Video Gamers Podcast - Dreadmoor, Deep Rock: Rogue Core and Over the Hill - Indie Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: April 16, 2025

Gaming hosts Josh, Ryan and Ace are back with another incredible indie episode. We've got a ton of indie video games to chat about this week as we break down some of the best from the Triple I Initiative. From horror fishing games to beautiful calm driving games, we're bringing all the indie video games to you and talking about which ones have us excited! It's another gaming packed episode from your favorite gaming podcast! Connect with the show: Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/videogamerspod Join our Gaming Community: https://discord.gg/Dsx2rgEEbz Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/videogamerspod/  Follow us on X: https://twitter.com/VideoGamersPod  Subscribe to us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VideoGamersPod?sub_confirmation=1    Visit us on the web: https://videogamerspod.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Intro Hello fellow gamers and welcome to the Video Gamers Podcast. We've got a slew of indie games to talk about today and man, I just gotta say indie devs are really upping their game lately from insane looking combat to graphics that would make a triple A studio jealous. Indie gaming is truly something special. But before we get into some awesome looking titles you should know about, some introductions are in order. I am your host Josh, and joining me,

he's half of team Smash Bros. smashing people in the face with Mjolnir and wondering just how he ends up with half my kills. It's Ryan. Hello laddies, I'm here for the tears, the tears of metal. Is Thor Irish? It's for future discussion. It's on topic, laddie!

I didn't know Thor was Irish! Pay attention! Okay, alright! I mean, hey, you learn something new every day on this podcast. Oh boy. I don't even know how to follow that up, so let's just go with this one. And joining us, he's the Healer Supreme, and his back may be hurting, but it's not because he's middle aged. It's because he's busy carrying the team with his epic healing

skills. It's ace. It's time to put on a show baby. What a combo man. The bash brothers and then Ace Healer Supreme, nobody can stop us. They can't. If people can't tell, we've been playing a good bit of Rivals still. Way too much Rivals. I don't know that it's too much, Ace.

Never too much. I think it's just the right amount. Does it feel good? Then it's, well, not all the time. Yeah, it does feel real good. Not all the time, but. It's just the right amount. Yeah, when we're losing terribly,

it feels real bad. Why do I play this game? What is this ball and chain I've tied? Not all the time. When we're winning. Not all the time, but. It's just the right amount. Yeah, when we're losing terribly, it feels real bad. Why do I play this game? What is this ball and chain I've tied myself to? Oh, man. Dude, I have a very love-hate relationship with rivals. Love it when we're winning, hate it when we have bad teammates

and we're losing. It brings out the overwatching you, man. It's, I can see your salty nature. It does, dude. It's like, you know- My family's already picking up on it. My daughter the other day was like- They call it salt creep, like with aquariums and other stuff where just the evaporation

and the salt residue is there. Like I can see it. Getting crusty. I can see it form on Josh's body. Like he just forms this salt layer around him. But then like nights like last night, it all just falls away, man. Cause then we're like, we're so good at this game, man.

We're smashing people Ace is keeping us alive Get the Luna get anymore anymore. Yeah, oh he's dead. He said alright next one next one As a healer myself I couldn't help but feel bad for those people Just on them constantly. It was gnarly, so. All right, well, people are like, dude, I thought this was an indie episode.

Is this The Rivals? We'll get there. I guess. We'll get there. Part two. We're getting there, people. Don't worry. We just got to brag a little bit, you know?

Yeah. We actually have an incredible amount of indie titles to talk about. The Triple I Initiative happened, which gives us a look at a lot of of indie titles to talk about. The Triple-I initiative happened which gives us a look at a lot of different indie titles. Ace, you actually put this list together for us. I know one game on this list so that tells you how much more in touch Ace is with the indie scene there. But this, I saw this one and I was like, ooh, I've heard of that game. But I'll tell you what, man, let's just jump in, man,

cause we've got a lot to cover on this. I wanna start off with the one game that I knew about. And this is, I mean, all I gotta do is say one thing and I know you can't answer properly. Say it, say it, come on, let's go. Rock and stone. Rock and stone. Rock and stone. See, see gamers know man.

Everybody knows. Deep Rock Galactic Rogue Corps. What's funny about this is we've actually had people in our community saying, hey, have you guys seen this? Are you going to talk about it? Like, are you excited about it? Because we have covered Deep Rock Galactic as a deep dive. Fantastic game.

When people say, hey, what's a game that I can play with my buddies that's a lot of fun, Deep Rock Galactic is one of those suggestions that is just so easy to throw out there, because you're going to have a good time. Like, plain and simple. You're just going to enjoy it. Then we covered Deep Rock Galactic Survivor.

Is that, it's Survivors, right? Isn't that the... Yes, that's the roguelikeors, right? Isn't that the? Yes, that's the roguelike one, right? Yeah, the roguelike auto shooter one. Yeah, that one's- I wanna say that, but then I'm like, is it Vampire Survivors?

And I'm just crossing up the name there. We covered that as a deep dive as well, because it's very much a different game, and actually one of my favorite games in that genre. So good. And now we have Deep Rock Galactic Rogue Core, which is a co-op rogue like game. It looks like Deep Rock Galactic. I mean, it kind of like these guys took their name and then they just went, how many different genres can we make out of this base material? So Ace, why don't you

tell us a little bit about Rogue Core, kind of what it looks like you do in that, and just give us a little bit more info on that one. Well, Rogue Core looks like a roguelike, of course, because why me? Come on. Where you're going to gather, you know, upgrades, I mean, things like that, that don't carry over, obviously, in your next run,

but there's probably some kind of permanent progression. And you take on hordes and hordards of enemies with your best buds, man. Like, and these aren't the bugs either. These are like some kind of new monster. They look like almost like zombie, like not zombies zombies, but they're like some kind of weird alien creature zombie thing. So it is funny that they changed it up from just the bugs, which I think is a nice little touch.

