Video Gamers Podcast - Indie TWIG: Hidden Gems & Gaming Surprises – Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: February 26, 2026

Gaming hosts Josh, Ryan and Ace are diving headfirst into the indie side of gaming in this week’s Indie TWIG (This Week In Gaming)! From early impressions of the Denshattack and Darwin’s Paradox demos to spotlighting this month’s indie releases like Super Battle Golf, Starsand Island and Mewgenics, the guys break down what’s worth your time and what surprised them most. If you love discovering bold, creative video games and keeping up with the ever-evolving gaming scene, this episode is for you. It’s a tight, high-energy roundup of the freshest indie video games you won’t want to miss!    Darwin's Paradox https://store.steampowered.com/app/2989180/Darwins_Paradox/    Denshattack! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2524850/Denshattack/    Schrodingers Cat Burglar  https://store.steampowered.com/app/2111550/Schrodingers_Cat_Burglar/    Divinum https://store.steampowered.com/app/1148130/Divinum/      Thanks to our MYTHIC Supporters: Redletter, Disratory, Ol’ Jake, Gaius, Jigglepuf, Phelps and NorwegianGreaser, and Dettmarp   Thanks to our Legendary Supporters: HypnoticPyro, PeopleWonder, Bobby S.   Connect with the show: Support us on Patreon: ⁠patreon.com/videogamerspod⁠ Join our Gaming Community: https://discord.gg/h2cHKAvSmu 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

Oh, fellow gamers, and welcome to the Video Gamers podcast. February quietly turned to a stacked month for indie games, surprise launches, long-awaited releases, and demos stealing our time just before NextFest. So today, we're doing a little bit of an indie check-in, breaking down what drop this month and what game demos managed to sneak their way into our radar just before NextFest kicked off. I am your host, Ace,

and joining me is the man who's ready to tell us all which February Indies were hidden jams. and which ones probably were hidden for a reason. It's Josh. Most of them should be hidden. Most of them should be hidden. You're such a party poop. There's a few good ones in here.

But I'm just going to start off. I teased this the other day. Ace made me play a few demos. And he was like, Josh, did you play your demos? And I was like, yes, I did. And then I promptly started whining about the demo. and then A started trying to defend them

and I was like no no but apparently I missed out I didn't even make you play like a bad demo there was no like ugly games we were like my eyes

I'm gonna get you both if you say anything about that game I will have you know all right but also joining us a guy whose favorite indie demo

he played was Diablo too yeah it's Ryan Diablo? Diablo is life? I love it. I feel like that's the only thing I know you constantly are playing 24-7.

Oh, yeah. You just got a Diablo. It's 25 years later and they're releasing new content. What? I'm in. Yeah, that's kind of insane, honestly. I have props to Blizzard, honestly, for that. The best indie company ever. The best indie company? I got it. I got it. Is it really been 25 years?

There's no way. For sure. No, no. Diablo. way Diablo 2. Diablo 2, I think, was 98 or 99, and Lord of Destruction was 0.1, I think. Although I think you're right, because I still remember the battle chest, like the actual

box. If it was 98, it's more than 25. Because I'm 25, and I was born in the year 2000. There's no way. There's no way. So Diablo 2 was released. Okay, so Diablo 2 was released June 29, 2000. Okay, so yeah, I'm the same age as Diablo 2, dude, that's wild.

Let's see when LOD was released. So one year later, June 27th, 2001. Hey, guys, remember when they, like, release stuff within, like, a year or so of games? That doesn't happen. That was 20. Madness. Six years old, dude? Yeah, man.

Bro. I remember actually bringing my computer to my cousin's house, and then we would sit up and play land, and then we were so stoked because then it was offline, and we could just, like, cheat and hack and, like, just dupe items. and do all the fun stuff and just play crazy. And I'm doing the same stupid stuff now. It's a good game's a good game, man. Just like your movie.

