Video Gamers Podcast - GIGASWORD Swings Big, Valor Mortis Hits Hard, Worst Controller Ever! (Indie TWIG) -Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: September 4, 2025

Gaming hosts Josh, Ryan, and Ace are back for another jam-packed Indie TWIG, spotlighting some of the most intriguing new video games from PAX West and MIX. We’re talking GIGASWORD—a giant blade, tighter puzzles, and massive retro vibes. Then there's Valor Mortis, a brutal roguelike that blends dark fantasy with killer combat. Oh, and did Hank really drown on dry land? We’ll get into that surreal mystery too. This is a can't-miss episode packed with sharp takes and all the gaming insight you love. From surprising gameplay twists to standout art direction, we’re covering why these games matter, where they fit into today’s video games scene, and what they say about the future of indie development. Whether you're deep in the weeds of the latest Steam Next Fest or just looking for your next hidden gem, this is the video game talk you’ve been waiting for. Get ready for another Indie TWIG from the Video Gamers Podcast—your weekly dose of indie greatness and all things gaming. P.S. We have discovered the worst controller ever!   Thanks to our MYTHIC Supporters: Redletter, Disratory, Ol’ Jake, Gaius, Jigglepuf and Phelps   Thanks to our Legendary Supporters: HypnoticPyro, Patrick, NorwegianGreaser and PeopleWonder   Connect with the show: Support us on Patreon: ⁠patreon.com/videogamerspod⁠ Join our Gaming Community: ⁠https://discord.com/invite/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

Hello, fellow gamers, and welcome to the video gamers podcast. Today, we're diving into the world of Pax West 2025, where indie games once again proved they can outshine any AAA publisher. From horror parkour thrills to rhythm-based sushi slicing, the rising showcase at Pax was Paxed. with surprises. I am your host, Ace. And joining me, I had to pull him out of a deep, dark swamp where he was living it up and Metal Gear saw the Delta.

It's Ryan. Metal Gear. That's all I walk around and say now. Is that it? Is that your catchphrase now? That's it. Or is it? I got to ask you, because I think you're the only human being on the planet that was

disappointed about the release date for Silk Song just because it was so close to the release date of Metal Gear Solid. We're going to get into that. I got some things to say. Do you have some things to say? All right. I have some things to say, yeah.

And today we will be testing his limits on what is considered graphics. It's Josh. Well, if it involves like a really dumb controller and like, I don't know, something weird like sushi, that could, that might be it. But that's just a guess. Is that just your guess?

That's a really strong educated guess you got there, man. How oddly specific. Man, these game showcases, they just keep coming. I like it feels like, yeah, I love it. Oh, what a year. No kidding, dude. I mean, with the quality of indies we've been getting too recently, like, bring it. Come on.

Like, these indie devs are really showing their stuff. Is there another high quality indie coming out? Like, oh, come on. There's a few on this list. I mean, there's one in particular that comes. out on the day this episode comes out. Today? Today? That's right. Silk song

today, boys! Woo! I'm not going to believe it still tells loaded on my computer. Oh, come on now. We even got a confirmation on how much Silk Song is going to cost, which is 1999. Dude, I don't know

what's more amazing is that we're actually have a release date for Silk Song that is, I mean, the day this episode releases, which is you know behind the scenes look guys it's tuesday night we're recording this so you know less than two days or the fact that they could have easily easily charged 60 or 70 dollars for silk song i dude when the when the price leak came out because game stop leaked it by accident and when the price leak i was like that's not real dude there's no way they're only charged in 1999 for silk song there's no way some people are mad about that

some people are mad they're only charging 1999 for Silk Song What people are dumb What people are like Please take more of my mind I'm not, listen I'm this is not me defending Saying that you should charge $70

For Silk Song I'm just saying they could have And they're still gonna sell a gazillion copies I would have thought 40 was a fair price 40 is what I expected That's what I was expected Yeah 20 was ideal Don't worry we'll get two

We'll get two DLCs for like 15 or 20 each And then you'll end up paying 70s But I'm like, okay. Which is, yeah, that's fine. Because you don't, I don't have to buy the DLC. I mean, I would buy the DLCs, you know, but it's like, but I don't have to. I'm still getting the base game. People getting upset over a game being, who is getting upset by this?

