
three percent reported in last year's survey. So, you know,
two percent, we'll take it. It's not great, but wins
(04:37):
agains gros. So Meanwhile, they say six percent of the
three thousand developers who responded to the survey identified as
non binary. Men are still dominating the sector at sixty
six percent. However, as highlighted by the authors of the report,
that figure was seventy five percent in twenty twenty. Again,
all right, nice change, meaning that we've seen a nine
(04:59):
point change over the past five years. Elsewhere, the research
has aveuiled that LGBTQ plus representation has also increased, up
from twenty one percent to in twenty twenty four to
twenty four percent of this year. So again it's not huge,
but it's still progressed. So we're gonna take our wins
(05:19):
where we can, y'all. So we're going to and we're
gonna cross our fingers. It's gonna go upward, right right.
So some numbers that I saw while researching include these
from gnmnews dot com. Gender diversity in the game industry
has been a notable shift over the past few years.
Women and non buying developers now make up thirty two
(05:41):
percent of game developers, compared to twenty nine percent last
year and twenty four percent and twenty twenty two. Again,
men make up two thirds. We saw this and the
increase of diversity in gaming is positive as well. Quote
the industry has also seen a change in racial and
ethnic diversity in the game development community since last year,
though it's a little more difficult to quantify as many
(06:04):
of these changes are too small to draw conclusions. According
to the survey done by GDC, sixteen percent of developers
are East, South or Southeast Asian, one tenth are Hispanic,
Latino or of Spanish origin, and three percent are Black,
African or Caribbean. The combined increases did manifest in a
year over year decrease in the number of respondents identifying
(06:28):
as white art Caucasian, going from sixty four percent in
twenty twenty four to fifty nine percent today. So of
course that's a lot of numbers saying that, yes, there's
small changes happening, we are seeing better looks. It did
talk about EDI or DEI essentially being placed in a
(06:48):
lot of these companies, but we know we have regressed,
and these numbers come from twenty twenty four, so that
was before this awful administration occurred. Women of Silence moving on,
but again, so with the continued increase of women in
non byfolk in the industry, it is great, but slow,
(07:09):
very slow, very very slow. Again, a win is a win,
is a win is a win, especially when we see
how many games are coming now, So that means that
maybe even though we're seeing in percentage, the actual numbers
are higher than you would think. So that is good
(07:31):
to note because we see new companies popping up, we
see new developers popping up, we see new like companies
popping up, so you know, we're gon we're gonna be
really optimistic with that one. And again, it isn't surprising
to know that the cozy gaming industry has grown significantly
and not all of that is positive, like we said,
uh So, in twenty twenty four, one YouTuber ducky Games
(07:53):
states that the industry made around nine hundred and seventy
three million dollars, so it's getting close to a billion
and cozy games alone, I'm guessing in the next year
or so we're gonna hit the They're gonna hit that
billion dollar mark for sure. And she has noted that
the large quantity does not equate to quality. And again
(08:16):
she's not the only one to see this, and if
you go watch her videos, she's got a lot of
good stuff on gaming she I think, says she's not
necessarily a cozy gamer herself, like she loves gaming in general,
but this is what she's seen and doesn't love the
cozy gaming industry. Again, this goes back to the like
back and forth of like who's a gamer or who's not.
But she's not necessarily talking about all of that, but
(08:38):
is talking about again the quality that is being split
out right now and who is profiting off of it.
And I think that's always something that we should look at,
no matter what industry. Right So, the indie Game Culture
site talks a bit about this as well. They say
people value authentic and honest content and coverage, something that
(08:59):
is becoming harder and harder to find in mainstream gaming media.
And they continue, I know firsthand that plenty of the
big sites we consume now run on semi and full
blown AI rider models, and I know that the content
they produce is all about volume rather than quality, as
a system where they burn out contributors and cast them
aside like the used napkin, replacing them with a new
(09:22):
bump in the seat when they are of no further use.
But that's not what I want to point the finger
at today. I want to point the finger at cozy
gaming as a genre and why this niche pocket of
gaming is making it so much easier for websites to
trick consumers into believing that cute equates to quality. And
that's a complaint from many of the cozy game content creators.
(09:44):
So it's not just gamers that are talking about this,
it's those who would consider themselves in the cozy game niche.