A good game never dies, I guess. Yeah, there you go. But now that we're done talking about our favorite indie game Diablo too. Right. February ended up being kind of a massive month for really big indie games that people were pretty much really awaiting, honestly. And we didn't really get to touch on a ton of games this month. outside of the one big release in January, which was Cairn,

we got kind of obsessed and hooked on Cairn for a bit. Rightfully so. I wanted to check. Is Mugenics the biggest indie release of February, do you think? Yeah, I would say. Yeah, 100%. I would give that to Muggenics. Like, I'm looking at your list, and it's like, you know,

Muginics is on, like, I know three of these games on your list days. Actually, I know four, but one doesn't really interest me a whole lot. Well, one is not for you in the slightest. No, no, no, I'm not even talking about that one. But it's just weird because I look at this list and I'm kind of like, Mugenics is the only game on this list where I'm like, that's the game. That's the one. And then apparently our community is super crazy over one of the games you're going to mention.

So that might be the other one. Yeah, I'd say those are two of the big ones. Honestly, the one above that is also pretty big, which we'll get to. We're being very, we're very like reference, reference, reference. But the first game we'll talk about here. is Star Sand Island, which was on February 1st. Oh, goodness. What just happened there?

Yeah, man. Oh, no, when I see somebody else, I, uh, uh, a reaction, man. Sorry, guys, I don't know what happened there. Oh, gee, man. It couldn't be because this is an anime cozy game. With my microphone messed up.

What is happening? That was weird. Dude, Ryan, you, you sound funny too, man. know what's going on. Yeah, it's some, some fuzzy thing with the audio air. It falls. Anyway,

Star Sand Island was a very looked forward to cozy farming sim, life sim building game with, you know, even some combat elements, which was the funniest thing in the trailer when you're watching this,

and then suddenly you're in a dungeon fighting things. But it launched into early access and it is already very positive with only about 1,900 reviews. It's doing very well. It's got fishing. Paul love it. Yeah, it's got fishing.

It's got combat. It's got farming. It's got roller skates. If that's what you're into. Here's the thing. And it even looks good. The, the very first thing I did when I started watching this trailer is was I literally

went to Google and put Star Sand Island Nintendo Switch. Because this is the game that my wife would absolutely love. Like, we have been on the fun for a good cozy game for her. Like, you know, she finds a game. she loves it, she plays it a bunch, and then she beats it, and then she gets sad because she's like, well, now I don't have anything to play. And it's like, this game would be so up her alley, and I don't think it's on the switch, unfortunately. Not yet. I believe it's PC only for now. You promised her the world, and then Steam decks sold out. Yeah, she's been, she's been kind of dropping,

what is it, Pokemon, Pocopoeia? Pocopia. Pocopia. Yeah, that's only on Switch, too. Yeah, and then she sends that to me literally this morning, and then I wrote back and I went Switch 2, baby, with a frowny face. And then she was like, no, why? And then I was like, because they're trying to sell you a Switch 2. Yeah, that's the reason. You can't put that game on the Switch. Come on, man.

Oh, they could. They just really need to sell some more Switch 2 consoles. This game, look, for a cozy game, this game looks fantastic, dude. It does. It looks very well done. I can't believe I just said that, guys. I will never utter those words ever again. this show, by the way.

Clip that chat. Chat, clip it. Clip it right now. That's not how podcast. Oh, we've been streaming too much. Yeah, we've been stream a little too much. I will say, I agree with Josh. It does, it's not my style for sure, but it looks very well made.

It looks like it will play well. And I'm sure this will be a very niche, but beloved game, for sure. Yeah. I think the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, cozy game people are eating pretty good with this one honestly this is and with it being an early access and them adding tons of stuff to it almost like a live service game

I think they're gonna just keep enjoying it too which is great for them heck yeah yeah moving on to a game we've actually played uh and that we have a review coming out Monday so and I know you're wondering where's the Mugenics review why isn't on the indie episode we moved it to Monday yeah figured that was big enough release that

it warranted yeah a Monday it needs a Monday oh what the heck what Ryan had a Ryan had a hairball. What? Oh, sorry. No, you gotta do the, you gotta do the, the,

oh God, no, this is not the ASMR people want. Josh, no. That's a wrong episode. That's a wrong ASMR. Knows that sound, man. That is the dreaded sound when you're like up at the middle of the night.

Oh, at 3 a.m? Oh, yeah. Yeah, and you're just like, mm-hmm. Yep. That'll wake you from a dead sleep. Oh, absolutely. Like you could be like out, out, and you hear that sound,

you just rise like Dracula. Dude, straight up like. Like two, three months ago, our cat was doing that. And like, she was still on the tile.