People who say this hurts like the indie scene, I guess, like what devs can charge for their games. It's like, you're empowering people to charge more than their games are worth then. Okay. That's a dumb thought process, number one. Okay. Like, because, like, if you think about it, yes, we, we, we, we, we, love indie devs thus this indie episode every single week you know so it's like we we're putting our money our podcast where our mouth is in this case to say hey we're the money right yeah yeah you know

we buy the games and we try to do that you know but it's like but dude like so we're they we're here we are supporting indie devs we are trying to put these games in front of people but you also have to understand that most indie studios and developers are very small teams of people that are doing this, this is not a AAA studio that has insane overhead 200 full-time employees that they have to pay. If an indie game hits, those people are rich, man. You don't think Team Cherry's freep filthy, stinking rich off a hollow night? You don't think that they're going to get doubly filthy, stinking rich off the Silk Song, even at $20 for the game? Like, I get that it's like people, the heart is there to say, hey, we think this hurts other indie studios and indie

But at the same time, it's like, understand your audience, understand, you know, what these games are, you know, that it takes less people to develop these. They can take six years to develop Silk Song because they do it with a smaller team of people. It's just, you're not comparing apples and oranges when you talk about the cost of a AAA game and the cost of an indie game. It is expected that indie games will not run the same price as a AAA game. Is that fair? that's a debate for a different time because how many AAA games suck and then we got a $70

back. Oh, now they won $80. They want $80 for those AAA games. And then then you end up getting you know, like Midnight Walk for 40 bucks. Yeah, that was twice the price of what Silk Song is going to be, which is insane to me. I mean, it was a whatever game and we

Yeah, we know we have our issues with that and whatnot. But okay, so I don't know if it's just me. everyone out there in a listener land let me know if you feel the same i don't know what it is guys but i i just could not even care less right now about silk song like i have no hype to it and i don't know what it is i'm not hyped up and i don't know why i don't know if it's just been so long you know you know you know i know i know when you haven't eaten for so long and you're like you're starving and then all of a sudden you're like not hungry anymore that's what i feel like for silk song like i've been waiting and so hype for so long and

and we've just been pushed off, pushed off, pushed off. And now it's like all of a sudden going to be here. And I'm kind of like, uh, all right, cool. I'm excited. So I actually understand what you're saying, dude, because I've had this before. Everybody knows I'm probably the easiest to get like way overhyped for a game, too, if it's a game I'm interested in. But at the same time, I think the, I think this kind of like lack of excitement comes from,

it's been forever. Can the game live up to the expectation? Is it actually really happening? You know, you've said, time and time again, you'll believe it when you're sitting at the title screen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. It's weird because I am excited. Like, I mean, I'm super excited to dive in. But my, my excitement level is not the same as it would be for like cyberpunk or Remnant 2 or some of these or Expedition 33, you know, where it's like, I cannot wait to get my hands on this. There is this weird, almost like trepidation where it's like, I am really excited to get my hands on this, but I'm all.

also just a little like please let it be what I want it to be you know and if it is I think you will I think you'll kind of get into that and you'll be like oh my gosh this game really is amazing but I I 100% get what you're saying dude where it's like there is there I'm very excited but there's parts of me where I'm like why am I not like inside like bursting I'm like not yeah I'm talking with my friends and like I'd go play symphony of the night and we love Metroidvania's I go play games with them and and we're talking and he's super stoked and I'm just like like I just I'm not feeling it I don't know what honestly all I can think about is battlefield I just cannot wait till October dude I mean there is some truth to that yeah and that's

what I'm so stoked for but but I know once I'm sitting down like I said at that title screen and my son's there and we booted up and we got that amazing atmosphere and the music and everything I'm I'll get into it I you know I'm sure but uh I don't know I was just thinking about today I'm like man I'm just I don't have that hype it seems surreal honestly if I had to try to like quantify it I think that's a good word that it's just that it's just that it's surreal and it doesn't feel like we're actually going to be playing it like in two days or less than two days. I'm pretty sure once it's like booted up and I'm actually like running around I'm going to be. I think yeah. I think you'll change your tune the moment it's installed on your

PCs and you're all in that first level when the music kicks in and you see that first animated cutscene and you're back in HoloNest again. I'm going to have to try to freaking unlock the whole dang map again. That's my biggest grab with stupid Metroidvania. I'm wondering if the map system will be different this time. I hope so. I get so lost man. I do too. I have a good sense of direction, man. Like, I have a really good sense of direction, but I'm like, where was I going? What was I doing? Is it over here? Run 10 minutes over there and I'm like, no, nope, this isn't it.