They say that too. I've seen several complaints about that
big companies are trying to trick consumers with style, but
again they have no sub instances. So back to that
indiegameculture dot com article, they say, what I'm saying here
(10:04):
is that you are being sold marketing. If a game
looks cute and cozy is easier to sell, and when
you discover it was all style over substance, you will
end up feeling cheated. And that's not a mistake, it's
a pattern. And some argue that the term is what's
causing a bit of chaos within the industry. So from
(10:26):
her Cozygaming dot Com they write, the problem with cozy
game is the blanket use of the term cozy to
sell any game. A developer reached out to me via
email before Christmas to ask my opinion on whether or
not I felt their new game was cozy enough. I
gave my opinion and never heard from them again. I
feel like developers are slapping cozy in their titles or
(10:46):
descriptions of their game simply debate cozy gamers, and they
aren't the only ones arguing this. I think the question
is what are we or what are people labeling as
cozy games? Is it cozy or is it just that
this term is subjective, Like different people have different ways
(11:07):
of being cozy, and he likes to be sad eternally
that makes her cozy. That makes me want to throw ones.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
That's why I'm very I'm excited to talk about our
uh our Selections service because I think it showcases something
it does.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
It does by the way it does, but also like
there's a new genre like cozy horror games, cozy dark games.
We had the conversation because I said, I don't think
Zelda Breath of the Wild is cozy, and many people do.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Yeah. Well, and this is also we talked about this
in that episode with Jonathan. But there's also cozy games
and comfort games. And I would say last of us
is a comfort game. Yes, I would never ever ever
say it's a cozy game. That's a different thing.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
That's a different thing. And that's kind of the back
and forth, like who's using this term? Why are you
using this term? This isn't cozy, this is comfort like
this is a different Lyrically later and again Duckie Games.
Actually I had talked about that in her videos. She
was like, I have comfort games that I know are
not cozy like type of conversation. But because of this,
(12:14):
they really are putting this as a market. Again, one
thing can be certain in the world of capitalism, big
companies will try to take advantage of any profit margin,
seeking quick content for quick bucks. So again that was
my statement. We know this in capitalism point blank. If
they can make money off of women and marginalized communities,
(12:38):
they're gonna because the people who are buying the most
typically are the women of the family. And now that
women have hopped on board and be like, oh this
is made for me, and not feeling as ostracized as
if they were as they were in other games, finding
this community has become a new well obviously a big market.
(13:02):
They're butt hit billion dollars in profits.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Yeah, well, and we have talked about this a lot,
and it's one of the things that frustrates me is
that women have been left out of the what we
call console gaming market for a long time and or
just been kicked out or been harassed out or whatever
it is, and it's not been a safe space. And
(13:30):
so it it frustrates me and it makes me sad
because cozy games are usually kind of relaxing, nice pretty
like music. The music is nice, the graphics are nice
and kind of simple with the controls, and they're they're
(13:54):
really lovely and I don't want to like make them
sound lesser at all. But it makes me mad because
it's clear that women do like games, right, and so
we've kind of put them in this will have your
cozy game then, right, Which if that's all you want,
that's that's perfectly fine, there's nothing wrong with that. But
I do think like it's clear that we've kind of
(14:17):
been like, okay, they.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Can relegate it to the space, yes.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
And now that they're like, oh, we can make money.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Right, And that's a bigger conversation is also, are you
trying to segregate women from other games essentially by creating
this category and not understanding the bigger picture of what
this could be again, like introducing Breath of the Wild
as a game option. Because you like this game, you
(14:46):
like these things, so why don't you try this type
of conversation? And I think it's a bigger point of
seeing that, like, oh, is that just cashing in on
bad games that are similar to other games? Again, like
you can get inspirations from other game and if it's good, great,
you know, like more power to you. You've made a
better version or just as good version. And people have
(15:08):
been wanting that, like I'm still waiting for some update
to Snuffkins. Why won't give me that? And is that's
one of the most simple games that you're ever gonna have.
But I loved the simplicity of it. I love the
tale of it, and I love the legend behind it.
It goes way back in the storytelling. So stuff like
that like made me very happy. It's very simplistic. There
(15:31):
are these levels of conversations that could be had of
like good games versus And I will say so each
of the sites that I quoted or used, they have
a lot of reviews and they do talk about make
sure you go to reputable people who do good reviews
so that you don't waste your money and they can
(15:52):
tell you first hand, because even they are saying, and
many people have said, even the headlines that we see
like the big grabs and like, oh you need to
these games are coming up, we're so excited can be
bought and are oftentimes bought, and so not all of
them are great. Just because they're on a list does
not make them an actual quality game. And to make
(16:13):
sure to wait it out unless it's something that you
already invested in, because I love kickstarters for that, because
oftentimes that does hopefully mean the likelihood of it being
better because people see the interests so they want to
grow on that. But allowing for reviewers to come in
and have talk to give you true, honest reviews and
(16:34):
be able to investigate and invest in a good game,
or do like me and wait till Anie plays it
and she tells you to pay play that game.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
I try, I mean I try to think of what
you would like.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Yeah, I think you do the job with that. So
with all of that, the one thing that has uppealed
to consumers like us are the indie creators and the
studios who are doing good quality work for better experiences.
