Video Gamers Podcast - Indie TWIG: Breaking Down the Boldest Upcoming Video Games – Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: December 4, 2025

Gaming hosts Josh, Ryan and Ace are back with a brand-new Indie TWIG, diving into the most exciting upcoming indie titles shaking up the gaming scene. This week we’re breaking down fresh showcases and early impressions of Cursed Companions, The Time I Have Left, Altered Alma, and more—each bringing something bold, stylish, or downright weird to the world of video games. From surreal time-based adventures to neon-drenched sci-fi chaos, we’re covering the standout concepts that prove indie studios continue to push gaming forward in ways the big publishers never could. We’ll talk about what makes these games unique, why indie hype is stronger than ever, and which titles might quietly become the next cult classics in video games. It’s another packed week of discoveries, surprises, and all the indie-flavored energy you love from This Week in Gaming on the Video Gamers Podcast! Cursed Companions - https://store.steampowered.com/app/3265230/Cursed_Companions BARKOUR- https://store.steampowered.com/app/1920290/Barkour/ Altered Alma- https://store.steampowered.com/app/2190700/Altered_Alma/ Spine- https://store.steampowered.com/app/1731290/SPINE__This_is_Gun_Fu/ Shade Protocol- https://store.steampowered.com/app/3581730/SHADE_Protocol/ The Time I Have Left- https://store.steampowered.com/app/1918830/The_Time_I_Have_Left/ War Rats - https://store.steampowered.com/app/3167260/WAR_RATS_The_Rat_em_Up/   Thanks to our MYTHIC Supporters: Redletter, Disratory, Ol’ Jake, Gaius, Jigglepuf, Phelps and NorwegianGreaser   Thanks to our Legendary Supporters: HypnoticPyro, PeopleWonder, Bobby S. and Dettmarp   Connect with the show: Support us on Patreon: ⁠patreon.com/videogamerspod⁠ Join our Gaming Community: https://discord.gg/vgp 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 wrapping up 2025 with a final indie game showcase. I am your host, Ace, and you heard this right. This is our final indie episode of 2025. Joining me, though, he's seen the Wack. the unhinged, the utterly bizarre world of Indies this year, and yet he still keeps letting me come back to host these. It's Josh.

I thought we were talking about Ryan at first there when you were like the wacky, the unhinged, the bizarre. The wacky, the unhinged, the bizarre. Look, we talk about 2025 being the year of the indie, which it is. There's no question about that whatsoever. But not every game is the year of the indie, because you find some weird games, ace.

Like, you find some weird games, man. You're going to cover those today. Some games might just peak before we really get a chance to play them too. You're just torturing me now. And fresh off of his own indie adventure, he's turned a new leaf in the eye of the indie. He's becoming what some would consider a fan, even? It's Ryan. All indie all the time, right here, baby.

Let's go. Absalon sold me. Absalom's the one that did it. Yeah. It was a combination of Hades 2 dispatched and Absalom that finally turned around. That's a heck of combo, man. That'll make anybody believe in the Indies, man. I would do it, man.

If that wasn't the only Indies I get to play, so be it. Yep, yep, count me in. Our Absalom episode isn't out yet, but, uh, spoilers. Yeah, you get to hear that Monday. You'll get to hear it Monday. So, uh, this is going to be our final indie episode of the year, and I figured why not round it off with one last, you know, hurrah of wacky Indies for us to look at. These specifically came from my feed on X because we actually get quite a bit of interaction with indie devs, which I love.

I love that that's what I really love about Indies is that it's so close-knit and there's always someone there that you can talk to about their game and they're ecstatic to tell you about it. Yeah. It's passion, man. And that's the, this is, not about any devs, is they're passionate about it. They have an uphill battle because, I mean, just like, you know, any content creator, podcast, whatever, like half of the battle is getting people to notice you, you know, in a world with 8 billion people that want to be noticed, to get noticed is very, very difficult. And so, like, to accomplish that is a challenge.