Dang it. Oh, is it over there? Clear on the other side of the map? Dang it is. If you remember in Hollenite, you couldn't even see yourself on the map unless you had the compass equest. Oh, I know. That's what I'm saying. That was the worst. Listen, please give us. I fell down a corridor. All right, yeah, I must be right here. Prince of Persia. Is it Sands of Time? What's Lost Crown? Lost Crown. Lost crown. Fans of time is one of the games.

That is the best. The best Metroidvania map like assist where you can just take a screenshot. You push a button to say, mark this location. It pins a screenshot of that location to the map. So you can be like, oh yeah, this was that door up there that I couldn't reach. When it's just an icon on a map, I'm like, what was this? Was it a gap? Was it water?

Was it a door? Like, I don't remember what this was. see that's where the guide section on steam comes in handy but i don't see but i don't like that man i want to play the game like i don't want to cheat i like in my brain it's like i'm cheating if i'm looking up a map for this game and it's like i don't want to do that i want the game to just i want to experience it but at the same time it's like i need i need some some kind of direction at some point me some help i don't know pass start writing it down there you go all right we can't been the whole episode. We can't. We can. We can do what we want. In the future, we will.

We will. We will be deep diving film song as well. I want to move on to Pax West and some of its indie highlights because they had their rising showcase, which is where they show, you know, new indie games and new indie devs and sort of like spotlight them and bring them to light, which super cool. Always love when they do that. I love when showcases take time. I'm sure you have to pay for that slot. Don't get me wrong. But I like that they have that as an option. we're looking at Valor Mortis first whole dude this is like a

dishonored souls like set in like a Napoleonic Eldrick's plague it is crazy I love it like this has to have spoken to you somehow Josh well when you name your game courage and death

but in Latin you know you're instantly going to get my my interest I will say this game looks very neat I don't it's it's like it's a soul's like it's a Napoleon like Arab souls like I yes it does have my interest I just don't really know what this game is at this point like there's some dude he's kicking butt he reminds me of like Soron in Lord of the Rings where he's just wrecking the battlefield you know and then all of a sudden like somebody snipes them from a window and then the dude just is like you know what fill him full of holes instead of of, instead of dying, I'm going to crush this vial that turns me into this hideous, undead beast, like, would you do that? If you knew you were dying and you're like, okay, this is the end, but I can either die or I can crush this vial and turn into this hideous, like, you know, to get your revenge.

I'm going to beast mode, for sure. I would do it. I mean, if there's, like, if there's certainty I'm dying and I just want to take these fools out, then yes. Yeah, I got to think. I also wouldn't, like, just walk around with a sword when there's guys with guns everywhere and just think I'm just going to... He was doing work with that sword first. Until he got shot, like, 15 times.

This game does look pretty bananas, dude. It looks like it mixes a little, like you said, Dishonored slash BioShok with, like, the hand with the abilities. Yeah. You've got the close up with the gun. You see them shooting people in the face with a pistol. Like, the combat in this game looks really neat to me. there's these weird mutated dudes like it's neat because when he slashes a guy

it like slashes his head in half so it's like there's a lot of like interesting detail in this game the graphics look very muddy to me like very almost like they're blurred a little bit which kind of seems counterintuitive to like you have this great looking combat system and these effects but then your textures

look really really blurry and muddy which kind of throws me off a little bit so it's like and it's a soul's like how many souls like how many souls like how many Soulslike games can we get before it's like you better be Lies of P level Soulslike because if you're not

you're just another one in the freaking sea of Soulslikes at that point. I feel like too we've been we've been comparing a lot of stuff with Bioshock lately too. Everything wants to be bioshock. I feel like everything we see we're like yeah kind of get Bioshock vibes from it you know I'm okay with that man. Yeah.

If they pull it off, you know but how many games have pulled it off so far? Not many. Abyssusis. Like, honestly, as far as the vibe goes, abysus is the only one that has kind of pulled off that. But abysus is also, like, part of Bioshock is like, it's civilization. Like, there's people living there. And abysus is like, they're just caverns and stuff, too. So it's a little bit different.