(17:11):
So we're going to talk about a few of them.
I think we picked out some good ones. I don't
know that. I don't know if you think this any
but I think we did a good job. And we're
going to take some time to review three and let
you know our experiences thus far. Yes, and we're going
to start off with the one that was new to
us game like I just kind of reviewed it. It
(17:32):
is supposedly from an indie creator, women led or at
least women involved game called tavern Talk, So go ahead
and we put this in caveat. It is like Coffee Talk,
which we loved. You know this we did part one
and two because we really really enjoyed this level of
storytelling making simple coffees, which, by the way, in the
(17:52):
second one, I got stumped. I was like, I don't
know what you want. I don't know what you want.
I'm doing this wrong. So I did pause on that one,
but we'll get back to it. But tavern Talk is
very similar to that. And sometimes these games don't have
their own sites or don't update their sites well, so
we have to go to other people and back to
the game the indie game reviewer dot com. They wrote
(18:15):
this about Tavern Talk. Tavern Talk a self described a
cozy visual novel about running a tavern in a D
and D inspired fantasy where you serve drinks to high
fantasy adventures. It goes on as a seemingly nameless innkeeper
in the land of Hysteria. Your job is anything but simple.
Between posting up quests on the local board and trying
(18:38):
to pry drink orders out of chatty adventurers, everyone comes
to talk about their problems. Thankfully you are the patient
sort I hope. Okay, any I'm gonna tell you honestly,
it took me thirty minutes with the break in between
because I got frustrated. Oh no, trying to figure out
(18:58):
how to do the drinks is like, what the hell
is this? I even looked it up on like one
of those like how do you make drinks?
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Oh no?
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Because I was Yes, you have simple, simple simpletons like
myself who are like what this doesn't make sense? Am
I supposed to memorize what these are? You are not
you do like I had troubles? Okay, it it took
me a minute. It took me a minute. Once I
(19:31):
figured it out. Oh okay, okay, I got it. I'm there,
I get it. I get it. I finally jumped in,
and I have not gone far because I will say
your game distracted me pretty hardcore. So but I've gotten
into a few days. I'm like, okay, and thus far
I do like it. What what are your thoughts on
(19:51):
this game? Did you struggle? I know you didn't, but
you know whatever, I did a little.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
I So what I really like about this game obviously
the D and D yees component.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
This is where you and I go differentcause I have
no idea. I know the just of it, but I'm like,
I don't know if any of these significants. I feel
like they have all these significance because they've already had
inside Jos and I'm like, I don't know what that means.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Yeah, So this is why I think I was able
to probably get over my struggles more quickly, is that
it has the drinks are like charisma based or dexterity
based or constitution based, which is all that's all D
and D those are your stats?
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Is that the diceing?
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Okay? Yeah, so like basically your character has high charisma,
which means you have a much better likelihood of charming
someone into doing something, or you have high dexterity, which
means you're much stealthier things like that, So they usually
ask for like I want to drink with high dexterity
(20:51):
or something, or they'll even let you choose. Sometimes they're
like either this or this. So I think because of that,
the way you make the drinks, it has all of
the traits kind of around a circle and you're trying
to make sort of a shape. And I was able
to be like, they want some dexterity here, this is here,
this is ever here. So I think my Dungeons and
(21:13):
Dragons knowledge really came in came in clutch. Also, I
did really like I've been nostalgic and missing Dungeons and
Dragons lately. My group, all of us are busy, we've played,
we haven't played in years, but I got asked to
DM a new campaign, so I'm feeling like all of
(21:36):
these memories are coming back. And I was also coaching
a new DM recently and DM being Dungeon Master, and
so it was nice playing this. But it's a very
common Dungeons and Dragons trope to have the bulletin board
to have the like quest on a bulletin board and
(21:57):
people can look at them. But they were the first
time I was a DM, I had this, I had
I made like all of these flyers, and of course
the one they picked up was the silliest one I made,
which was about Old Blumpy who was a fortune teller.
And they were like, you know, the wolves are killing
everybody over here and all of these other more important things.
(22:18):
They're like, let's go see the fortune teller. But so
I really appreciated that because there's an element of sort
of a bulletin board of as signing quest and trying
to figure out these characters and what they need as
being the innkeeper.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
So the innkeeper's the DM. Is that what we're saying, okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
I would say that there at least you're trying to
figure out, Oh I should give them this quest and
then they should do it with charisma, which is what
I did for the first one.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Oh okay. So yeah, so obviously those went over my head.