And I never sprinted so fast across my living room in my life. And I'm just like this running with the cat in the arms. I'm like, no. Go look over here. And they don't stop yak and when you take them off. They keep killed. You just film people.

Yeah. But yeah, anyway, Muggenics is a massive. release. It's a turn-based tactics game. This episode's crazy already, me. Oh, this episode's already going off the rails. I've lost control. But I don't care. It's whatever. This is us. You can't control us. You don't come here for

just news. You come here for us. So. But you know what Mugetics is at this point. I don't really have to explain that. I do believe it is only on PC, though, which is kind of surprising to me. Yeah, this is like the perfect handheld game too. I'm sure. This would have been perfect on Nintendo Switch. Yeah, exactly. may not align with the Nintendo branding, but I think it would be perfect. And they can't charge $80 for it. So maybe that's the issue.

Yeah. Well, moving on, that came out in February 10th. So February 10th also had another release that I was actually looking forward to quite a bit. And I didn't end up picking it up, unfortunately, which was Creasol Theater of Idals. That was the sort of survival horror game where you used your life bar in order to refill the guns and fight against the enemies. it's set into the Spanish town filled with the automaton's and things like that it was super cool

and it reviewed fairly well 81% on Steam right now I've heard good things I've seen some talk of this on like on social media and people seem to be enjoying it man it seems like a really well done game I'm actually a little sad that it doesn't have

more like hype behind it because I feel like this game is probably better than what the reviews and sales have been Yeah, I think so, too. I think it's just the lack of, I don't even want to, I guess lack of advertising and just how many other things are in this month as well. It was kind of people picking between meogenic and creesol. It's $18, too, guys.

This is not like a $18. That's the thing. It's only $18. Cresol is $18, man. If you're in the mood for, now here's the problem because a lot of people equate this to like, you know, Resident Evil. And then we've got Requiem coming out literally tomorrow. That is, yeah. I mean for 18 bucks though

I mean even if you even think if you even think you would enjoy it picking it up and just sticking it in your library to get to eventually got a paddabs had that backlog listen to A is promoting a backlog here he's like just put it on your backlog people bro I'm getting ready to buy the entire

Resident Evil collection on Steam and put it in my backlog don't even enjoy it oh here we go you can go back and play number one like Dr. Joe Nasty I got to start at zero first but yeah All right. We haven't actually brought this game up at all, which is surprising because a lot of people actually link me this game.

It's a game called Roadside Research, which launched in February 12th. This game's weird. It is a one to four player game where you basically roleplay as aliens running a gas station. It's one of those sim games, which I've never been super into like the supermarket sims and the card sims and things like that.

But these games sell like hotcakes. People love these things. For me, this would just be me going back to work. It's like, set those tags. What are you doing? You're like, I'm trying. Set the prices. Come on.

What are you doing? Set the prices, back the groceries. Another cheap one, too. This one's under 12 bucks. Under 12 bucks launched into early access because they're not done with it, obviously. But it's also viewing fairly well, I will say. Yeah, I thought this was going to. At 85%.

I thought this was maybe going to be like a Schedule 1 type game where it's like there's a lot of depth to the actual gameplay. A lot of the reviews I'm reading and stuff are basically people saying like this is like a supermarket simulator. It's a supermarket scene. Right. And that there is the weird you're an alien and you have to not get caught being an alien, but that's really not a large part of the game. So the kind of overwhelming response that I see at least is like it's a well done supermarket simulator game. Yeah. People really enjoy. these kind of games. Like, it's not for me, obviously, because I work in a supermarket and I live that life. But people really do enjoy these kind of games. So this is a very well-done one.

And I also do like the little detail that you draw your face on that paper. So I was seeing clips on YouTube with people who had like drawn Goku's face over the paper. Oh, that's really? That's pretty neat. That's a neat. That's a neat little feature. But yeah, that came out on Steam as well. And this one, this is a pretty hotly anticipated game for a lot of people as it's a sequel to another game. This is Demon Tides, which launched February 19th. This is a really strange 3D platformer where it's all about that shmovement baby.