And it's, it's really hard for some people, just because you can develop a game. doesn't mean you're good at social media. You know what I mean? So it's like, okay, well, now I have to figure out how to be good at social media so that people will know about this game that I made so that people will play the game so that they can realize it's a good game so that they can then tell their friends about this game. And that's, that is a bigger challenge than I think a lot of people realize. It's actually kind of funny because I actually know some of these games through X.

Yeah. Through their posts and interacting with their posts and stuff like that. So I was like, when you mentioned. And I was like, wait a minute, this is actually a really good idea. They know some of these games, and I've seen them, and I've talked to them on X. So, yeah, this is a weird mix of games. Some of these look great, A, some of the others. No, I already know you're going to be down on the very first one I want to talk about here.

But just because of how the intro is. You think you know me so well, Ace. I think I do know you so well when the trailer for the game is, oh man guys we're having so much fun playing the game all right that is a pepiva mine but yeah uh we've seen all these games at some point on our x feed because they all interact and uh recently they all kind of came together and congratulations uh congratulated constance on their big release which is why i saw all of these lined up recently yep so i'm very

excited to talk about him so we're going to get right into it with cursed companions which takes I don't know if it's quite friend slot but it's a first person sort of dungeon adventure kind of thing where words will trigger bad things to happen to your

friends. Banana oh Josh is dead no it's words like okay or sure or whatever you have a bad word that can either set off a trap or kill your friend and you can use these words in different

ways to explore this dungeon and crawl through it. But it also had a secondary mode, which is like an Amongus mode called Imposter Mode where you could purposely use your words to sabotage your friends. That's the Josh mode. Yeah, that's true too,

because then you're just running around trolling everybody. So I watched this video, Ace, and you're right. One of my pet peeves is the fake like, oh, we're having so much fun, guys. But here's the thing. For this game, that is the point, because it is showcasing people talking. I actually think this game looks super fun, dude.

Absolutely shocked. I know you are. Surprises of 2025, new entry. There you go. We already recorded that episode. Too bad. I will say this. Like, I think that I, and the reason I said that is we have been saying for a while

that one of the routes that developers can go that we feel like is an untapped, like, accessory is the microphone, right? And so in this game, it apparently has some kind of built-in AI voice recognition because it understands the words that you were saying through the voice chat. But the crazy part is, is that you're running around, I'm assuming working on some cooperative project. I didn't really pick up what that was in the game. I think you're just trying to escape. Maybe you're just, yeah. And so, but at some, like at some point, it's like you can't say can you?

right like if you if you say the words can you it will explode your friend but you need to heal people and you need to ask people for things and you're trying cooperatively work on something so like to walk up and be like hey dude can you heal me and then all of a sudden you just see the person explode i think it's hilarious like this is such a fun take on using the microphone and prohibiting people from saying very common phrases but at the same time they get really stupid with some of the stuff like what was the one where it was I don't know they used some funny phrase

where it was like that's how you had to ask somebody to heal you you know like it was like don't be butt hurt or something like that and then that was the heal I don't know dude I think this is this looks creative it looks basic as far as like the graphics in the gameplay go

but I kind of dig in this angle that they're going with on this that's the thing is it's an angle it is a lot of these games all look very similar kind of as a whole but it's what what makes them stand out what is the difference in the gameplay and that's what this has and um for josh to like it is surprising that is shocker exactly for me too man but like i i think it looks cool man i anything you can sit with your buddies or your friends in play uh and it's just going to be something that kind of lends itself towards hilarity like that's that's what this kind of

of is so I think it looks pretty neat you know it'd be something that I you know if we all hopped on and we were streaming this it would be a great time if we were streaming this and be an all-timer for a stream for sure the other angle to this that I think I'm correct on is that your friends don't know the phrases that you can't say or can say so like at one point in the trailer somebody is trying to cross a pit to disarm the trap you have to say just go ahead like that is your phrase to disarm traps. So the guy is saying, just go ahead to try to disarm

this pit trap, but all his buddy hears is, we'll just go ahead. So his buddy walks right into the pit and dies, not knowing that the other friend was trying to actually help him. But like, and so that is the angle that, like, I literally laughed, like watching this trailer.