I was just trying to figure out what I was
doing because I did not understand what these were. I
understood they were potions that I got, so my navigating
it was a little more difficult because I'm also coming
from like Coffee Talk, which was very like these are ingredients,
(23:10):
I know, macha, sugar, honey great, So like this was
a little bit of a term. But I did like
the storytelling, the art, and the reminiscence to Coffee Talk
was really nice. That's why all the characters are fun. Yeah,
I'm enjoying that. Rearranging the boards, putting them in files.
That was fun. That's a new thing to add.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Yeah, it's very beautiful and it is funny because you
do have these characters in usually in Dungeons and Dragons,
and I always am embarrassed. The first one I played
was such a stereotype of like the person who never
talks to anybody, and they're so frustrating, Like how do
you play with a character that never talks to anybody?
(23:54):
And there's a character like that in this game? And
I was like, I know you, I knew you.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
I was you. Oh that's funny. Well how far did
you get into the game?
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Are you? I got to the second I've assigned two quests.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Okay, yes, I'm not. I've gotten all some several quests together,
like the I have like four quests up there, but
I've only assigned one and that was a whole back
and forth.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
That was the whole back. Yeah, that was well.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Did you not have this back and forth? It was like, yes,
are you going to? Do you want to? You sure
you want to? You kind of want to? What do
you what type of conversation.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Well, that's the one where you choose between charisma and dexterity, right,
And I said charisma. I think she's going to be
better with charisma for thinking of the same.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Yeah, I did too. We'll see what happens. But yeah,
so I'm I'm about the same. I think you're a
little farther ahead of me. Like I said, the frustrated
should have had me and I was like, no, that's
what's happening. No, but I do enjoy it thus far.
Now that I've got gained, I was like, okay, okay,
now gain knowledge. So I'm guessing I'm going to learn
some things about D and D maybe through this game.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Yeah. Honestly, I think that a lot of stuff as
complicated as D and D is, I think a lot
of it is pretty like oh yeah, if you have
a high dexterity, you can sneak around more. I don't know,
but yes, I think you will learn.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
More well, and this game has already expanded. There is
downloadable content. I did buy the package, and I think
there's a secondary one coming through. So it's it's building,
like it has become successful enough that it is building
is entirety, and I think there's a lot more as
we know when D and D can go forever. So yes,
we'll see, I guess with that, mm hmmm, we'll see.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
There's a twist with thee.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
The way it sounds to me that there is. Yes,
the way they're setting this up, especially with like the
clues and the previews and like the details of like
seemingly simple.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
But this could be another instance where we've just watched
too many Yeah, too many.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Horror figured out the murder mystery was not that complicated. Yeah,
moving on, So we'll see, we'll see, we'll come back
and report, But thus far, I do recommend. I think
I should have put this at the very beginning. None
of these are sponsors. Yeah, I want if you want
to talk to us about sponsors, just here. We enjoyed
these things, so come at us bro. And then the
second game was my recommendation and actually a Jonathan recommendation.
(26:29):
We did talk about this earlier, and that is Unpacking,
which is a big game. This has won all of
the awards. It is on top of every list that
could be created. It is women created, women created. It
is very fun, nostalgic.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
And this is from unpackinggame dot com. They write Unpacking
is a game about the familiar experience of pulling possessions
out of boxes and fitting them into a new home.
Part block fitting, puzzle, part home decoration. You're invited to
create a satisfying living space while learning clues about the
life you're unpacking. Over the course of eight house moves,
(27:06):
you're given a chance to experience a sense of intimacy
with a character you never see in a story you're
never told. And that took me a minute to figure
it out. I'm like, oh, this is her childhood home.
Oh this is our high school. Oh this is our
college times. Oh this is our first relationship. Like there
are so many things that you see that you slowly unpack,
(27:27):
and you slowly see I will say I did not finish.
I have not finished this game. I'm slowly working on it.
My partner's sister, like we sent this this game up,
specifically like this switch up and for him and his
family when I wasn't with them, and she played it
and loved it, and I was like, yeah, she went
through it very quickly apparently, and she finished it and
(27:50):
she was like, oh my god, this is so great.
So I'm like, okay, okay, I love it. But I
think it was very It is when I first started
playing it. It is very satisfying, and there's thing very like.
This is to me, the epitome of cozy. It's kind
of like how Animal Crossing became a beginning cozy as well.