So you feel like you're actually fighting some new enemies Ryan thoughts on this one, uh I'm stoked. I mean, I don't I don't know why they wouldn't do this like they have just a rabid fan base that absolutely loves this IP and any iteration they're going to Scoop it up and buy it and just yell rock and stone, you know? So it's, it's one of those that the second you can get in on something like this, you

will, if you like this stuff. And I'm one of them, man. The second I saw it, I'm like, yep, I'm in. I want to play this. Yeah. I want to play this. I know. That's, but that's it, dude.

And it's funny because I joke around like how many different genres are they going to make their game? But like, I'm in for this, dude. And it's funny because I joke around, like, how many different genres are they going to make their game? But like, I'm in for this, dude. They're all fun. I have not played a deep rock game that I didn't enjoy. And people like there's only two of them, but that's 100 percent. You know, so and this road core looks like it is going to just be dumb fun with your buddies, you know, this game doesn't take itself seriously.

The upgrades that you get looked good to me. I mean, that kind of flash up on the screen and you can see people picking from the different upgrade paths and stuff like that. We know that Deep Rock has classes, so you're gonna get the engineer, the miner, that kind of stuff. This just looks like it's gonna be dumb fun

with your friends, and I am in for that 100% of the time, dude. And you love a good roguelike where you can build like a nice custom build on your character. I like progression. Yeah, well, that is progression, but it is. It is. It is like Risk of Rain 2. Like, one of my favorite things about that

is you'll play 50 matches, and maybe five of those, you get that super OP build that's just game breaking. But that's the carrot, right? It's like, dude, I want that one again. And so you play again, and maybe you don't get the Is it's like, dude, I want that one again. And so you play again and maybe you don't get the super overpowered build, but you make the best of it. And it's just that it's that enticement of like, Hey man, this run is going to be different than the run before, because we're going to give you different

upgrades, different weapons, different abilities and that kind of thing. And it just, it really does keep me invested. I think the short runtime of a rogue, like it, you know, plays into people like us that are busy, you know, and we got a lot going on and it's like, Hey, we can hop in for one round of this play 10 minutes or however long around takes and then we can dip out and go eat dinner with the family or whatever it is that we need to do at that point too. So, um, this one, I, I'm going to say it already. I'm in, I'm in on rogue boys. So rock and stone. Yeah. Rock and stone. Yeah, rock and stone.

Oh man. We don't have a release date on that one yet, do we? I don't believe so. As far as projected. It's funny because I've seen so many people like talking about this, but it's like, they just, it just, and it's gonna come out in early access, which, you know, I mean, okay. Yeah. Release date, I mean, really, they plan to be announced.

Yeah, planned to be announced. So, you know, I mean, this game's already made. It can't hopefully it'll happen this year. But yeah, I have faith in them. Speaking of stone. Now, I will say this right away. This this is a genre that does not resonate with me at all. I get that people love it.

We have a lot of people in our community that love these type of games. SnowRunner is probably one of the more popular ones in this, but there's this game called Over the Hill. And I was like, of course Ace put this on a list. But like, what a pleasant looking game, man. Like, I feel just vibed out. I feel like I, like, just in chill,

and the world is peaceful. And I just feel zen, and everything is great. Dude, this game made me, like, emotional watching the trailer. Like, I just, I felt something watching it. Because it's this game where you, uh, it's a co-op game, thankfully, too, which is great. But you get in your cars, and you're gonna travel

over rough terrain together, and you gotta help your buddies if they get stuck in the mud and you don't want to leave anyone behind, but you're just like driving across the countryside or up mountains together, taking in the landscapes. And I think maybe Ryan, you want to come do that with me? Josh doesn't want to. I know. Josh definitely doesn't want to, for sure. Um, the one thing that it, that it made me feel is, uh, it was almost, it gave me that vibe of like what I wish Pacific drive made me feel like, and maybe this could give me that pleasant cozy feeling of just exploration and, and, uh, a great environment, a great scenery. And that's what I wanted out of Pacific Drive,

but there were so many bugs and so many issues with the car vehicle stuff. We know all that, we've, you know, beat it into the ground, but this definitely, it piqued my interest for sure. And I'm not usually one for these types of games, but I was highly impressed by the trailer. It's something about it, man, where like, you know, you have games that you can play with your buddies

where you, you know, fight armies or you race, race tracks and things like that. There's not many games where like you have buddies across, you know, the United States, across the country, which is like, you can't drive together. You can't hang out together out in the wilderness. So why not do it online? I, I don't you get it, I. Don't you get it Josh? Don't you see the vision? Number one, I hate driving because like going on vacation,

like I just want to be there. You know, I don't want to spend six hours like getting to the fun. I just want to be there. So like the six hour driving to me is like the bad part. And then like, you know, and I am a very much, I love chaos, I love fast paced. And then like a game where it's like, but what are we doing?

And Ace is like, follow me. And I'm like, cool, where are we going? We're going up this mountain. We're going up the mountain. Why? Why are we going up the mountain, Ace? To get to the top, bro. To get to the top and take a picture. We're going to take a picture together.