Yeah, that's true. So, I don't know. I will say that Valor Mortis is doing something kind of interesting where it's going for the first person soulslike, which I do like a lot of, you don't see a lot. Most soulslikes are that third person view, which. knowing me, I struggle when you put me in the first person's perspective out of the third person. I don't, I see, I prefer first person. I feel like it's more immersive in my opinion. How did you guys play Skyroom?

First person. I played it, 100% person. Oh, okay. You guys both, okay. I would switch, but mostly I was the third person as well. Really? Yeah. Yeah.

It was easier to see your hands and like your little sword and the, I want to see the world, man. Like, I can, you know, I'll switch. You're seeing the world like you would experience the world. like when I would go into buildings and stuff so I could actually like look around bro I played that game like 15 times play through like I've I've done both so I've seen the world in both views

I played that game on Nintendo Switch I barely ran almost always prefer first person when given the option yeah but yeah no Valor Morta seems interesting to me it was the biggest like stand out graphically it was the biggest standout for what they're trying to do and I I hope to see more of it and I hope they can

Yeah, fix those muddy textures It seems like it's the most well-developed game I would say or furthest to long In the development or the game that more closely Approaches the AAA level Than the end level it kind of blends that boundary Between the two And this is coming from the devs who did the Ghostrunner series

So yeah that's weird because that's like a fast-paced I don't know I'm interesting They know what they're doing which is yeah They do have a play test too on on Steam you can request That might be worth signing up for. Yeah, check it out. Check it out, audience, I guess. And moving on to terrible lizards.

Have you got, I know, what a name, right? Have you guys, like, ever thought of putting a, like, platformer into a horror game? Like, has that ever crossed your mind? How, I'm curious to see how this is a platformer, though, because you don't really get to see much. It kind of just, it's a cool. We know very little. Yeah, no, very little. It's a pretty cool, like, trailer where it's just got some neat music, and it's kind of just showing you almost like a slideshow through the area as it pans around.

But I'm interested to see what gameplay or the parkour aspect of it actually is. Like, what is this game, you know? Yeah, like, I'm very curious where this is going, because it's like, it's a creepy roadside dinosaur attraction. You're parkour in throughout the place, but, like, that's all we really saw. We didn't really see anything. To me, this is such a pander to the Five Nights of Freddy's crowd. Okay. I was wondering if he thought this just counts his mascot horror.

I'm just going to call it because, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. I mean, if you can capitalize on the hype that's Five Nights or Freddy's, like, you know, that's a smart move. So it's like, I'm not dissing them for this. But you're absolutely pandering to that crowd because it's like, what's going on inside this dinosaur park? And there's something scary going on behind the scenes. And it's like, you mean like Five Nights of Freddy's? And at one point, they even pan past, like, these three, like, uh, costumes on a walker. And it's like, oh, okay, well, that's totally Five Nights or Freddy's right there.

So it's like, this, this game would absolutely cater to, like, my kids, dude. And my, when I say my kid, you got to understand, my kids are teenagers now, man. So it's like, I'm not talking, like, but, like, my kids love Five Nights or Freddy's. My oldest daughter loves dinosaurs. So it's like, if I tell her, hey, you know, there's a game that's like Five Nights or Freddy's meets Dinosaur. She's going to be like, what? What? Like, really? And I'm going to be like, yeah, yeah, it's called Terrible Lizards.

And she's going to be like, well, I got to look this up. The name is growing on me. I don't know, man. It's like this, like, it's part. Why are we just mixing genres at this point? Like, what else is there to do? I feel like it's like we're just trying to make recipes now, man. Like, we don't know what the heck we're doing.

Parkour souls like. Yeah, parkour soul's like guys. Oh, please, no. We've got a parkour, uh, uh, adventure away. Oh, it landed on Five Nights and Freddy's and Parkour? Sure, we can do that. If these were AAA developers, I'd 100% believe they were all sitting in a boardroom with a wheel. They're like, all right.

This is our budget. What are we going to make? Here we go. Narrative-driven platformer. Boom, done. Yeah. We don't know much, but I guess we'll see. Like, I'm sure there's a market for it.