It was part of the epitome of the packaging of
(28:11):
cozy gaming because it is puzzle solving but simple, and
the music is like appeasing and relaxing. That's my opinion though.
But Annie, this was your first time play through. What
was your thoughts? How far did you get through it?
Tell me everything?
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Okay. First of all, I have to say we dodged
a bullet, Samantha, because I almost downloaded the game called
Unboxing Oh No, and it was very poorly reviewed, and
I was like, surely this is not the games that
was talking about. So I found I was like, this
(28:51):
one must be the one. Yeah, yeah, you played the
right one. But it was a close call. You know before,
I've made this mistake on this podcast. Uh No, I
really enjoyed it. It was It's very funny to me
because I think this brings us to the crux of
our different games. We like. I really enjoyed it, But
(29:13):
it made me feel like I needed to clean up,
clean up my apartment.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
I was satisfied with that. I'm like, I'm done, I clean.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
I felt like I needed I was like, well, I
should go, and.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
It was judging you for not doing it to your
own place.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
I liked that you were figuring out this life of
this character through what you were unpacking. I was a
bit specific about where I would put things. Again, I
think I wasn't relaxing as much as I should. I
was like, well, space wise, you.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Said no, we should go here. Why are you not
let me? I did do that a couple of times,
like why is it? Why can't I put it here?
Speaker 1 (29:54):
I want to hear Yeah, like if you have a
desk and I can't fit all of the computers stuff
on the desk, you need a bigger desk. But yeah, No,
I really did enjoy it. I thought it was fun
and it was really easy, like it was a very
simple thing to pick up, and it was soothing and
(30:17):
it was satisfying when the blocks would close up, like you.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Did this, nicely done, nicely done. I feel like now.
And then they would throw things in there. They're like, yeah,
where'd that come from?
Speaker 1 (30:31):
There were some things I couldn't even tell what they were.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, it's definitely like so we know,
like the like almost pixelated animations is kind of associated
with cozy gaming as well. It's the throwback level of
gaming that we know. But like it is it was like, uh,
what is that?
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Is that a toy?
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Or is that a what is it?
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Is that a toilet bush? There are a bunch of
like small, little like spiral looking things.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
I was like, where does this go? It's very tiny.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Yeah, I just put them all on the shelf and
it's like it seemed to belong together, so that's where
they go.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
I did really like when you figured out what something was,
like a stuffed animal, but it went to different places
as you grew up.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
I was like, oh, yeah, it does have a lot
of moments like that where you feel kind of almost
somehow nostalgic for yourself. I have the animal that's gone
here or whatever it.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
Is, like it saved with me, but it's no longer
in this prime spot. Oh yeah, yeah, I'm fine, Everything's fine, everything. Yeah, overall,
how far did you get? How long did you get
this one?
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Four rooms? Okay, I've done.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Four so as opposed to like open world like, this
does have like a fine finality to it. So I'm
sure for you that's but nice.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Yes for listeners who don't know, open world games stress out.
The cozy games can stress me out, but open world
games are like homework to me, and I'm freaking.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Out finish at all?
Speaker 1 (32:10):
Oh my god, I never I got it. Tomorrow's the
school day and I haven't finished all of these things.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
Yeah, but we know this one has I'm surprised, and
I could be wrong because I haven't looked it up
because we know things like Animal Crossing actually just supposedly
got free content for a new version. I couldn't find it.
I only saw that for Nintendo's switch too, which is
gonna make me very sad because I'm not buying a
(32:36):
new switch. I ain't got money like that. No, we're
not buying new things anymore people. But I wonder if Unpacking,
I'm not gonna lie I didn't research this bart has
new updates to it because it was such a successful game. Yeah,
I feel that's when I imagine they're not going to
(32:58):
grow it.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Again for it nothing on here is a sponsor.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
I played Unpacking on my Steam deck, and I feel
like when when I was downloading it, there was another
version or something else as long. I just don't get
the basic the basic one.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
Okay. The newest thing I see is they have merch.
They have merch, which we didn't talk about that earlier,
but yeah, that's a big conversation too, like as a
money maker as well, that they use merch, knowing that
if it's cute enough and it can be merchandised, you
might have a great concept. Especially you have McDonald's deals
because like Animal Crossing got huge in March World and
(33:45):
crossovers and collaboration. So uh. But I don't see anything
new for them outside of the being on phone games.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Just been patches sometimes Steamjeck does that.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Yeah, interesting, interesting, interesting. Well I'm glad you enjoyed it.
You have to let me know we'll come back when
we both finish it. I feel like I got to
finish it too, so we will come back. I think
I'm in a room like six or seven. I'm kind
of sad about it ending, so I kind of paused. Yeah,
I did that with like TV series too, like it's
gonna be ending. I can't I can't watch the end.