And to me, that tells me that this kind of works, you know? Like, if I as a watcher, I'm laughing at what's going on, the shenanigans in- are probably even better and that is what interests me in this game and normally you're right I would be like but I just like the humor and I like the trolling and I like the creativity that the devs have on this one so I'm I'm down to try this one boys all right I'm pulled you to that because I would love to try this I think this is an incredible innovation to these kind of games yeah I agree and I'm super behind it it did for those wondering it did launch an early access on Steam, no current, you know, other releases on console or anything yet, but I think this one's going somewhere. It's under 100 reviews still, but it is a 92% so far as well.

So, yeah, it is doing very well. All right, moving on to our next game, Barcore, which I can hardly get through the name without laughing. Barcore! Barcour! Barcour! Barcour! Is a stealth 3D action platformer where you play as a secret agent canine. You've got a grappling hook. You've got guns.

Oh, you've got jet packs, sniper. You got every gadget in the book in this game, man. You're basically playing a hitman, but as a dog. Dude. What did you guys think of this? Just first thoughts. Why? That was my first thought.

Why? It's just why. Why? I'll be honest. Like, the game, part of this game doesn't look slouchy, man. Like, this actually looks. It looks great. developed like a well developed game

but you made it a dog like why like why and the dog has so many different like things that can be attached to its back it has combat it's got parkour it's got stealth it's got invisible gadgets you've got a jetpack you've got

a like a zip line like this dog is more gadgets than James Bond and it actually looks like a decent game but I can't get past the fact that it's a freaking dog with just this thing strapped to its back and it's like it's distracting for me in a way

I mean but it actually looks like a decent game man it's super well put together it's just like why is this dog doing these things? Yes why a dog man is it just for the pun

do you think it's just for the pun legitimately is it just so you could say the name of this game is barcore the devs probably had a dog that like would jump off stuff and they're like oh barcour and then they just decided to design a game around it. No, I thought the same thing.

I thought like, dang, this actually like looks good, but why is it a dog? You know? It's, it looks amazing. Will I ever play it? No. Yeah. I will never play this game. No.

But it actually looks like a well put. I mean, there's stealth sequences, there's combat sequences, there's parkour sequences. Like, it's got a lot going for it. It's just also looks just a. little too silly for me. Yeah, that's fair. That's completely fair. I will, I will, like, stealth, you could, like, hide in a haystack and stuff.

You know, there's platforming going on, like, grapple hooking, like, between platform. Like, it, this is like an all-around, well-done game. But just why, man? You can drag unconscious guys into the bushes and pee on them. Oh, no. Like, you can't. Dog lifting his leg on the one guy made me laugh pretty hard, man. This is on Steam with a demo, but no current release date.

So if you want to check out BarCore, there is a free demo. So any takers who want to be a super secret agent dog, if that's your dream, go live it. Moving on to a game in my favorite genre, the Metroidvania, which I know, you two, all Metroidvanias look the same. They all play the same. Hey, I got a Metroidvania in my top ten. brother, okay? Yeah, I love them.

The original. Yeah, the actual original. Yeah. The origin of the name. But this is a Metroidvania called Altered Alma, which is a cyberpunk pixel art RPG dating sim Metroidvania, which is a very strange choice to throw a dating sim into a Metroidvania, I will say.

That's a lot in there. It looks really good, though. It is fast-paced. It is action-packed. And it's just really fun to look at. this one looks I will say the art style in this is really neat the fact that they also crammed in some weird dating sim and apparently you you can you can do some stuff because there's a nice yeah there's a nice little cut scene there was like whoa what's going on here um honestly dude this one looks pretty good to me man um like it looks very combat centered like combat forward as far as like some metradvanians are like more like platforming and exploration this one looks much more like it's again like it is combat focused. the cyberpunk vibe, you know, what the pixel art stands out to me.