I'm curious if this will be a flash in the pan kind of thing where it's just trying to get on that hype of Freddy's, but it never reaches it or if it ends up managing to cling on. I mean, if I have to give them credit, like, you know, the graphics look good. The visuals look good. Like, you know, they show your character kind of running and jumping and grabbing things. And it's like, okay, like, there's nothing like weird about this game other than like it's just a mishmash of five nights at Freddy's and putting parkour in there's just a weird choice. the parkour is definitely a strange choice i'm wondering if that'll help them stand out or it'll just okay totally put make it off putting not to get off track here guys but like have you ever wondered if you could like run up a bronosaurus neck yeah yeah exactly so that's that's the thing here where it's like guys we're gonna have bronosaurus in this game with dinosaurs and we've all wondered could i run up a bronosaurus neck you know and like that's the key that's why they're like parkour what if it's like night at night at the museum where

like it gets dark and now all the attractions are alive like moving dinosaur attractions got a platform on almost like five nights of freddies where the things come out in the middle of the night yeah i was referencing something that's cool but oh oh i was just curious because it sounded an awful lot like five nights of freddies so virtually identical virtually identical all right funny all right we're going to take a quick little break but we'll be right back All right, moving on to Sashimi Slayer. Josh, just go ahead and say your piece about this one. What is this game, Ace?

Okay, number one, I don't know that I've ever seen a website or whatever you linked in this show doc to this. That's called H-Doc. It's the worst ever. Itch-I-O, itch, I don't know, because this website sucks, number one. It hurts my eyes to look at. And I know we talk about graphics a lot, but we're talking about video game graphics. We're not talking about website graphics, dude. Like, this looks like it was made by, like, a middle school computer lab.

It's just a free site where people upload games you can download for free, for completely for free. They have tables, they have lists. Like, who designed this website number one? It looks like, like, 99, like MSN little website page threw up on their website, dude. Okay. Let's see if we're in their top five. So then you get this, like, they're trying to showcase this game. And look, I'm all for a neat controller scheme.

Rock band, you know, that kind of stuff. Like, okay, that's neat. These dudes are trying to mimic like a katana where if you unsheat the katana, you're chopping through this. Bro, this is dumb. This is straight dumb. I'm sorry. Number one, are you giving me the katana controller?

Because if you think I'm spending any kind of money on this controller to play this super dumb one game that it's going to work for, like, I, bro, you. can tell me this katana controller is $10 and I'd be like I'm sorry that's too much But what if they like start making a series And then like you can play with every series It'll be the exact same Yeah

And it's not even Unshiefing the whole sword like if it had Full movement tracking Like the old laser guns or something like Okay that's one thing but this is just literally going Like you just jiggle the controller It's just a quick Yeah but the ace

This is quite possibly the dumb This thing I have ever seen, man. Like, I'm not, again, I'm not trying to throw shade to the developers because I will. This is stupid. Run with your passion, but if your passion is making terrible controller ideas into reality and then trying to

make that match up with a really dumb looking game at the same time, like, you guys ever seen Shark Tank where they're just honest with the people and they're like, hey, you may not be on the right track here. And the people are like, but this is my dream. And then they go, you should just try to have a different dream. Get a dream. This is a different dream's a perfect example of like, you should just let this dream die.

I'm sorry. Man, that's rough. Poor sashie slayer. They just want to. You can't. Are you arguing otherwise? I can't defend it. I can't defend it.

I just wanted to. I'm also going to have to talk to my lawyer because that is what they call me at the sushi restaurant. So this is shimi slayer. Yeah. I do love me some sushi too, man. Yeah. Well, before we just stomp all over the grave of sashis. Shimi Slayer anymore.

Uh, we're moving on to No Stone Unturned. Yeah, now we're talking an actual game. Yeah, well, Sashmi Slayer definitely didn't leave No Stone Unturned. I don't think it turned over any.

Not much of a mystery. What's going to happen with that game, I guess? Anyway, sorry. Carry on. Yeah, No Stone Unturned is a comedy, mystery, point and click, detective noir game,

where you play as a squirrel who must discover why the chicken crossed the road. What's up with you in rodents, dude? I don't know. We haven't even gotten to the real game yet. You know, we might not even make it there. You know, maybe we'll have time to get to that one, don't you worry.