That means it's so over. So that's just my own thing.
(34:37):
So coming to our final game, it is Anie's choice.
You want to talk about that, Anie, Yes.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
This is a game that I absolutely love. I have
talked about it before on this show, back when I
had a brief lived idea that I would do like
game reviews during the pandemic. It was the first one
I reviewed. It is oxen Free. I love this game.
It was a recommendation from my brother, my little brother,
(35:07):
and I'm so glad that I took him up on
it because a lot of times people are like, you
should play this, and I'm like, I will, and then
I downloaded it and I never do, but I'm very
glad I did. So. This is from Night School Studio
dot com about it. Oxen Free is a supernatural thriller
about a group of friends who unwittingly open a ghostly rift.
(35:28):
Play as Alex, a bright, rebellious teenager who brings her
new stepbrother Jonas, to an overnight party on an old
military island. The night takes a terrifying turn when you
unwittingly open a ghostly gatespond from the island's cryptic past.
How you deal with these events, your peers, and the
ominous creatures you've unleashed is up to you. You determine
(35:51):
every aspect of Alex's story while exploring Edward's Island, uncovering
the bass dark secret, and changing the course of your
friends lives. So, first of all, this is what I'm
talking about when I think it's very funny, the differences
in our Because I would call this a cozy game.
(36:12):
I think a lot of people would not.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Oh, I would definitely call it a cozy game.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
I think it is. I think this is the closest
of a game that I absolutely adore. That is a
cozy game, But I think some people might not think so.
But it is a very like atmospheric, kind of eighties
the Goonies, Stranger Things type vibe. But it's mostly just
(36:41):
there are these very brightly colored text bubbles that you
can choose for your character Alex to say to her friends,
and through that you get points with certain characters. It's
very kind of like way Haven almost where.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
You're you're change your adventure type of game.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Yeah, yeah, and you mostly outside of that, you just
kind of walk around and explore, and it does. It's
very It does have its creepy moments. It's got time travel,
which I love, and when you based on what happens
when you get to the end, the story can change
(37:23):
the second time you play it, and there is a
sequel and the story can change in that based on
what you did in the first one. So I love it.
I have played it. I was looking at it when
I suggested it to you because I was like, Okay,
this one is one I can just talk about. I
don't need to replay it, even though I desperately want
to now, and I've played it for fifteen hours. It's
(37:45):
not that long of a game.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Noh. So I was when I first started this game, Annie,
So it was like, hey, heads up. The dialogue boxes
go quickly, and you're right like I thought at first.
I was like, I'm pretty fast reader, Like I'm pretty
quick to make decisions that I'm but sometimes it would
just disappear, like you look away for a second, it
is gone. I was like, oh, something was done. I
don't know what just happened. But I loved this game, Nnie,
(38:11):
like you you got who knows? Because I was like,
what is this? I actually jumped a few times in
the game, and I was playing it on the switch
when I first played, so instead of because you can
connect this to your TV, and I have a very
giant TV all with surround zund so you could get
all the effects if you want it, which I did.
As I'm going through my second run through, I haven't
(38:31):
finished it, but I'm going through my second run through.
That's which I liked it. I've got very into this
game of like what is happening? What is this game?
They're in this because you did tell me, hey, you
also your choices will affect everything, and I'm like, okay, cool, cool,
cool cool cool. So in that first run I was like,
all right, I figured out I am still scared to
(38:53):
be judged even in games, like I can't make mean
comments or mean decisions even in games.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
I'm the same Samantha. It's very hard for me to
do it.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
I was like, I don't like this, to the point
that when I was trying to do the second one,
I was like, I'm want to do the opposite. I
still couldn't do the opposite. I didn't realize I was
picking some of the same choices.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
Yes, no, I am absolutely the same. But I don't
know if this ever happened to you. But if you don't,
I should have said this when I warned you. But
if you don't choose a text bubble, then it just
gives you the negative, the most negative response. So it's
not like, I guess it is bad, but you don't
have to choose a text bubble. Not choosing a text
(39:40):
bubble actually is a choice.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
Is a choice.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
Okay, that's unfair.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
Well, I've also discovered that you can't go like in
the second run through, because again you open a gate
and you don't realize. I try to see if I
can refuse to do it. I just wanted to see
if you cannot. There's several they kill you out because
I try to go to the wrong way. They're like, you
can't go that way. We have to do this thing first.