It reminds me of the old like GameCube-esque platformers. Yeah, it's almost like a, it's like a speed running kind of parkourish movement-based game thing. Yeah. I mean, it's an open world, like, Wind Waker style as well. They've kind of meshed all these things together, like a Sonic game and Wind Waker and Mario into this incredible 3D look 3D platformer. Yeah.

I, it definitely, I love, I love the speed run element to it, the fact that it looks like that. Anyone that watched the stream of me playing, uh, for Life of Goldman, you playing Goldman shows that, uh, I just want to just run. And so anything that I can. do that in, I'm always drawn to. So this one's an interesting one for me. You know, I may check it out. It's not, you know.

There's a demo. It does have a demo, free demo. That's what I was going to say. It's currently only 20 bucks. I almost tried this demo. And then I went, no, let me try these other two demos. And I may regret that. I said I wish I didn't try those demos.

I may regret. Maybe I wish I had tried Demon Tides. We'll get to the demo section. All right. We have to get through the recap here. But, yeah, demon Tides. launched February 19th. Looks cool.

96% on Steam. Pretty good. Yeah. It's doing pretty good. For those who've played it, they really enjoyed it. Cool. And finally,

the hottest game to hit our server in a little while, honestly. They love it. A game called Super Battle Golf, which launched in February 19 as well. Have you guys ever wanted to play like Wii Sports Golf and then shoot the guy next to you?

Yes. We can just have a habit. You just pull a hand. Or just run them over with your golf cart. Run them over with the golf cart. That's basically what this is. It's like a golf free for all. And honestly, I'm there for the chaos for this one.

Let's make golf more exciting. Hold on. No, no, right. Golf is the dumbest game ever. No. That's only because you suck at it. You're not good. No, no, no.

The only people that don't like golf are people that aren't good at golf. Let's take acres and acres of land for a ball is this big. You know what I mean? And then what are we going to do with this teeny little ball? We're going to hit it with a long stick. It's golf is done. Just, just because I can hit the ball two football fields to five feet from a pin and you can't, doesn't mean it's dumb.

No. It just means that you're not good at golf. The game itself is dumb. Oh, and then let's talk about the cost of golf too. You know, your clubs are. I will, I will join you on that one. Yeah. It's way too expensive.

Why do you get golf in the summer? Like it's 20 bucks and there's nobody on the course That's why I like summer golf in Arizona This super battle golf has taken over part of our Discord server People loved it so much that they were like guys we will gift copies of this game If more people want to play with us They want a community day or night of it Oh they do

Let's all play It's an eight player golf game where it's just absolute chaos I feel like this is one of those weekend And I don't want to call this friend slop because honestly I'm like I don't love that term anymore. I hate that term too, yeah. I tire of that term. So, but it's like, this is a weekend game for me, right?

Where it's like, yes, you're going to laugh. You're going to have fun. You're going to log in on Friday night. You're going to play it Saturday. And then by Sunday afternoon, you're probably going like, okay, cool. That was, that was fun. But what's up next to me? Yeah, well, that's what I was going to say.

So how many hours do you anticipate that being, Josh? That would be like what, like probably like four or five, six hours. You know, you go see a movie. It's 15 bucks. You know, you do this 630 and you get to play with your friends and have a good time. And then, you know, it's, that's the cool thing about these is, is that then the developer makes their money. The game gets more popularity. It's got over 1,600 reviews overwhelmingly positive.

And everybody has a fun, good time and then, you know, move on to the next thing, which is totally okay. Oh, it absolutely is. Like, honestly, pricing this game at $6 is genius at the same time, you know. Yeah, it's a weird thing because it's like, yeah. Yeah, it's just weird because like my brain goes like, I need to dive into this game. If I'm going to buy this game, I need. And then it's like, no, you don't have to do that, dude. You can have fun for a night.

$6? That's like a, my kids love boba. Think about it. They spend like $8 on a boba and that thing's gone in 30 minutes, man. You know what I mean? So it's like six bucks to have a blast with your buddies and laugh. Like that, what better way to spend $6? Yeah, yeah, genuinely.

And I mean, it's 96% positive on Steam already. Oh, people love this. game, dude. People love this game. This game is hotcakes right now, and I can see why. All right, we're done with the recap for the month.