I can take a picture from down here! We're gonna build memories! And then we don't have to drive all that way! Don't you wanna build memories with me? They last forever! No, like, I just, I know people love this, and yes, dude, it feels and looks so chill. Like, the game looks great! I just go like, this is just gonna put me to sleep.

I'm just gonna be like, why are we doing this? Where are we going? Are we there yet? Ace, are we there yet? Ace, are we there yet? Oh no, okay, maybe I don't wanna play it either. Nevermind, nevermind. What's over here?

Nothing, okay, cool. What's over there? Nothing, let's go. Why are we going to see nothing? We were just talking about how we're like, we're forest mountain people, Josh, and we just want to be out of the wilderness. And then this is a game like tailored exactly to that. And you're like, I want no part of it. My chair being bored.

You were telling me with that giant monitor, Oled, everything you have, you can't dive into it. See, I love driving. I love, I, my wife makes fun of me. I get the car wash before road trips. I, everything you have. Oh, I feel like I'm driving. You can't dive into it. See, I love driving. I love, my wife makes fun of me. I get the car washed before road trips. I get everything prepped. And I'm like, all right, let's go, baby. You get washed before a road trip? Oh, don't tell me.

It's just gonna get covered in bugs. Oh, come on, no. It's just gonna get covered in bugs. You gotta leave it in a clean beer. You're getting washed when you get home. No, you get washed before and when you get back. You got it. Some of us can't afford two car washes, Ryan. Some of us can do it ourselves, you know, you got arms brother

You know, okay, you actually wash your own car by hand. Yes Ryan we gotta have a talk We actually said this the other day you're at the stage in life where you can just pay to go through a car And save that hour of work. I'm recovering from the big hole I dug for that tree that we just got delivered. Yeah, exactly. So.

All right, so Over the Hill is a thumbs up from both of you. And I won't listen, I'll give it a thumbs up. I think the game looks incredible. It is so peaceful looking. The art style is fantastic. The voiceover just was so calm and soothing. And I get it, Ace.

You're really kind of like, dude, this does make you a little emotional. It is a beautiful looking game. So definitely check that one out. Again, that's called Over the Hill. No release date on that either. Yeah, you know, I get it. I get it.

You don't want to promise anything. And Indie Devs, they just kind of get ready for release and then they just release you know Oh, yeah, it's a shadow drop. Oh like yeah, let me give you an announcement about my announcement that we're gonna announce guys bungee That kind of thing they just go hey guys my game is out Please play it and like it and tell your friends about it I'd like to or they just ghost you like a girl from tinder like silk song

And you don't hear anything for five, six, seven million years. And you just get some random text late at night where it's like, hey, I'm releasing in 2025, by the way. Hey, by the way. I'm in the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct, by the way. Just so you know.

And you're like, why did you send this to me? You trying to make me jealous? What is this? I thought we were done. There are a lot of people nodding right now going, I feel you boys. They know our pain. All right, well how about this?

Let's shift gears. All right. All right. And let's talk about something completely different than a very chill tranquil trip up a beautiful mountain. And how about a demonic slot machine because you owe the devil a debt. Dude, this Clover Pit, I don't even know.

Ace, Ryan, somebody explain this to me, dude. Hey, Clover Pit is like if you took Bellatro and you mixed it with another indie game called Shotgun Roulette, the graphics are pretty much the same as Shotgun Roulette as well, which pretty much the same as Shotgun Roulette as well, which is also the same as Lethal Company. So you kind of have like a little web

of every little like horror indie game. I got inscription vibes from this big time. I would say inscription definitely as well, but you owe a debt to the devil and you have to play this slot machine in order to pay your debt up. And if you don't pay your debt in time, the floor drops out from under you and you fall to hell.

So that's a good incentive, you know, if you ever had one incentive to not mess up, but it's a, it's like a roguelike too, I believe. So you're like, you're going to get upgrades and things as you pay off your debts and get, you know, not permanent progression. I would say, I think it's probably an endless thing. Yeah.

Like, like Bellatro, but it's got to blow up. I could see it because people love gambling. Like I, I, oh man, the degenerate gambler in me, like I just, I'm a sports better. I love gambling. I love Vegas. I love craps. I love throwing bones. I love, you know, I love poker.

I'll go and sit for hours. I love everything that is gambling. So this immediately, I'm like, Oh, okay. Yeah, that looks good. Oh, the devil's after me. I'll win. He ain't going to give me this floor is not dropping. I'm going to win this money.

I'm going to, and then I'm like, ah, and then I drop and die. Ryan's the first we lose in the clover pit. I was going to say Ryan's just going to be like, just bet it all one spin. And Josh is not a gambler. I died. Not dude. He went to Vegas and just went to shows and he didn't he played like No, you watched your wife play slots for a little bit. I don't like slot So this is my complaint with this game is like if I'm going to gamble

I want to play blackjack or perhaps with for sure right like those are the two games where you're gonna have the most fun Slot machines to me. It's so I hate RNG is the problem. Like, I mean, people have heard me talk about like, I hate Hearthstone because it's like, I know how to play, but then you get a bad draw. You refresh seven times and don't get a single, you know, card for the the build that you're trying to do or something like that. And it just infuriates me. And having a game that is based on RNG gambling

Like here's the thing with Bellotra. At least you have some like poker knowledge and you can say, okay Well, I have a higher chance of getting this and this hand beats that hand and there's some skill involved With a slot machine. It's all just random and in like have you guys ever accused a game of cheating? Do you remember like way back in the Nintendo days when games were really hard and you're like, dude, this game's cheating. My son does that now. Jackson does that now, dude. Just like yesterday's like, this game's cheating. Yeah. I mean, and so it's like Clover Pit.

