This week we're joined by AstralShift's Kira (António Lopes / @kirariinn) to talk everything Little Goody Two Shoes -- a lush, gorgeously detailed horror-adventure-visual novel following Elise, a rebellious young woman daring to build a better life for herself in a deceptively peaceful small town. The game expertly explores the queer subtext beneath the horrors of witch hunts and religious ostracization, and we had an absolutely lovely time unpacking it with the game's lead artist and...

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, originally released in 2013 to critical and fan acclaim, transformed the way many people thought about what games could be and laid the groundwork for director Josef Fares' later explorations in cooperative mechanics (y'all may remember his title It Takes Two won Game of the Year in 2021!). Lovingly remade by Italian developer Avantgarden, critics have been torn on Brothers 2024 -- but we sure aren't! Join us as we re-traumatize ourselves on this heartbreaking...

Join us as we break down DON'T NOD's spiritual Vampyr successor, the doomed love story of ghost hunters Red and Antea in Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden. 0:45 - Patreon shoutouts 3:05 - Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin 9:10 - Showtime's The Curse 16:51 - discussion of Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden begins Side Quest tinyurl.com/opolivebranch Operation Olive Branch is a grassroots collective effort to amplify Palestinian voices and their GoFundMes – visit the link to learn...

This week, we're so excited to welcome cartoonist, animator, and game developer Adrienne Bazir (she/they) into the studio to talk about their 2023 timeloop RPG, In Stars and Time! In Stars and Time is a turn-based RPG that follows a group of adventurers at the end of their journey to defeat a king slowly freezing the land in time. It's also a game about found family, snacks, cosmic indifference, and the power in knowing where you come from and embracing who you are. Safe to say it has us in a...

Welcome to our third annual totally unserious end of year review! Let's dive into some of the games that we were especially delighted, transported, and inspired by in 2023. 3:27 - thank you! 7:14 - 2023 in games - great games vs. terrible layoffs 17:04 - recapping our year in games 31:49 - our 2023 Top 5 games 1:41:58 - honorable mentions 1:48:32 - favorite character of the year Articles Referenced https://www.theverge.com/24009039/video-game-layoffs-2023 Side...

As we close out a difficult year, two great games with interesting parallels remind us to keep it pushing -- with profound meditations on what happens when we look away from the world and from each other. In Rundisc's Chants of Sennaar, a hooded protagonist strives to reach the top of a mysterious tower while decoding language barriers that have kept its inhabitants isolated for generations. In Don't Nod's Jusant, a young climber scales an abandoned mountain in a treacherous journey to...

Jala Jayaratne is a bisexual mess! In Outerloop Games' Thirsty Suitors (published by Annapurna Interactive), she skates, cooks, and battles her way through emotionally intense psychodrama encounters with her exes on the path towards accountability and redemption. You know, your classic visit home. Join us as we gush over this absolutely gorgeous game and dive into its endearing emotional depth and celebration of queer truth! Remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel and check out our...

Nautical nonsense is absolutely something we wish -- and we never want it to end. Especially when it comes to Die Gute Fabrik's latest narrative adventure masterpiece, Saltsea Chronicles! Join us as we dive into a game full of riches to share, lessons to teach, and mechanics that continue to reimagine and expand what a "visual novel" can be. 4:09 - Our Flag Means Death S2 reactions (no spoilers!) 7:50 - Fingersmith and The Handmaiden 15:24 - Saltsea Chronicles discussion begins Remember to...

It's a beefy one this week, bois and gworls! Join us as we dive into the year's biggest RPGs -- Larian Studios' long-awaited Dungeons and Dragons adventure Baldur's Gate 3, and Bethesda's much-hyped interstellar action installment Starfield, its first new universe in 25 years! PLUS: We're livestreaming now! Check us out on YouTube, and thanks for all of your support! 4:55 - Patreon shoutouts 7:20 - Spencer's big surprise 11:02 - The triumphant return of Mr. Peepers 💀 13:29 - Starfield and...

An end-of-summer extravaganza of queer coming-of-age narrative adventure musicals was not on my bingo card for 2023, but here we are and we're not complaining about it! Join us as we explore two games that could not be more different in their tone and execution, but are linked by coincidental parallels in the form of two player characters striving to understand themselves and their respective worlds through song (and maybe kiss someone along the way). Check out KO_OP's Goodbye Volcano High...

Thanks for your patience on our slightly-longer than usual episode break! We're so happy to be back with each other and all of you for a deep dive into Night School Studio's Netflix-produced Oxenfree II: Lost Signals! Who doesn't love a good end-of-summer multi-dimensional haunting? Spoiler warning: Light spoilers for the first Oxenfree throughout, as well as very light story spoilers for Oxenfree II. 1:04 - Patreon shoutouts 7:29 - First class travel 14:47 - Oxenfree II discussion Side...

Cannes Award-winning director and animator Cedric Babouche crafts a cinematic feast for the senses in sun-soaked Dordogne, a bite-sized narrative adventure from his studio Un Je Ne Sais Quoi and Umanimation and published by Focus Entertainment. Join us as we explore a summery tale about family wounds and childhood memories that may not deliver on all of the plot points it sets up but provides a rich backdrop to explore an idyllic portrait of the French countryside -- perfect for a quiet...