I don't know that I ever play this game. But it's because also I don't love Metroidvania's, you know, like just right off the rip. But everything I see in this actually looks pretty good, man. This is a very high quality looking Metroidvania. It's got executions. It's got combos. It's got these like teleportation moves that I could barely keep track of.

Yeah. But like there's a lot of mechanics in this that look really. really neat to me. Like, this does look really well done. And again, with the art style and everything, like, it's impressive. And this is just a just Josh personal preference. It's like, I don't play Metroidvania's

very often. And there's actually some other games on your list that I'm more interested in. I think there's another Metroidvania on your list that I think kind of outshines this one in my opinion. So it's kind of like, if I was going to play one, I would play that one. But that's not

slandering this game because I think this game actually looks pretty darn good. What about you, Ryan? What did you think of Alternama overall? I think it looks good. For whatever reason, it reminds me of, you know, when you can, like, get those desktop, like, those animated desktop backgrounds, like on your street. Yeah, I know it's like kind of weird look of that kind of not super, super in depth or

high definition, but it's got that kind of cool, unique look to it, cyberpunk a little bit. Yeah, I mean, this looks neat. Like you said, the combat, it's a little bit more combat forward. as opposed to exploration or you know that type of stuff so yeah it's it's it's unique it's another Metroidvania which I like but yeah we'll we'll we'll see what uh what really comes to be with it it's it's a cool looking game I'll tell you that yeah yeah and it has a demo available on Steam currently as well but still no release date says coming soon at least for this one not to be announced so yeah that's good that gives me hope we're going to hear

something about it pretty soon all right moving on to spine. This is gunfoo. What a weird game, dude. Gunfew for people that don't know is the John Wick style of combat. Like, you know, it's... It has a name? Yeah, dude, gunfoo.

You've never heard gunfoo? I had no idea that had a name. I thought this was just seafood with guns. No, gunfoo is an actual, like, category of, like, combat. John Wick is the most, like, well-known this is all gunfoo. okay that makes so much more sense that's what this is emulating but yeah this is a like

gunfoo cyberpunk game where you play as this woman just beating the absolute crap out of these guys like this looks intense and it looks really freaking good i don't know what you guys thought of the graphics i thought this game looks really interesting to me it is very seafood uh for people that have played seafood it really reminds me of that and kind of like that the the style of the combat. A little bit more realism in the graphics. But yeah, I mean, you know, some slow motion animations and she's like rolling over somebody

and leaping up into the air. The thing that screams at me on this is just the polish, dude. The visuals, the graphics are top notch. The music's really good. Like I said, the slow motion animations are really, really good. It is hyper violent, which is what you would want out of a game you want and gun-foo. Like, I did not know this game.

existed until earlier today but at the same time like if the combat and this is really good and there's a variety of ways to like take people out like this could be really good man yeah especially that that ability like you said that john wick kind of style of of kind of cc like close quarter combat like with the guns and then rolling over guys and jumping off walls and doing all these crazy things to to land your attacks i'm also getting like a i don't know like a vibe of like Teenage Mutiny's Turtles or like Spider-Man like a deep like pretty New York vibe you know

like a there is a grittiness to it like a gritty New York look to it with with the combat I think it I think it's unique I think it looks cool um yeah and like you said Josh I think it does have some polish to it so yeah it's a cool looking game for sure

I this is one where like a demo would sell me on this game like the trailer looks neat but it's like you I really need to get my hands on the gameplay let's check it out see how this resonates but like this is one you know we say this all the time trailers can only do so much like in a game can look really interesting but like this is 100% give me a demo and if I enjoy the demo that will absolutely sell me on the rest of this game yeah absolutely and unfortunately this is the one game that doesn't have yeah I know that doesn't have a demo I know

but I mean like there's a spot where she like kind of drops down shoots him in the foot so then he like falls down and she like catapults over him and then like shoots him You know, and it looks, it's like such a cool sequence and it's like, I'd love to do that in the game. You know, but it's like, how does that play in the game? You know, that's what we always, we got, we got to play the demo. We got to check it out. So I'm excited to see if there's a demo. I would love to see more of this next year.