I'm just going to yell at it. And I'm like, this game's so stupid. It's cheating. There's no way I didn't get that spin. You get items, though, that can change the odds in your favor, so it's not like totally random. You'll get things Oh, it's still random. It's still in the game in your favor problem slot machines by nature are random for sure You know, so yeah, I've never seen the Buffalo's run. That's for sure and he doesn't even know what I'm talking about But Vegas gamblers will know Yeah, the Buffalo machine, yeah. The golden buffalo.

Buffalo or pinball dude, that's the one. Oh man. So completely lost. I will say, I think Clover, I will say, I think Clover Pit is going to be one of those games that quite possibly can take the world by storm like legitimately with its with its like inscription kind of art style and that dark like Weirdness to it, you know, it's gonna be addictive like Bellatro because it's basically copying Bellatro at that point I mean, it seems to me like there's a lot to like about Clover Pit It just looks so weird to me, man

This one again is not my kind of game because I'll just get frustrated at it. I agree. I think it'll find its audience. I don't think it's necessarily us, but no, maybe Ryan. It might be. I mean, it starts getting the Bellatrio hype or the inscription hype. I mean, those were two games that everybody was talking about for a little while. And so, you know, it comes out people like, well, this game is great. And it's probably 10 bucks, you know, there is a demo for it that you can try. So if you're, if you're curious, I mean, I am kind of curious. So there is a demo that is out right now and this game just says set to release in 2025. How cool would it be though? Like it looks like you're

stuck in this room and you're doing all this gambling and stuff on the floor. How cool would it be if it's, it was tailored for VR too. So where you could just like, It was tailored for VR too. So where you could just like, you pull that. Oh man, that would make the fall a lot scarier too. You're like, wah! Falling in VR like trips me out, dude. I don't like heights, so it's like,

it gets me in some way, man. You don't wanna fall into hell in VR? No, I don't think so. No, I'll pass. I'll pass. All right, real quick before we go to break, guys, let's cover one more, like Tears of Metal. I saw this game, and this is one where I kind of went

up and down, right? Because I'm not a fan of Dynasty Warriors. I don't understand the mindset of just wading through thousands of like soldiers in a single swing. Now I will say Kingmakers looks like a blast to me, but Kingmakers kind of has that twist where it's like, it's, you know, modern tech versus old school Knights. There's like base defense and stuff like that.

I just, I'm not a fan of dynasty warriors. And when I saw tears of metal, it is very much inspired by dynasty warriors where you were just wading through hordes of guys. And I kind of went, but we already have dynasty warriors. Why are you just copying that and then putting like a different art style on it? But then they kind of showed off a little bit more where it's like you get upgrades. It looked like there were classes or something like that. You come up against like big armored hulking enemies that take a lot of your attention.

Guys with shields that you have to kind of figure out how to deal with while you're also killing the little hordes of minions and stuff like that. And that's when I kind of went, might be enough variety here to actually keep me interested. And by the end of the trailer, I was kind of like, I mean, this game don't look that bad after all. And what are they, Josh? What are they? They're Scottish. That was what I was doing in the beginning of the show. Okay. Is that what that one is? Yes, that's what that was. Don't even. Is that what that is? That was a quality. Yes. That's what that was. Don't even. That was a quality Scottish accent. Scottish. Let's see what you got then. Come on. Yeah. You ain't got nothing. That was no, it's not for impression. It was not Thor. It was just Scottish

accent. I was like, you were trying to be Scottish. There you go. It's a brother in arms. I love it Star Trek reference we apologize any Scottish listeners right now, please. We're sorry We're dumb Americans formal apology from all of us Also, if you would like to invite us to visit you in Scotland We would absolutely love to accept. And we will do the accent the whole time, just for you. Oh, man. We'll fit right in. Anyways, I thought that I was not always the biggest Dynasty Warriors friend,

but immediately I saw this and thought, oh, it's Scottish Dynasty Warriors. The thing that was a little bit different to me is that it felt like there was some weight to these attacks and it wasn't just kind of blast and through just paper objects and felt like you were damaging opponents. You're just OP, you're super powerful and you can blast through them. So that was something in its favor.

It was pretty cool. It looks cool. The music was awesome. I loved, I loved the soundtrack. Trailers are a weakness for me, just like redheads. I get super hyped and over the top excited. So, uh, you know, it could have sold me just on a trailer, but I'm going to, I'm going to wait and see, you know, where we go with it, but, uh, it definitely

looks cool and the music's awesome. I think the art style is super cool too. It's got this cell shaded art style and you can build up like armies behind you and stuff. And the blood's awesome. I think the art style is super cool too. It's got this cell shaded art style and you can build up like armies behind you and stuff. And the blood's like, you know. Yeah, it's got these cool finishing moves you could do on all your enemies. Yeah.

Plus it's co-op. Yeah. You could play it with friends. See Ace quit selling me on this man. I told you in the beginning I thought it was okay and by the end of the trailer I was like, oh, like all right. If we play together we got it. We could slaughter armies together. And by the end of the trailer, I was like, oh, like, all right. If we play together, we got armies together.