So that means we get to get to the demos. Right after this break. All right, we are back. Time to look at the demos that managed to find their way in front of us just before Next Fest kicked off, which means next episode will be

all about them Next Fest demos, baby. Starting off, the one I made Josh play, which is Darwin's paradox. His favorite game ever. Highly anticipated stealth game where you play as an octopus. This is highly anticipated?

This isn't people's highly anticipated for somebody. The year, bud. Really? Yeah. I mean, I do love octopus, dude. I think octopuses are one of the most fascinating creatures on our planet, dude, like legitimately.

You can't carry a game by being an octopus. I don't. I don't even know what to say because it's like this is it's a it's like it's a weirdly like well-developed game. Like honestly like the graphics, what, you know, you said we found these demos. I was going to joke that you shove these demos down our throats and made us play these. And I and I looked at this one and I went, well, at least this game has good graphics and the movement and stuff looks neat. And I like octopus.

So, okay. here's the problem that I have is like you just go left and then you go right and then you go left and then you go left and then maybe you go right but then like maybe you got to stop for a light because you can't get caught this is a stealth based octopus game which is a stealth based octopus game with puzzles

you never played a self-based octopus game before I mean I apparently not you know this is a new genre for me. And look, I like a little bit of stealth in my games. I've said this time and time, but I don't like full stealth games. And when your gameplay is basically go left, stop, wait, wait, okay, go left, go left for a row. Okay, okay.

Oh, no, wait. Wait, go left. Okay, now you can just go left. Okay, now you can just go left. And then, oh, no, there was a can that they hit on the ground. And now I'm dead. And I got to go back 60 seconds in my gameplay and wait at that same light. okay wait for the light

okay now go left okay now okay jump over that can oh and there's another can so now I'm gonna go back again and then go okay wait for the light okay go left to me this just dude I was so bored of this game

within like 30 minutes dude like that's fair I guess is a skill issue this is all it is more gameplay because like I'm an octopus there were puzzles were there was the puzzle jumping over the can because like I beat that puzzle like that's the puzzle

all I know you know setting off distractions there's a picture of old snake from metal gear solid four and then the octopus is in a box so just on that alone I'm in because this is a Konami game so I'm in baby yeah this is basically MGS but with a octopus it's not MGS because the NGS has so much more gameplay to it where you can sneak around and you can shoot people and you can capture people and you can do all this. This is literally just go left, wait for a light, now go left again. Now climb this box. Now wait.

Now go left. Okay, now you can climb into a vent. Now, guess what, guys, you get to go right now because now you're in the vent. So now you get to go right. That was it, man. And maybe there's more to this game. But when you give me a demo and your demo is literally go left and go right and stop and wait, like that for me, you also had to hide from a seagull.

You did have to hide from a seagull. That was some riveting. Bro, if I was an octopus, I would mess a seagull up. I do feel like, I know, I do feel like that. Yeah, I don't know how a seagull grabs an octopus with its feet, but I guess that does happen. It's like, get over here, bro, and he's got like, I mean, you got eight, eight limbs to mess with. Like, come on. Yeah, I think there are some improvements that the game can make.

I do like the direction of using an octopus as a stealth protagonist with their ability to, you know, blend into their environments and stick to the ceilings and the walls and things like that. but it it didn't quite sell me 100% either I can't even I can't even pick on you that much about it The hard part is is

just pure stealth versus like stealth with combat That's the thing You need to find a balance Because if you're only stealthing You're gonna get bored real fast Yeah that's what like A lot of those other ones

Metal Gear Solid Ciphon filter A lot of those did that very well thief But yeah It's like Cooper Yep there you go Yeah All right moving on to the next one which was Denschatak, which we have talked about before.

This is the crazy train game, which after playing it, I could say with confidence, that's what it is. It is a crazy train game. It felt like a mix of a Sonic game and a Tony Hawk game where you're just driving this stunt train along the tracks and doing as many tricks as possible to rack up a massive score and beat the other opponents. What did you guys think of this one if you both checked this one out? Yeah. Ryan. I thought that if I liked mobile games, like this should be a mobile game. Incorrect.