Like, just give me a demo, give me more gameplay. Show me what you can do with this because you've already impressed me. The mix of guns with melee combat is always fun too, in my opinion, because it really does mix up that kind of style of like, okay, like blast this guy. from a far leg sweep him and like you said Ryan as he's falling down like whip out a pistol and shoot him in the head kind of thing you know where it's like again you feel like John Wick I mean that's what they're going for

and they pull it off like I'm in baby I'm in that's pretty cool yeah right yeah all right well we have a few more indies to cover but it'll be right after your word from our sponsor all right Rocket League players today's episode sponsor is for you if you're serious about ranking up stop grinding

in the dark start learning smarter with trophy.a.ai. Trophy AI gives you real-time feedback that actually adapts to your play style. No more generic, hit the ball better advice. It breaks down exactly what you're doing right and more importantly, what you're doing wrong. With real-time overlays that allow you to fix your mistakes on the fly.

Need to sharpen your mechanics, trophy AI has a massive library of training packs complete with live demos from pro players. You can watch, you can practice, and maybe even learn some of their moves. Plus, there are many games that make training fun instead of a chore. And after every match, you'll get a personalized analysis showing exactly what you can improve on.

It's like having your own Rocket League coach 24-7. You'll see faster improvement, play with more confidence, and actually understand why you miss that crucial save or lost that kickoff. Try it risk-free for seven days at trophy.aI using the code VGP. That's T-R-O-P-H-I-D-A-I. Train smarter, climb faster. All right, we are back, and we are hitting the Metroidvania genre one last time with shade.

Yeah, right. One last time in 2025, okay? All right, there we go. Is that more honest? There you go. We are taking a look at Shade Protocol, which is a souls-like Metroidvania, where the main mechanic is slashing the world in half, which when I say you slash the world in half,

you literally cut the world in half, and it makes platforming through certain areas way more convenient. Yeah, like, because you slash the world, a ledge will now drop down or slide down to where you're alter, so you're actually altering the world by this ability to like slash through it and shift things. bro, number one, this mechanic is super cool. I think this, I don't, I don't, it looks original to me.

I don't know if anybody else has done this, but I will say we always talk about originality and coming up with new ideas. Dude, shade protocol to me is the best looking game on this list by, by a pretty big margin. And I'm not even a big Metraithvania fan, but like there are so many aspects of this game that stood out to me. Like the portals, like, oh my God, there's one point where you get some ability where you throw this like circular like weapon almost and it bounces and then it like sticks to a spot and becomes a portal that you can now activate to either run through but in one part of the trailer they

actually show this big like boss laser thing that was going to obliterate you but you redirect it by having a portal like put down there's platforming there's the whole cutting the world in half and having it shift the graphics look amazing like this game looks really good to me uh it in so many different ways, because they showcase like 10 different mechanics alone, not counting the boss fights, not counting the good art style. I mean,

this game really, it kind of has a little bit of everything, and that really interests me, dude. Yeah, it's got like cyber fantasy vibe to it as well. And one of the things I really liked was they showed how you could throw your weapon and use that as a platform to get the high ground.

Yeah. I thought that was freaking sweet. Which throw, you can when you see that it also shows like the the it may not be the most graphically pleasing but you can tell like the fluidity within the game or your character like you said you throw your your pike against the wall and then as she like kind of loops you see her legs and it's not rigid and just kind of clanky pixelated graphics it looks good like it looks well done when she does that sorry to interrupt but no you're fine this is very well done it is I can't

can't tell if it's like hand drawn or pixel art because it's that's kind of a little bit of both in a weird yeah it's got a weird look of both yeah it's super good and I'm super looking forward to it's uh I would say it's a lot slower and methodical compared to like what we saw in Altered Alma where there was really fast-paced combos but when you compare it to this you have a lot more slower shield based blocking attacks kind of things very soul's like but I don't mind that which one would you guys pick you know Altered Arma or or Shade Protocol oh man because Because I would pick shade protocol in a heartbeat. Like, this one stands out to me. I think I would still pick shade protocol just because of that world slashing mechanic that I've never seen done before. That's what's cool. I think the other one looks. I like the setting in the world of the other one better. But I think this has just, it's weird.