Yeah. We got to do the accent the whole time though. When we play together. All the time. Basically, I'm just going to say I'm William Wallace the whole time. What will you do without freedom? People that are like, number one, wrong history. You know, like we don't like that.

This accent's terrible, please stop. What does this have to do with video games? Yeah, right? Everything, everything. Everything. Everything. There you go. Oh, man, we've gotten off the rails.

All right, well, it's probably time to take a break, boys, so we can practice our Scottish accents. But all right, let's take a quick break and then we're going to come back. We're going to talk about Duskfade that might be the best looking game on this list that we got, but we'll come back right after this. Goodness gracious, that was bad. I feel like I want to apologize, but at this point, there's just no excuse. You know, that was the rock and stone voice. I don't it was dwarven. It was I don't even know what it was. Sorry. Let's talk about Duskfade. Duskfade looks incredible. Ace, you said this might be the game that you're actually most excited about. Oh, absolutely.

Dude, this is a 3D action platformer that just gives me so much nostalgia. Yeah. And it definitely reminds me of like Kingdom Hearts with the style. Cause instead of a key, you're using a clock hand to fight off enemies and stuff. How original. A ton about it. Yeah. Yeah, it's, it's very original.

Don't you slander dust. I'll get you. We can slander anything around here. But like just looking at it, it just looks like a joy to play. It looks like really tight and fun and I'm very excited for it. Yeah, I don't know if you guys are like super into 3D platformers anymore except I I like 3D platformers man. The last one that I played legitimately was Battle for Bikini Bottom as a hijacker.

I absolutely loved I wound up going this game's great. We've talked about a game called Tito that's that's an upcoming indie title. We've talked to the developers on that that game. We played the demo for it. I think that's a fantastic game. I'm really excited for that one. I mean, Duskfade looks like it hits. It's like it take every checkbox that you want from a 3D platform, especially from an indie developer, and just check it. Beautiful visuals. Check like great

animation and movement. Check different abilities and like set pieces where you're grinding on rails and jumping from one to the other or through a cave or something like that like check Here's here's my concern with this is this game looks so good to me, dude. It is polished. It's beautiful It's a top-notch looking game and my biggest worry is that this is one of those games that can just disappear into Oblivion because they cannot get the name out worry is that this is one of those games that can just disappear into oblivion because they cannot get the name out. Yeah. And it's like, it's, and people look at it and they just go, this looks like

every other 3d platformer out there. And like, that's a terrible, like, I don't want that to happen, but it's like, this is very much a game that could just never hit relevancy at all. And that kind of like, that worries me a little bit for them. I mean, I recently talked about a 3D indie platformer on one of our Instagram shorts, which you should all go follow our Instagram if you're not. You'll get some bonus content from us. But I talked about a 3D action platformer called a hat in time, which was super

popular when it came out for like the first few months. And then now it's kind of disappeared in obscurity because it's just like every other 3d platformer really. Yeah. And I'm definitely concerned about that with this one, especially with how little is known about it and how little people know about it. Ryan, you loved astro bots. So I imagine you're excited for this.

It does look cool. I will say I'm, I'm not the biggest for these kind of super cartoony look in their, you know, type worlds. Um, but, but the more I watched, the more I was intrigued and the more I, I liked the look of it. The problem is, man, to capture somebody to not only really take a look, but to buy your game, um, you gotta so, it's so hard to do. And so, you know, you go to a restaurant and, and it's, you're like, this is the

best, whatever food I've had, you know, in this area. And it's like, why is this not packed? You know, it's just getting the name out is so hard to do in this day and age. Cause there's so many, you know, restaurants or there's so many games out there and everybody's making a game. Everybody can get their engine and develop something. So it looks amazing. It looks like it's crisp and everybody's making a game. Everybody can get their engine and develop something. So it looks amazing.

It looks like it's crisp and clean and has awesome gameplay. The world is neat. Um, I just, I, same thing. I, I love the developer name though. Weird beluga. What a, what an awesome name. So that's, that's plus points right there, but I really hope that they can get the name out. Hopefully this helps, um, with that and we'll keep shouting to the rooftops.

But it's one of those things like when they're running through and you have all the gears rolling through. And I love when worlds create just that over the top atmosphere that makes you feel like small. And then everything else is larger than life. And this does that. So man, I really hope that the work can get out there and people can get behind this. And again, like we always say a lot of time with these Indies, the biggest thing you can do is wishlist. So anything we've talked about today, if you like it, if it sounds good, go and wishlist it. If anything, it'll help the developer, you know, even if you don't end up getting it,

but it does help them tremendously. So go and do that. That's that's the key is like you're not committing to purchasing the game when you wishlist it. You're just saying, hey, I'm helping like awareness of this game because that is how steam, you know, shows games to people. So it's like you're not you're not having to commit, you know, nobody's saying, hey, you have to buy this game now and play it and leave a review or something like that. It's just saying, hey, this game looks good. Let's reward these devs. Let me just click wish list on this. Like, touching on my point before, do you guys remember a it was very much a ripoff slash clone of Breath of the Wild

called Immortals Phoenix Rising? I played that. Did you play it? I did. I've heard good things. It completely disappeared from everything. Exactly. Now they made their money. I was actually just Googling and they said the steam revenue calculator estimates that they made about four, or they grossed about $4 million.