And then maybe I would play it. Removed from my indie episode. Oh. Oh, no. Wow. Ryan's so much higher on this game than I am. No, it's just, it's, it's, it's, you're, you're literally just like cruising down and you got like, flip to the other track, flip to the other one, jump over the, the, the, the, the, whatever obstruction is in your way. I just.

Did you get to, like, the point where you could. combo into moves and get skills and things like that and drift? Yeah, no, I got to the drifting, yeah, definitely. And, um, I mean, uh, this is another highly anticipated indie game for the year, by the way, guys. Yeah, Ryan, genuinely, it's highly anticipated, Ryan.

I'm not joking. Like, this is highly anticipated. Uh, so I was, for Ace, we got, uh, he tries so hard. He does. No, no, no, here's the deal. Is that he does. He just so hard and he fights these games and they're highly anticipated and stuff like that.

And there's a lot of people, I'm sure, that really love this stuff. To me, it's like why, you know, why would I play something like this when I could, you know, and not to take anything away from what they did in their work and their, and all the effort they put into it. What you could tell was a lot. Like it wasn't, it didn't play bad. It just, it's just not, you know, it's just a goofy, premise and a crazy thing that I would never want to play is all.

Oh, man. I, Ryan, so much more tactful than I am because, like, dude, this game. I was excited for this game, dude. I remember when we covered it. And I'm like, this game looks awesome. And then I started playing it. And I went like, hey, like, Atari wants its game back. You know what I mean?

Because, like, this is like, this is like, this is like, this gameplay is like 30 years old, dude like the the ultra repetitive same old gameplay thing is not is not a modern like thing anymore dude and like i look i mean i grew up playing sonic dude like sonic changed like gaming and and you know so do's where it's where you know you got to give sonic it's dues but then when you release a game in 2026 where literally your gameplay is press jump now go to the other track now do a stun in the air to get a high score now jump over this obstacle now jump back to the other track like the first 10 minutes of this game i was like okay well this is like okay i get the premise of this game but then it just became like oh i jumped at the wrong time and i flew off the track okay well i can drift around this corner

but it became like a piano simulator almost where it was like okay well you have to jump but then you got to switch tracks now you got to twill your stick in the air to get some points and then you got to land on the track but then you have to hold the right trigger to drift when you're going around a curve, but then you got to push the left trigger to do something. It just like, it just became the most repetitive gameplay, like, ever. It's a kids,

it's a kid's game to like learn, like, math or something or, or reading. I don't understand the, like, the appeal in this type of game anymore because nobody wants to go for high scores. Like, nobody. I mean, there is still an appeal for these kind of games because we're still getting Sonic games. And all Sony games are like this.

That's just beating Sonic to death. That's more nostalgia than anything, I think. Like, I don't know. That's what this is trying to be is a nostalgic game. I was excited for it. But at the same time when I started playing it, I literally went like I was 15 minutes in. And then I just went like, dude, I don't understand the point of this game anymore. Like, there's no.

Like, what's the fun? Did you ride the Ferris wheel? Oh, like, no. Because everything was like at that point. It's like, okay, well, I've drifted like 18 corners. I've hopped tracks from one track to the other, back and forth. back and forth. Don't jump here because it's a tunnel and then you'll crash. I don't know, man. The repetitive style of gameplay that we grew up on, like legitimately like we grew up playing

these type of games, dude, they just don't hold me anymore. And maybe that's like evolution of gaming. Maybe it's my old man brain that's just tired of like, I grew up with this so I don't want it anymore kind of thing. And I know that there's people that like this style of game. But man, Denshetak was not what I was thinking it was going to be. My son would probably love. of this. You'd have a good time. And that's, that's fine. And that's okay. Like, and that, you know, if that's what it's kind of geared towards, that's fine. But just for me, it's not, it's not something that I would, I would, uh, I would be. Dude, when you have tasted like filet mignon, you don't want, like, just cheap sirloid anymore. You know what I mean? And I feel like,

when you have experienced games like, like Eldon Ring and Red Dead 2 and like, and then you get the game where it's just like, hey, try for a new high score. And then I'm just like, No, I don't want to do that. Like, I could be doing this. So, I don't know. Yeah. This didn't land for me is the short answer. We're honest here, and that's, those are honest opinions, even if they're wrong.