It's like a, it's like a, the look of the game. This has the variety to me. That's the thing that happens to me is like they show like really good like tough platforming parts. They show this world shifting, slashing stuff. They show a lot of combat and boss fights, which looks good. but then like I said they show like using these portals and throwing your weapon and then grabbing it and using it like a ledge you know it just like to me this seems like this game would hold my attention like much better and I'm not trying to throw shade to the other game but it's just like these are this is what you're going up against right when you're an indie dev and you're trying to gather people's attention like we were talking about you kind of have to have these things that draw people in and I think gamers look at this game and they're they're like yeah okay like this seems like a really, really well-done game with a lot of mechanics and a lot of variety to it. That's why they're getting so much attention on.

They are getting a lot of attention on social media too, which is awesome for that. They're doing incredible job. I think people are noticing. I mean, that's the thing we always say. Gamers will notice a good game, and we will talk about a good game, and we will share that with other people. You just need to make a good game, you know, and then the rest will take care of itself. And this, to me, looks like a really good game.

I agree. And that is on Steam as well. No release date, no demo, unfortunately. but be sure to wish list. Be sure to wish list all these. If any of these caught your interest at all wish list. Yeah. And we'll have links to the games that'll just link straight to Steam for people in the episode description.

Yeah. So that you can check those out and easily wish list them and see the trailers and, you know, see what it appeals to you as well. So. All right. We'll get to these last two here. The time I have left, looking at this game, my brain was just confused because I saw, like, a cyberpunk white and purple Expedition 33

mixed with the exploration mechanics of a resonant evil game with the fixed camera the whole story is you have like six hours left to live and you need to escape

from this place but you keep getting reset what did you think of this Josh specifically I want to know what you thought of this I think this game looks incredible dude

and I said that shade protocol looks like the best game it looks like the most complete all around game but I will say that the time I have left

visually is incredible looking, dude. Like, I love this style. There are absolutely Expedition 33 influences in how they present some of this game, which is a huge compliment, by the way. That's a good thing. Yeah, that is a very good thing. I don't quite know what this game is, dude. It describes itself as a time-driven escape adventure with RPG elements, but then they

straight up show some turn-based combat, like Expedition. 33 and they show like moves and blocking and like but blocking parrying yeah but then there's like you're looking around these like kind of the almost nightmarish landscapes and stuff too so i'm very curious about this game dude because it looks really really good i just don't quite know what it is man i mean the good news is if you're curious there is a demo for this one is there is a demo okay There is a demo. I need to check out this demo then because this game visually super impressive. Like artistically, like the way that this trailer shows off stuff, like absolutely piques my interest.

Again, I love turn-based combat. If it's anything like Expedition 33, I'm in. But then there's like the running around the world and looking for clues and mysteries. Like at one point, they're interacting with like a key, like a puzzle and stuff too. So it's like, is it a little bit of everything? thing? Because my brain likes that, man. I love getting distracted with little mini-games and other things. Right up Johnson's out.

That's perfect. Yeah. You know, as much as I was talking well about Shade Protocol, like, the time I have left might be the game that I actually wind up playing. I could understand that. And Ryan, I know you're not huge on turn-based combat, but just like visually. What did you think of this one?