So I don't know how much that game cost to make, but that's another game that's like, that's my worry, right? Is this game that looks great by all accounts, is it going to just fade into obscurity or never even have relevance in the indie genre, indie market, because people just don't want hear about it. And that seems criminal to me, but unfortunately,

that's also a thing that indie devs face. And it's also why we do this indie episode every week, man. I mean, you know, these indie devs are pouring their heart and souls into these games. It does not mean that every indie game is good. Like, let's be honest, there's a lot of really bad indie games out there. Diamonds in the Rough, all right.

That's where it's hard to find. Josh, we saw it at the Game On Expo that we just recently went to with John. Like, there was a few developers there. I felt so bad for the one developer. I bad I know we played some games and you could tell these guys just you know they like they poured their heart into these games and they were so excited and we played it and we're like it looks cool you know like that's awesome but it's just there's some games where we play it we go

like there's something here like this this game might catch on like there's something to this like we really hope for the and then like we won't name names but yeah we play that I want just walked away and kind of looked at each other shook our head and good dude this game will never it will never make money yeah that's a massive shame but that's the reality of it I mean it absolutely is and again that's why we do we've started doing this indie episode every week is to try to bring awareness to some games that look like, you know, these are going to be quality games. And then again, just so that our listeners can, can, you know, know about

them. Um, okay. So this one, this one looks weird to me and I'll be honest, I don't, it seems like this game would be right up my alley, but it's, it's a little, I don't know what to think. And it's called morbid metal. Is it Ryan's's a little I don't know what to think. And it's called morbid metal. Is it making a face like sure you're going to be like, yeah, man, I pick this one specifically for you. I saw it and I was like, oh, Joshua, love this. I thought the same thing like immediately. But I need something more than just like over the top combat action, dude.

Like I've played Darksiders. I haven't actually played Bayonetta, which I hear is one of the best in the genre, but it's like, I don't want to just mash buttons and have it look all fantastic. Like I want to actually have to use skill and timing and things like that. And so button mashy type combat games,

they're fun for a little bit, but then my brain just kind of goes like, I just don't want to mash buttons nonstop. I'm not saying that this game is that because honestly it actually looks pretty darn cool to a certain degree, but this is very much a hack and slash. I'm going to say souls like combat, even though I hate describing everything like that, but I mean it's a third person, fast paced combat. They're describing it as a hack and slash action rogue-like. The catch on this one is that you get to switch characters mid-combo. So you see them going from this

white cloaked, almost samurai-looking dude to this ninja character almost, mid-combo. And I mean, this game looks really good to me. It could wind up being really good. Like I'm watching some trailers now and my brain's kind of like, I mean, you do kind of like this game, Josh. It does kind of fit what your, you know, what your style is. It gives me Wukong vibes. A little bit. Yeah.

I see Black Myth Wukong, but with a more cyberpunk ninja aesthetic. Like I'm looking at this and I'm like, ooh, it's like Devil May Cry, you know, Black Myth Wukong, but now you can shape shift between different forms instead of changing weapons. Like I was like, that's super cool. Did either of you play Returnal? I did not, but I've heard great things.

Okay, so that's the rogue-like. It was on PlayStation. You run around, you're shooting. Yeah, it was on Planet. I did some run. I didn't play a lot of it, but I played some runs at a buddy's house. He's obsessed with it. I got a little bit of Returnal vibes.

And now maybe that's from the one boss fight where the boss is just shooting out like a thousand little energy balls. All those little orbs. Yeah. Yeah. Spinning around them in a circle and then the character jumps over all those, lands on the head of the boss and starts going into some gnarly combo. Like the action in this game looks over the top.

It is a beautiful looking game. It looks clean, it looks crisp. My only concern with this one is again, there's a lot of games like this, you know? It's becoming an over an oversaturated genre. It is, it is unfortunately. And even for somebody like me that loves this genre, like, you know, and this maybe isn't a fair comparison, right?

But I have to make this comparison where, when, when there's so many games in this genre, right? And I go, I'm bored. I want a game that I can play for a week until, you know, X game releases that I'm really looking forward to. And I start looking at things. It's like, well, I never played, you know, First Berserker Kazan, which I've heard very good things about.

And I know I would like, because it's very much a Dark Souls-like game. Or am I going to play Morbid Metal, where it's like, it looks good, but I don't really know a whole lot about it? And then it's like, that's the choice that gamers are making. And where I worry is like, first, Berserker Kazan,

I know like, I know gamers that I trust that have said, hey, this game is great. I've watched gameplay and I go, man, this is right up my alley. Morbid Metal looks like it's really cool, but what does it offer me over the other game? And that's the problem, right? When you start getting into these super saturated genres,

to me, that's the question. And it's like, you need to have something unique. You need to have something, some kind of hook in your game other than just really flashy animations. Yeah. Flashy animations and great character designs. I'm not gonna carry you so far. I mean, there's just, there's,

the thing is though, like, what market's not saturated? Like everywhere you look, there's four million battle royales, there's million first person shooters, there's a million roguelikes, there's a million like, card games, you know, there's, every single one, there's so many games coming out now, it's hard to keep track of them all.

And that's what we're talking about with like, how do you get your name out there? How do you separate yourself from the other people? So I think that's the thing, Josh, is like, you know people that have played this other one, you know it's gonna be good. That's less of a risk to try that game versus this one, so it's kinda hard to pick one or the other

unless something really kinda sets you off to like, oh, okay, I gotta try that out to see if this is what I think it's going to be. And I think that's where we always say like, what is the hook of your game? Right? Like, you know, if there are a thousand games in this genre, what sets your game apart from every other game out there?