There's no better way to close out Pride Month than crying about The Legend of Zelda, in our opinion. Join us as we dive into Tears of the Kingdom, the latest entry in Nintendo's storied, cyclical, ever-endearing saga starring a princess, a hero, a land alive with history, and the players who love them. 0:50 - Patreon shoutouts! 2:35 - Are y'all watching The Bear?! 9:53 - Tears of the Kingdom discussion Articles referenced: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom: the Kotaku Review by...

Join us as we soar upon a Sunwing into Guerilla Games' long-awaited epilogue to 2022's Horizon Forbidden West, among the sun-soaked Burning Shores of post-post-apocalyptic Los Angeles! It's both a bittersweet final adventure with the late, great Lance Reddick and a new kind of journey for the emotionally distant Aloy we've all come to know and love. PS - Happy Pride! 3:35 - Let's get into the PlayStation Showcase! 24:49 - Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores discussion 29:00 - The...

I was an agender explorer in a polycule with a hot alien and a goth loner. I was a lesbian scientist who betrayed my lover to save our home, my relationship torn apart by regret and shame. I was a queer botanist who saved our space colony from famine and discovered an ancient civilization. I was all of these people and more in Northway Games and Finji's award-winning I Was a Teenage Exocolonist, released in 2022! Join us as we dive into this story-rich and lovingly rendered RPG/life sim! 2:56...

CONTENT WARNING: Persona 3 Portable contains themes and imagery of death and suicide that are discussed in this episode. Break out your eyeliner, let your hair down (preferably over one eye), and dust off your PSP (RIP) -- it's time to dive into everyone's favorite emo high school RPG: Persona 3 Portable!!! It's like Pokémon, if the protagonist wandered into Hot Topic and got REALLY into My Chemical Romance. In the best way. P3P is messy, intense, a little cringe, and a little silly -- but...

Let's get into it! This episode contains spoilers for both Naughty Dog's The Last of Us Part I and HBO's television adaptation starring Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal. This episode brought to you by Dunkin' oat milk macchiatos and Jamie's slow descent into tsundere romance anime. 0:37 - Patreon shout-outs and check-ins! 6:43 - Reflecting on 10 years as TLOU fans and initial thoughts on the adaptation 21:12 - About that ending... 41:15 - Is TLOU the "greatest story ever told in video...

This week we're covering Scavengers Studio's SEASON: A Letter to the Future, where a bike riding journey to make an apocalyptic scrapbook had us examining the connectedness of all things and turning to the teachings of Octavia Butler, Grace Lee Boggs, and Renata Price's excellent review for Waypoint to wrap our heads around its poignant, heartwrenching message. Join us in the space between storytelling and memory as we explore this incredible game! 0:58 - Patreon shoutouts and intros 11:58 -...

This week we're all about Mojiken Studio and Toge Productions' A Space for the Unbound: a slice-of-life adventure game with beautifully detailed pixel art set in rural Indonesia in the late 1990s - following high school sweethearts Atma and Raya as they grapple with coming of age as their world falls apart and the very fabric of reality is tested. Ah, youth! CONTENT WARNING: A Space for the Unbound includes depictions of anxiety, depression, and suicide which are discussed during this...

Yes, the horrors are indescribable, but you've got to serve. Join us as we dive into Obsidian Entertainment's Pentiment, a painstakingly detailed medieval murder mystery that reminds us that time is a flat circle (and what we know of history is often from just one perspective...). Meanwhile, Spencer's falling in love with Murder, She Wrote, Jamie's bingeing Hacks, and everyone is gagged over HBO's The Last of Us! 4:25 - What is this, TV Therapy? 17:39 - Pentiment discussion Side...

New year, still queer! Spencer and Jamie kick off 2023 with some new directions for the show. Then Spencer tries to communicate the life-changing magic of FuturLab's PowerWash Simulator, which is cheaper than therapy and basically just as effective, while Jamie unpacks the extremely earnest and undeniably queer energy of Marvel's Midnight Suns from Firaxis Games. 0:57 - Intros & catch-ups 7:23 - 13 Going on 30 does NOT hold up 14:27 - BREAKFAST PIZZA?! 19:10 - PowerWash Simulator...

It's somehow that time again...for our completely unofficial end-of-year reflection and round-up of all the games that made us laugh, cry, and obsess over for weeks! Join us as we close out another great year of sharing our favorite pastime with you, and gear up for another awesome year of gaming yet to come. 1:03 - Announcements, Patreon shoutouts, etc 10:45 - Our play counts 19:27 - 2022 in gaming news highlights 33:07 - Our totally subjective and specific awards! 1:08:00 - Games we...

Heellloooooooo! We're back from our fall break and you KNOW we had to bring y'all up to speed on everything God of War Ragnarök, the latest installment in the storied series and the direct sequel to Sony Santa Monica Studios' 2018 soft reboot of Kratos' epic coming of age-- even if that age is pushing 1,000. Join us as we revel in each lovingly crafted detail of this masterpiece, try not to cry, and predictably run out of time. Also, Spencer pets a giant isopod and Jamie masters the art of...

Welcome to our 50th episode! Whaaaaat? Thanks for spending two years and countless hours talking games and being gay with us. This week, Spencer and Jamie dive into the delightfully devilish Cult of the Lamb from Massive Monster and Devolver Digital, an addicting mash-up of Hades and Animal Crossing with plenty of poop management. Then Wells Santo (he/she/they) an educator, researcher and activist on the societal implications of technology - especially artificial intelligence - joins to chat...