I mean, visually looks great. I love it. It's got just such contrast where you have this crazy gray scale look. that's like a really deep dark world and then you have this bright uh uh like pink and purple hues and like just like you kind of cyberpunk looking and then and then you know you mentioned some of the other games that kind of uh it looks like so yeah this one for me i i'm not a big fan of turn base but from what i can see here this looks really unique i i am intrigued i will say that

in my eye. I am definitely intrigued. I will keep my eye on this. I'm not a big fan of turn base, but that doesn't mean that will negate me from playing any in all turn-based games. Like, if it's good, it's good, you know, and that's the bottom line. So, yeah, it's definitely one. I clicked it in there to throw the demo in my library. So it's, it's in there. And I want to, I want to take a P for sure. I will absolutely be checking it out. See, that says something if Ryan's willing to check out a turn-based game. looks really impressive man like that's kind of the thing is again you know take click the link in the description watch the trailer you'll see what we're talking about but yeah this it's a really

neat and interesting looking game that's got my attention and that's exactly what a trailer should do um i actually just wishlisted it because i also want to try the demo on this one um and i'm reading through some of the stuff like you know the time plays a factor they're talking about like it's definitely turn-based combat sorry ryan um you know but it's It's like they're talking about that there are, you know, puzzles and secrets in this game, you know, you get visions of death that are like might have clues in them and stuff like that. And I love a little bit of puzzles in a game as well, different skill sets and skill trees and things like that, which is all right up my alley also. So this one looks like a, like a possibility, man. That's a winner.

Yeah. Yeah, we don't have a ton of info on this one because it is relatively new, I would think, because I hadn't heard anything. until I saw it on our X-Feed. I will say this, this doesn't look like an indie game to me. Like, like, it looks like a full-fledged, like, really, really well-done, well-developed game that stands kind of above what you would expect for, like, indie visuals and... Which is what we were saying in our, like, surprise episodes, like, about, like, the, like, indies don't really look like indies anymore.

Like, there's certain ones, but a lot of them, a lot of them look really good, dude. It looks really good. Like, it doesn't, like, it doesn't match what my brain thinks when I think indie game. This isn't an indie. What are you talking about, you know? All right. Let's wrap up our 2025 with a game about rats, guys. Let's talk about,

let's talk about war rats, the rat-em-up. It's a shoot-em-up with rats. You can't change the words that much in a pun. It's not a pun if the words don't make sense, okay? And like, are they going for beat-em-up? Because guess what? Rat and beat only share one, well, I guess two letters, and that's A and T. But that's not a pun, people.

You can't stretch it that far. There are rules to puns that must be observed, and you can't do that. Are you telling me that rats can't be having a rat? You can't use rat as a verb. No. Well, you can rat somebody out. Nice, yeah, there, there you go. But snitches get stitches, too, so you should never do that either.

So, you know, the Tommy guns, they go a rat tete, tat, tete, tete. Oh, okay, that's fair, but that's not a verb. That's an adjective. That's all the time we have for today, ladies and gentlemen. Yeah, this is a shoot-em-up mixed with a tower defense game where you play as like hyper-realistic drawn in rats. It looks ridiculous as all get out, but it is. It is something to behold if you come check the trailer. Ace, I have made it all episode without heavily slandering a game.

Uh-huh. You know, that's fine, which is, I think people have come to expect on these indie episodes. And I just got to slander this one, man. This game looks bonkers, dude. Like, number one, I hate the way the rats look, okay? Like, I don't like the way that the rats look. They look too real or weird. They're too big compared to, like, the background and stuff.

Like, I, I, dude, what's weird is I've seen this game before prior to you bringing it up, I've actually seen this trailer or this game. and I remember kind of just laughing and going, what the heck is this? Like, it's just weird, dude. It's just weird, dude, look at the picture I just sent you. They're like stormy like Nazis. Yeah, that made me laugh way too hard.

Yeah, I don't, I'm not digging this one, man. I'm not going to lie. Sorry to the developer, but something, I know you love rats ace, but there's something about. Well, you don't like, like, warrior rats with like, I don't actually, is this supposed to be contra? Like, it's like a side-scrolling shooter? Like, all of contrary?