And that is the thing where it's like, we have played plenty of games that are a seven out of 10 in the genre. There's nothing special about them. There's nothing special about them. OK, I do. And about you know, I mean, it's not. Don't get me started. But you know, but that's the thing, right, is there's nothing special. There's nothing terrible.

So what makes this game stand out in this genre? Whereas, you know, we're going to talk about a game here in just a second, honestly, because we're starting to run out of time called Dreadmore that I think looks fantastic. And it's like because this is something different. Right. And yes, it is absolutely and it doesn't even hide it. It actually says inspired by dredge. But it's like, but this game captures my attention.

You know, like this is standing out to me, Whereas Morbid Metal, I think looks fantastic. Like legitimately, you both said, Josh, this game is like your kind of game. Yeah, and I agree. But there's a thousand of these games, man. Yeah. You know, so like, am I going to remember Morbid Metal in six months when it releases? Like I say, you don't have to wait long to get some early impressions, at least. Like it's it's launching an early access this summer.

So we'll, we will see if there is anything actually more special about it than just flashy graphics and fun transformations. And I want to be clear. This is not a slander against morbid metal at all. And I'm sorry to use it as the comparison for this. Cause again, morbid metal looks fantastic to me. I mean, you should absolutely check this out. Um, but it's just more of that.

Like my brain kind of instantly goes to the well, what game? If I'm going to play this genre, what game am I going to play in that genre that I haven't played yet that has my attention? So all right. And since we're doing it, guys, let's talk about Dreadmore. Dude, this game looks I mean, we talk about a game that stands out in a genre. Is the horror fishing genre crowded, Ryan? I think there's only one other game I know about. I do, man. The only one that I can remember. I don't think there's any monsters in Day of the

Diver, right? Like there's no. Oh, I was talking about dredge because you know, that's, that's the, it's a crowded genre, the horror fishing genre. Yeah, I was talking about dredge because you know, that's that's the it's a crowded genre the horror fishing genre Yeah, the horror I will say the second I booted this up and me before I read any details any any of the description I'm like looking I'm like man. This is a lot like dredge like I'm feeling this This looks good And then the more I watched the more I liked it and then when afterwards I read it and it's like inspired by dredge, I'm like, yeah, that makes sense then.

Yeah. That's why I liked it. You know, it looks good, dude. It looks really good. Until I saw that inspired by dredge. I was like, oh boy, here comes the lawsuit. Yeah. Right.

No, no, but we're first person versus first person. Yeah. The exact same inventory system. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I will say this, dude. This game is instantly like on my wish list. I think this game looks fantastic. Dredge was phenomenal.

The art style in Dreadmore, I think, stands out really, really well. I wish the thieves looked like this. Yeah, dude, honestly, that's a very good point. If Sea of Thieves looked like this, I would think. Honestly, that's a very good point. If sea of thieves look like this, I would, I think it would be a fantastic, uh, looking game at that point. Not that sea of thieves is bad looking, but dude, I mean, Dreadmore you're fishing. It is dredge. Anybody that's played it, but there's also upgrade systems. It looks like there's combat because

you actually do wind up walking around and then it shows you like shooting something like some kind of weird monster looking thing. I think the first person perspective in this lends itself really well to like being in, you know, the wheelhouse of the boat and looking out and seeing some giant monster approaching you. The fishing looks like it's a lot of fun.

The inventory system, the upgrades that you're gonna get. I mean, that was kind of the fun of Dredge was just that progression system that they had, that kind of cute but creepy atmosphere. Dreadmoor looks like it captures all of that to me. Oh, absolutely. And like you said, the perspective, just being able to like walk out on the deck of your ship

and there's just a giant eldritch fish monster and you're just like, oh no. I'm gonna catch that, I'm gonna catch that fish. We're going to need a bigger boat. We're going to need a bigger boat. Yeah. This one. And I like to like, um, you know, crafting like lures and different things like that.

Like this, uh, definitely has just that dark gritty and it's weird to say, but feel good vibes like you, it's a weird say, but feel good vibes. Like it does. Yeah, it's a weird thing, but like it does, it's like a feel good, feel good vibe, you know, but it's, it's, it's kind of scary too. So, um, I am excited for this. Uh, dredge was awesome. Uh, I think this will be equally as great, so we'll have to see where this goes, but man, this looks dang cool.

I, as someone who absolutely adored dredge, I am absolutely on board with this because holy crap, more dredge. Yeah. Yeah. Like legitimately, I mean, dredge is just a, it's such a fun game to play, to experience. It's not, it's nothing, it's not, you know,

it's not a crazy, like I'm going to remember this game forever kind of game, but it's like the epitome of like, I'm so glad I just picked this game up and played it and got that experience at the same time. So and I have a feeling Dreadmore is going to be exactly like that, where it's just this was a really good time for a good price. It was a clean polished game and I'm really glad that I had the chance to play it. So do we know when this one's coming out? It's no release date to be announced. That's like every one of these, man. Like every one of them's like,

we're gonna look at this awesome looking game. Yeah, that's true. All right, one more to talk about, boys. This game looks incredible. This is one I'm not sure like, what the actual gameplay is gonna be like, but man, I saw this and I was like, this game's beautiful.

And the combat kind of looks neat to me. It's called Blades of Fire. This is a kind of third person combat oriented game, but the kind of the hook in this one is the different types of weapons that you use affect how you fight the characters that you're coming up against and the different monsters, different creatures or characters are weak to certain weapons, whether it be a piercing, a slashing, a blunt weapon, something like that.