I'm like, oh, okay. My partner came in while I
(40:06):
was part playing it. He's like, oh, there's dialogue, there's
actual texts, because like you you see that and like
gave the Last of Us and all that, but not
in many cozy games, like you don't see that level
of acting voice acting. So he was actually kind of shocked.
I will say, this is a Netflix studio, which threw
(40:27):
me off.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
It was when it was okay, I didn't think.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
So, I didn't think I doubt it. It was it
was too.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
Quick, like it was an indie game first, but then
it was very successful and then Netflix now yeah, now
you can see it on Netflix, and it always blows
my mind.
Speaker 2 (40:44):
I'm like, yeah, shrew me off. I was like, she
puts a Netflix game. That's interesting. But I assumed in
my head. I was like, I bet they bought it
out because that's what Netflix does. Uh not that whatever,
whatever it is, what it is. But as you heard
in the beginning of our episodes, there are some eyebrow
raising when it comes to corporation. Yeah, anyways with that,
(41:05):
but this game was thoroughly enjoyable, very kind of sad
that I was like, oh God, this subtext is really
like kind of heartbreaking. I don't I'm I'm also very
as you can tell when we were talking about simplistic
things and plots and then we go bigger and lay no,
there is conspiracy theories. This isn't even worse in my mind,
(41:26):
this is worse. Like when I left, it seemed like
a happy ending and I was like, I don't know,
I don't think it was. There's so many questions to this,
but it was very enjoyable. The mystery was interesting. It
was easy play, like I was able to catch onto
this way faster than Tavern talk.
Speaker 1 (41:46):
I'm so glad because I haven't played this in like
I think six years. Yeah, I love it. But when
we were discussing this, I kept running into I do
not want to fake a game. Samantha will late. I
want to she might enjoy it. No, it's fine, but
I was like, I remember being pretty easy to pick up.
Speaker 3 (42:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
Easy. It's an easy, simple gameplay, but very intriguing storyline.
You get to make choices, you have to figure things out.
It was easy on my easy year with my switch
because I was able to do touch screen first, because
some of them remote stuff, even though they are very
good and giving you specific instructions to do this use
(42:31):
this if you're if it looks like you're stalling, like
if you're confused, it knowes that. So when I played
it on the TV, which I am now in my
second run through, which is really fascinating to do now
because now I know what's going on a little bit,
so but doing it on the bigger screen, I very
much enjoy this, just like Unpacking. Actually, the composers for
(42:52):
this are award winning composers, the same as it was
for Unpacking. They were award winning BAFTA winning composers, so
they made sure they did this purposely. They put quality
content and everything in music and dialogue and acting, so
in artwork like they were purposeful both Oxen Free and Unpacking,
So we love when that happens. Uh tavern talk too.
(43:16):
I don't see much about their music, but I know
they really worked on their artwork, but these two specifically
award winning level, so I did find that interesting. I
loved the cartoonishness, but not the cartoonishness, the ability to
like it was very clearly marked that what you can
interact with even though you might miss it. I figured
(43:37):
that out after I was like, oh I missed that
the first time round or stuff like that, things that
you absolutely have to do, you have to do the
way they market for you. You realize what you're supposed
to do because there's a radio involved and you got
to play on that. So all of those things were
very interesting. I didn't have to jump do these type
of things, like it was really easier to figure out
(43:58):
both on the controls and on the switch. So being
able to do all of that really made it easy. Again,
the touchdown level helped me, like the touchscreen level helped
me navigate it first and then realizing what I needed
to do with the controls after the fact. I'm like, okay, this,
I get it. I get where I'm at. I'm not
gonna use The storytelling was really good. The choice is
(44:21):
very interesting. Again. The animation was it looks like a
flipping TV show, Like literally the static level like this
is like this is a game. This is what you
do for a like a movie level.
Speaker 1 (44:37):
Yeah, well that's cool. The contrast because the characters are
kind of animation y yeah uh, kind of cartoony, but
then the setting is not. The setting is very much
like you're creepy, the something is off here. So I
love that contrast of it. I do. I love the
(44:58):
music of it. Something else that I was trying to
take into account when I was picking a game for you,
and so I knew for you you had said previously
that you didn't like like combat necessarily and you didn't
like games where you die necessarily, and so I was like,
I'm pretty sure an oxyd for you, like you never die,
you don't have to release.
Speaker 3 (45:18):
I can't fall off a cliff. I actually walked off
of this. I didn't glad, And it is nice.
Speaker 1 (45:29):
It's nice to play a game like that where you
don't have to worry about that, where it's just you're
trying to solve this mystery and you're seeing these like
character relationships and deciding like do I want to be
with this guy? And maybe I don't do I hate
my step Yeah, I like.