I actually, I'll be honest, dude, this game kind of looks neat to me. Like, I love a game that has like 50 mini games inside of it. It almost kind of reminds me a little bit of like Dave the Diver in a way where it's like there's just these built-in mini games where you're. you're kind of doing different things like the presentation in this game actually comes across pretty good like the voiceover work is decent

like this seems like an actually like kind of neat game dude I know right like Ryan shaking his head he's like no Ryan does not like this game as dumb as the last one oh you just don't like point clicks I do like point clicks though so I'm kind of like when you like get your

like a fresh install of a computer or something and this like comes with windows or something and you have no internet yet oh man oh what a dis what a dis what a dis i'm grumpy man it was hot today i'm grumpy you know what you don't get to be squirrel detective cocks all right oh no oh no i i don't get to see the quirky characters i will never play this game but i do think that our listeners should at least like look this one up because it kind of looks neat man there's a lot of many games going on there it seems quirky it seems well presented again this is a game i'll never

play in a million years but i think there's enough here that this could absolutely interest some people i would agree i think the comedy will also carry it a long way i think it'll get its niche group of fans uh similar to other point and click games where they just kind of they show up every now they're like oh you mentioned that game it's like yes now back in your cave but yeah no it's i haven't played too many point and click games i'm might check it out. It depends how much of cost it releases, honestly. What's your breaking point? $5?

I will pay $15 for this. 15? Okay. That's fair. I would pay 15. All right. I'd probably pay 15. The artwork is nice enough. I would pay 15. Someone had to hand draw all that. All right. This, where do I even start with this game? Hank drowning on dry land.

I have some, you know, experience with that. Just watch our pre-show. You're going to watch our pre-show. Ace almost drowned in real easy, either. Ace almost drowned before the show started, so. All right. So picture this. You're a drunken, time-traveling Batman,

navigating your own subconscious to save yourself. I don't have to picture that, Ace. Oh, is that just your day today? I am Batman. Where is she? Where is she? Why did you say the name? When is she?

Why is she? Oh. We use the word fever dream around here a lot. Yeah. This game's a fever dream. I like this game, dude. I like this game. There's something about this game I kind of like already, man.

This does kind of look a little rad. This game looks awesome, but it is a fever dream. Yes. I love the whole thing of you're bringing like past versions of yourself to help you. So that explains why you can play it in co-op. Yep. I'm also curious, though, if this is going to be just funny or if it's going to like have a rugpole sad moment at the end where you realize

you're an alcoholic so wait can you play this co-op with a friend or is it your play because the title says you're playing at co-op with your past self so is this actually like a co-op game or is it like you just control I assumed co-op with your meant you could play

it with other people I assume the other way I assume that you play it solo but you are controlling your past self and your current self that was my thinking okay maybe it's AI co-op then either way you don't see that not anymore i missed that by the way the art style in this game is great the the the like you said the femur dream weirdness of this game absolutely is like i dude right up my alley like i don't be

don't be playing dude don't be boring like we always say you have to have something that grabs people's attention and this trailer grabbed my attention like it's out there enough that it's like it gets me curious right away and it does have that unique like comic kind of bang pow bam stuff too which which is cool kind of looks fun. Yeah. Yeah, I'm interested to see this one. It does have a demo,

so I may have to check that out. I was going to say, I might actually check this demo out. I was going to say, it's very neat. It's very memorable as far as, like, the visuals in this game and kind of what they're going for.

I really kind of want to know a little bit more about the gameplay on it. And the fact that they're offering a demo is a good sign to say, hey, we want you to experience a little bit of this. So yeah, I think I'm actually,

you know what, I'm downloading the demo right now, boys. Oh, wow, look at that. You know, I'm calling garbage on this with Steam, though, because it says, is this game relevant to you? Similar to games you've played, Metal Gear Solid Delta. Come on. No, they know how to get Ryan. It's the alcoholism.

Yeah, it's, it's, it's a hundred percent the alcoholism. That's what it is. You know, I'll download the demo for this one as well, just because it's just so bizarre. bizarre and out there, but it's it really stands out in the best way. I think so, too. And here's the thing. This does play on time mechanics. And I

think those are super cool because it's like you can do so many really neat things, either via puzzles or action or just like the feel of your game, where it's like you're incorporating your past self and your current self. They show you looking at each other all the time.