This kind of trailer that we saw goes into that a little bit. I think the art style is fantastic. I think the animations in this game look great. The weapons look really fun. I mean, it looks like it's it's like action combat, but it almost has a little bit of like the tactical nature where it's like you really have to think about how you're approaching, like swinging your weapon or thrusting your spear or something like that. What do you guys think about this one?

I thought this game looked crazy good. Like, I don't know. I don't know a whole lot about it. I don't know what you do with it. I don't know what you do in it. I don't know if it's a souls like it's just action. If it's just a hack and slash or what it is. But like the thing that really sold me on it is you have the three, you know, damage types, but you could use one weapon to do two damage types by shifting the way you hold the weapon.

So I was like, oh, your sword is slashing damage usually. But if you change the way you hold it now, it's piercing damage I was like that's super cool with different attack styles and animation Well, yeah, that's just so cool and it makes common sense Like of course, I definitely I know I am a big time against Those tactical turn-based style games, but for this, I got that same feeling where it was not turn-based, but it has that tactical nature, but it's still fluid. It has that flow to it, to where you can alter your type of attack or style of attack based on the enemies that you're

facing. Look at their weak points and you can use your weapon as a piercing weapon versus slashing weapon. And so those types of tactical natures are what entice me into a game. The stand and wait while I select this attack and then I attack them and then they attack me, I don't like that. This is what I can get behind when you're talking about a tactical game. And I liked, I thought the art style was beautiful. I thought it looked very fluid. I thought that it looked very fluid. I thought that it had some weight to it and I love the the kind of combat situation that they had.

So overall man as far as this style of game, I'm much more enticed with something like this than I am any of the like turn-based stuff or any of those kind of in-depth style combat games. Yeah, the trailer shows you kind of walking through like castles and dungeons and open forest and stuff like that. You're you're definitely fighting like, you know, multiple creatures at once. I'm almost reminded and I've never played this game, but like for honor kind of jumps to where it's like it is combat. Yeah.

But it but but but it's just not, it's not like just button mashing. Like it is intentional combat. And then you get your weapon choice. You can forge weapons and stuff like that. So, all right. So pick, I'm gonna make you do this boys. Pick your top two games.

Top two. And I know there's more because there's more that I'm interested in and that's hard, but pick your top two games. Top two. And I know there's more because there's more that I'm interested in and that's hard, but pick your top two games out of the list of games that we've talked about that you're most excited for. If I'm picking one that I wanna play by myself specifically, I'm gonna pick one for, you know, I wanna play with you too and one I wanna play myself.

I really wanna play Dust Fade. Dust Fade just looks incredible. It's a super unique looking 3D platformer compared to like whatever else anyone's doing. Like we've talked about two other 3d platformers from indie devs this year alone. Yeah, they look completely different to dust. But if I'm talking about games, I want to play with y'all. Like it's gotta be deep rock galactic road core.

Like come on for sure. It's I mean, come on. Yeah, that's to get back in the in the saddle again, man. Dude, you can't get in stone. Yeah, you can- To get back in the, in the saddle again, man. Just be- Dude. Rock and stone. Rock and stone. Yeah, you can't, you can't beat it. That's, that's one of mine for sure. Um, anything Deep Rock Galactic is always top tier for me.

And especially when we get to play with you guys, you know, it's, it's, there's nothing like it. So that's for sure one. Uh, the other one is, is over the hill. Um, surprisingly, I, I, I want someone over. I, yeah, dude, I, I would love to just sit and vibe and me and you can just go on a, you know, a road trip and, uh, you know, we live on opposite sides of the, of the, uh, country.

So us being able to just go on a road trip and explore the wilderness and whatnot would be pretty cool things. So I'd like to check that out. So that's my other one. He gets it, Josh. trip and explore the wilderness and whatnot would be pretty cool things. So I'd like to check that out. So that's my other one. He gets it, Josh. I'll be, I'll be sleeping and snoring in the background while you guys are slow, regular road trip anyways.

So I'm always driving. I don't get to, so, um, I think for me, absolutely deep rock, galactic road core with you guys is going to be just a ton of fun. Dreadmore is actually the other one for me. I think like there's just something about Dreadmore that I loved to dredge. I love that it was an eight hour game. I love that it didn't overstay its welcome. I like the progression of that. I like the vibe of it. So, yeah, for me, the two at the top are Dreadmore and Deep Rock Galactic Rogue

Corps if I had to pick just two. So. Oh, boy, we guys, I don't know how, but we made it through this episode. We did it! Yeah! This is what I like. This. If the editing of this episode goes well, people will not understand the technical difficulties

that Ryan had during this episode, but we'll probably make some highlight reels out of it too. I'll never forget today. And this is another, another good reminder that listen, we have really upped our game on social media. I mean, we are posting a lot of content to social media that is over and above just what you hear on the podcast. So make sure you are following us.

It's at Video Gamers Pod on every platform. Make sure you wish list some of these games or all of these games. Honestly, these developers have earned that at least. I mean, these games all look really good. You can tell they're made with passion. And let's remember to just support these indie devs. Big props to every team here, man.

Every team. Definitely. Every single one of these is a banger. Yep, I mean, they all look good. Even as much as I troll over the hill I think the game looks fantastic like legitimately. It's just probably not my genre, but even then I'm like dude This looks like a great video game. So All right, that's gonna do it for this one everybody

Until next time happy gaming. See ya! Peace out!