But it looks, I hate the rats. I hate the way the rats look in this game. Josh, it's not made for you. It's for rat lovers. Well, apparently, because it got A's to put it on our show. Yeah. Hey, it's also overwhelmingly positive right now with recent reviews. It is recent reviews, 95% overwhelmingly positive and 96% of all reviews.

Maybe I'm a big, dumb idiot. And this game is awesome. you don't understand the appeal of rats that's besides the point no did you see the two they got like an ATAT that's like a rat did you see the reference to the merchant from Resident Evil four I did yeah what are you buying oh man I don't know I do like tower defense games so that part like appeals to me this game's probably way better than I am giving it any credit yeah I think I think all I know is I'm just super off put by this for some reason man well these four one is out now everyone you can play rat or war rats and it's on steam and on sale currently so look at that 30% off 8% off till December 4th it's probably worth 8 dollars to be honest it's probably worth 8 bucks like especially if you watch like the live broadcast can you say that one josh is that acceptable rattastic rattastic no that's still stretching it that's dumb too oh that's not stretching it What does fan and rat have in common?

They're both three-letter words so I can use anything. They both have an A in them. Yeah. Yeah, there you go. Look, guys, we have to preserve the sanctity of the pun. Okay, we can't just start throwing things around all willy-nilly and calling it a rat-em-up when it's like, that's just dumb. Maybe that's why I don't put on this. You try too hard for your pun, mister.

You have to give flexibility. Otherwise, it's not punny. Yeah, you can't find puns if you're not flexible with it. All right, guys. That is all the games we're going to cover. So just to recap, that was cursed companions, barcore, altered Alma, looks good,

spine, this is gunfew, shade protocol, looks fantastic, the time I have left. Looks super fantastic. And war rats, the rat I'm up. I wanted to say every single one of those names, like I was announcing the Game of the Year nominee. Like I'm Jeff Keeley,

standing up on stage, holding up my little document. One of these is not like the others. Sorry, war rats. And the nomination for Game of the Year goes to War Rats, the Ratum Up. Oh, God. That's right, just turn the TV off. Just click. I give up.

No more podcasting and gaming for me. But I'd say that is not a bad lineup to end our year with, fellas. That is not bad at all. I mean, dude, you got my attention on a few of these. Honestly, curse companions, let's try it, boys. I'm in. I agree. I think we should try it.

Legitimately, I'm in on that one. And I think that would make for a good fun night. Altered Alma looks really good. I think is barely edged out by Shade Protocol. Spine looks, okay. That game looks crazy. The time I have left is easily the one I'm most curious about in this list. Yeah, it's a good looking game.

Wishlisted that one. And then, sorry, war rats. I'm sure there's, you know, the rat people out there love you, but I'm not a rat person. So. Hey, patrons. I have a job for you for January. I'm not a big whiner like some people around here I'll play whatever game people pick for me

But if any, I'll get a recap here If any of these games interested you Be sure to wish list them Support the devs in that way if you can't It means so much to them And it will mean a lot to you When you get the notification that a game you wanted to play It's out now

You could go play it and you'll probably get it for 10% off If it's on Steam Because they always do that So that is all for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. Be sure to rate our podcast five stars on Spotify if you're over there. Leave us a review. If you are on Apple podcast, five stars there as well.

Don't just leave a review and put it at one star like I did. You'll be, you'll get made fun of for the rest of your life. No, never. You'll get made fun of for the rest of your life. We have a Patreon. If you want to go that extra mile and show us some support, little is $5 a month.

It means a ton to us. You get a bunch of money. fun and extra content and you know you just get to be the cool kid with the colored name tag when you join our Discord we have a Discord by the way that's a great segue way our Discord is full of fantastic gamers just like you be sure to join it

you're missing out if you aren't but until next time happy indie gaming Barcore Barkour that you do? Wait do you have to bark when you barker yeah you didn't I'm not barking on the internet okay wait a minute okay that's a good pun Barcour!

That would make sense! Radamup does not make sense. Thank you. Perfect, perfect analogy. See ya. See you, everybody.