At one point, it says like paradox where it's, I think there's certain rules that you can't break when you're interacting with your past self that seems kind of neat you know so i i think there's a depth to this game that we don't see in the trailer at least i hope so but yeah this one i out of all the games you listed this one is the one that grabs my attention the most that's good to know it's good to know that it is finding its audience and honestly it's more broad than i expected yeah i thought i dropped this interview you just both be like what the heck is this no just the katana one just the katana one

Oh, all right. And the, the detective one, huh? Yeah, pretty much. All right, we're going to get through these last two really quick. So there was all, outside of Pax West, there was also an M.I.X showcase on Steam,

which was, oh gosh, what does MIX stand for? Oh, the media indie exchange, which I know does not start with an X. But they showcased two games here that I really wanted to talk about. One being Gigasord,

which is part of my, favorite genre of the Metroidvania. Yep. It does something I really like, though. Similar to one of my favorite platforming games, Shovel Night, it utilizes the weapon as more than just a weapon. It is also

the key to the puzzles. It is part of the platforming, part of the stage breaking. I thought, I love seeing that, dude. I love when you can utilize the weapon as more than just your smash stick. It's funny because I was watching this. It's got the

it's got the synth music you know like 80 synth music going with it it's it just this is like it absolutely captured like the Nintendo Metroidvania Mega man I thought about shovel night when he's wielding this gigantic

sword and I'm like I see why Ace likes this game I think it looks really well done at the same time you know everything about it the combat looks good there's boss fights there's puzzles I mean this literally looks like a complete Metroidvania type game with platforming elements and some combat.

It really looks like a mix of like Mega Man meets Castlevania to me. Honestly, yeah. In a way. And so it's like those are both really, really good titles to reference for your game. So I, it looks really good. This is just, I'm just, if I'm going to play a Metroidvania, I'm going to play Holler Knight or Silk Zone. That's fair. But I will say this was developed by a solo dev for six years as their passion project.

Well, kudos to that dude, because this game looks legit. it was cool yeah for a solo solo dev game and that music dude I was vibed on that yes that's why I was saying I was really digging this like yeah seems like a cool just like I definitely got the Mega Man vibes kind of takes you back a little bit but yeah it seems like it's just a chill kind of kickback

I want to play something different and just kind of reset with a good you know Metroidvania like this I will likely still pick this up even if I'm like still getting through Silk Song I'll probably go to this one right after Of course I will. You can do two Metroidvanias back to back case? I absolutely can do two Metroid vanias back to back. You're a beast.

You're a beast. Metroid madness. I can 100% two Metroidvania's back to back to back. I bet you could. But this game has actually got a release date. It's coming out October 2nd, which, oh, what bad timing. It's coming out before Battlefield. And finally, the last game on the list, rat scumb.

What? What? Yeah, I'm not repeating it. I'll say one more time. rat scum. It is a moody side-scrolling narrative adventure where you play as a rat because I love rats. And you sneak around and solve puzzles. You like scummy rats, ace?

Scum rats, yeah. Oh, scum. Scum rats. Oh, okay. Yeah. I hate you guys. How do you always find games with rats, dude? Well, it's steam, Ryan.

It just said it recommends this because. you like metal gear solid delta and anytime ace is browsing steve it just goes we recommend this because it's got rodents in it man honestly i'm pretty sure if i looked over at it it would have had tails of iron win it too over there ace is it fully in the rodent algorithm now the rodent algorithm similar to these games yeah your algorithm algorithm is my new band by the that's a good one i mean i'll be honest ace this game cool art style otherwise it's does not interest me at all. I didn't think it would. I just wanted to point out because the art style is beautiful. Also, okay, it is a beautiful art style. But like the rat, it is a rat? It's like, something glows. And then it's like, oh, you can interact with this. And I'm like, what? I'm pretty sure the rats got telekinesis. All right. But he activates it by sniffing. Yeah, why not? What's your do? It's going to wave his little rat hands. It's a rat, dude. How many mechanics are you going to pull out? What do you want to do? They don't have a lot of options, bro. I mean, you can't, like, whip something with your tail or something, man?

Like, I don't know. I mean, I just, I'm watching this and it sniffs the air and then some part of the screen. Also, this game looks like it's running at, like, a field of view of, like, 30 because it's so zoomed in on everything. Like, my brain was like, I'm trying to back away from my monitor because it's, like, awkwardly close to everything. And I'm like, can you just zoom out a little bit on this, man? Two steps crosses the screen. Yeah, yeah, so I don't know. I'll never play this game, but...

You know, it's going on my list of rat games that are also indicated. Yeah, keep feeding that algorithm, Ace, you know? They love you. Yeah. They're like, send it to Ace, he'll pick it up. All that tells me is you don't want to sneak through vents and befriend to fellow rodents, so I don't know. Yeah. This rat looks a little husky, too.