Speaker 2 (45:44):
Who you just met, which were like how do you
do this? But interesting we do? I was like. The
only hiccup I really had. There's a portion in here
where they ask you some questions and at one point
the screen flips and I was so confused. I kept
pressing the wrong button even though though I knew the answer,
and that ticked me off because I hate being wrong
(46:06):
I'm like, I know that answer. It just flipped the
screen and I can't. I can't forgeret which button to use.
Now I'll see that did that? Did that? Was the
time of was like oh but I mean again, now,
if you heard me talk about flipping experience, you're like, what
that's the level of fascination in these optics, Like they
use every way to kind of discombobulate you without doing
(46:28):
too much, but it does it in such a way
that it does feel like is this alien's is this ghosts?
Is this a possession? Is this a dream? Like? There's
so many points to this in this that they I
feel like they put a lot of genre, yeah into
the into a game. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Again. I'm
(46:48):
now on my second replay because I liked it so much.
I will be purchasing the second one, uh soon after
because I want to see what the second run through
looks like. And I again I will say, I think
we need to give content warning if you do play
this game. It does involve death and loss of a sibling,
which comes like oh okay, which you find out pretty
(47:09):
early on, Yeah, what has happened? But like I was like, oh,
that's kind of dark. Oh, this is real dark. Like
it kind of was one of those moments of like, yeah,
and he just likes to be sad. I don't like
to be numb, and he likes to be sad or
scared like those two things.
Speaker 1 (47:30):
Yes, and they do have. That's another thing in it
is that it's like oh, and then you will hear
like a scream.
Speaker 2 (47:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
Yeah, and it's like from out of nowhere.
Speaker 2 (47:41):
I jumped a couple of times. I was like, what
where did that come from?
Speaker 1 (47:46):
Definitely my type of game, It wasn't your.
Speaker 2 (47:49):
Type of game. But I also surprisingly love this game
to me, And if we have another run through, I'm
gonna make you play the Snuffkin games. It's that same
level of like simplicity and like narration and you can't die,
you can't really you can lose, and you have a
few little things, but like it's just the storyline that
(48:11):
just goes through, like you just have to walk it
through to find the ending. But like, but it's a
lot more childish and animation is obviously a lot but
more bubbly. In Snuffkins. They have like spots that you
can go to that they'll let you do that and
just see views like you can put it on a
screen where you see stars. Because he's laying down to
(48:32):
look up at the gorgeous stars.
Speaker 1 (48:34):
I'm like, oh, yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:38):
Like I think I see you a picture of me
playing huge TV. Yeah. I was like, this is amazing.
It's a lot shorter game than any other games I
think you play in any form, but instead of venturing
like it shows you where you need to go, it
kind of tells. It tells you a story. It's not
so difficult that I have to be in combat all
(48:58):
the time. They're surprise is here and there. There's a
few things that wake you up to make sure that
you remind you you were playing a video game. I
enjoyed that very much, and this one really did have
me wanting to know the next part, make the next choice,
make the next move, see what can happen to this?
Oh it's over all right, We're coming back to this
and want to relive some of these things to really
(49:20):
do these choices. So really great game. Ten out of
ten recommend to anyone any gaming person I think would
love this aspect in this game also feels like it
as a personality desk. I told my partner I wanted
him to play so I can see what he chooses.
Speaker 1 (49:38):
Yeah, it does for sure.
Speaker 2 (49:44):
So yeah, I know again, some of these games that
we've talked about past, we've been listener recommendations as well.
I think that might be our next episode. We'll pick
a few games out that we've not played from listener
recommendations and we'll talk about those.
Speaker 1 (49:59):
Yeah. Yes, and you all thank you so much for
sending in your recommendations. If we have not responded to you,
I promise we've gotten it just behind on the listenermil
but we really appreciate it, so thank you, thank you,
thank you, and we would love to do that would
be really fun. I'll look at what you all like
(50:21):
in our plane. So if you would like to contact us,
you can or email us Hello at stuff Wenever Told
You dot com. We're also on Blue Sky at mom
Stuff podcast, and on Instagram and TikTok at stuff We
Never told You. We're also on YouTube. We have some
merchandise at comp Bureau and we have a book you
can get where you get your books. Thanks as always too,
our super producer, Christeam, our executive producer, and your contributor Joey,
(50:43):
thank you and thanks to you for listening stuff I
never told you. Production by heart Radio. For more podcasts
from my heart Radio, you can check out the heart
Radio app Apple podcast where I really listen to your
favorite shows,
Stuff Mom Never Told You News
Hosts And Creators
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Samantha McVey
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