That's a fat rat. Oh, it's a fat rat. That's a New York City rat. That is not a, uh, that is not a normal rat. I saw one the other day where this rat was eating a pigeon. Oh, that was crazy, wasn't it? It was, it was pulling a pigeon into a hole. The pigeon's like, ah, ah, ah, and it's like, it is pulling the pigeon into, yeah, into like a pipe hole.

Yeah, you'll have to see it. It's, it was the crazy. Nobody interfered. No, everyone just watched the pigeon. Oh, heck no, dude. I ain't touching those rats. No. Yeah, no, those rats are all stand up and drag you in next.

You're like, no. Some turtles will come and beat your butt. We used to get muskrats up in Pennsylvania when I lived in PX. We'd always play in the woods. I don't know if you guys have ever seen a muskrat, but they're huge, dude. When I say huge, I mean like beaver-sized huge. Holy crap. I didn't know what they were when I was a kid.

I just remember seeing these giant freaking rats and me and my buddies being like, what is that? Then we learned they were muskrats later on. I had a badger chase me once. A badger? That doesn't mean. Aders are nasty. Badgerly.

I was like Well fellas That concludes our Our little indie list there I want to know Did any of these stand out to you the most Like personally The Hank

Hank Drowning on Dryland for me Is the shining standout In this list of games Valor Mortis has a little bit of curiosity For me but I need to see a little bit more Polish Or just a little bit more gameplay To kind of know what it's about

So those two two for me are like the absolute standouts, in my opinion. That's probably the same for me. And then I really am interested to see how much they're going to charge for the sword for the Succini Slayer, because that is going to be comical. If they're, like, in my head, I'm thinking that it would be like $60 or something, and I'd be like, what? Dude, you know how many of these you're going to see a goodwill?

Like, well, none, because this game's not going to catch on number one, because the whole premise is stupid. But if it did, like, you're just going to find these dumb controller swords. It's just lining the shelves of goodwill And nobody can find the games to even play it Because they just discontinue it It'll be like one of those Like relics of time

Yeah Be a collector's in a museum This never release game Anyways, sorry Remember people Wishlist your Indies Wishlist your Indies Wishlist your Indies

Maybe you'll make the next indie with 5 million wish lists They had to start with one every indie game starts with one wish list yeah clearly we're excited for these indies as you could tell but let us know what indies you're excited for that we're maybe not mentioned here that we're on packs west or even on the m ix showcase so if you enjoyed this show i need you do a favor i need you leave us a five-star review write us a review if you're on apple podcast and leave us a comment wherever you are like just say something just say hi it's it's super nice for the algorithm it puts us in people's view and then you could show people the greatest gaming

podcast there is out there which is us if you were curious this is all true and do my polls I put polls on Spotify yeah do Ryan's polls he works on those they're the silliest dumbest polls but I love them so much I laugh to myself every time I type it up and night I'm like you want to see a dumb poll that that is funny it'll make you chuckle just just scroll down a little further make sure you're checking out the polls on the episodes and if you're really enjoying yourself why don't you go ahead and go over to our patreon subscribe it little as five dollars a month get benefits like you would not believe and if you join it the $15 tier you get to vote on what uh game yeah you get to vote on one of us getting hijacked to play a game every month that's crazy

you get control of our lives like that i was going to spill the beans about the game that ryan has to play right now oh yeah you go ahead why don't you talk so ryan is being forced to play dying light which none of us have ever played right have you one yeah okay i'm five hours in Ryan. So I don't know how far in you are, but I actually put some time into this. I am zero hours. Yeah, I know. So, you know. I got time. I got time, brother. But yeah, so Ryan, and this is why we love these hijack a host is these are games that are blind spots to us or that we haven't played that our community votes on and says, hey, we want to make you play this game. They picked Ryan for this one. They picked dying light. I am super curious to see what Ryan thinks about this. I have a pretty good grasp of the game. And I'm going to keep playing it because it's interesting me enough to keep playing it. heck yeah and we'll be able to play together right yeah oh yeah yeah it's and i will absolutely invade you as the the zombie guy now it's really cool though they got um they got an awesome uh discord uh kind of thread set up and everything and they do all the voting and tally all these games up so it's a really cool set up and kind of helps you be part of the show and then helps

you force us to play a game we may like or not like but uh and yeah and speaking of our discord you should definitely go join that as well enjoy the best community and gaming we have out there. The oasis. But thank you so much for listening. And until next time, happy gaming. See ya. Goodbye, all you rats.