Get them in the comment section. So you really liked it? I did. I enjoyed it. That's cool, man. I like, I mean, I enjoy, like going for high scores and things like devil may cry, where the whole point is just to keep your combo up. Yeah. Like, there's no other point than, you know, get the S rank, get the P rank or whatever for not

killing any enemies in the stage and getting there as fast as possible. Challenges like that are fun for me. So seeing how fast I could get through the tracks in this game, while also pulling off as many tricks as possible and gathering the collectibles on the tracks, was cool. I thought it was really neat, especially in one of the levels where you take off, you ride the Ferris wheel, you get to crush a bunch of satellite dishes, and then you have to try to outrun a volcano as it's erupting.

So it was cool things like that, set pieces like that that that made this game kind of stand out to me. But I understand it's not for everyone. That's totally fine. This next one, though, I don't think either you got to play this, but it's Schrodinger's Cat Burglar, which is a fun little puzzle game where you play as a cat that's able to split into, like,

reality and unreality, essentially. And it's basically like Portal with Cats, essentially. Yeah, that's literally how they describe their game, is we are Portal with Cats. Portal with Cats. And it kind of, it plays off the idea of, you know, Schrodinger's cat where if you put a cat in a box with no holes

in it and it dies is the cat dead or not if you don't see it basically isn't like a quantum physics type thing? Yep, your observation determines the outcome because your observation determines the outcome which is part of the gameplay mechanics. So when you split the cats apart if one cat's being

observed the other cat that you're playing as is now able to walk through walls and things because it is now quantum or something. Yeah, it's got a lot of really cool mechanics. I found it very good. I played through the entire demo. I should have played this one. I should have played this one because I like puzzle

games too. It was a really good puzzle game too. It was like new genics. I've been playing me genie and I was like this is too much cats. Like Ryan's going to pick on me for liking cats. And so I had to go with the cool looking bus train thing instead and you know, because I could feel Ryan's judgment on me. You know, I should have just played the other cat game. Yeah, you be you man. It's your fault, Ryan. It's your fault, man. Don't let me guide you that way.

Yeah. I do like, I do think it's funny that, um, all these cat games because they're like, yeah, gamers like cats and they just keep making cat games. They're like,

got stray and then they're eugenics and all these other games. But, uh, yeah, I thought it was neat too. Like, yeah, like you said,

portal with cats. Um, portal with cats. Yeah, it looks cool. It's a unique premise. Um, probably not my style.

But I like, you know, puzzle games like that. And it plays, it plays really well solo and it also will play co-op as well, I believe. That's neat. That's kind of cool.

Being able to pair up. somebody. Yeah, I found it really neat. Yeah, cat games are really popular. Stray, a big little kitty, big city, and now this one. So, yeah, if Schrodinger's cat burglar sounds like your kind of game, definitely check it out. And finally, DeVinom, which is a, believe it or not, it's a Metroidvania where the main thing is it plays like a hack and slash. So you can pull off insane combos and basically aerial juggle the bosses. Hey, Ace. It was sick.

Ace, do me a favor. Can you reach over there and hand me de Venom? No? No? No? Dang it. Dang it. I thought that one might have landed.

Ryan, Ryan, hand me de venom. It's right next to the poison. Right next to the poison. You're old. You're old. Come on. Come on, man. I had to try it.

I had to try it. It was just, you know. Yeah, that's true. We're both. both dads and like that wasn't even good for me. I love, I love them too. This game actually I think looks pretty good man. I ace before we actually started recording. I said is this so is this like dead cells and you went no this is so much more. And I went that's going to that's going to interest a lot of people at that point. So like we go ahead. Go ahead. I was just going to say were you able to try out the demo Josh on this one? No. I wish I had. So so for sure. This one, aside from the ridiculous pixelated graphics, uh,

the, the gameplay is actually pretty sweet. It's awesome. It's actually really good. Like the, uh, the combat is, it,

at first you think like, oh, this can't be good. This is like, I feel like it's 1992, but the, the, the,

the ability to like upward slash, and you can just like hit the enemies up and you can start juggling them and then you could do these charge attacks. Um, you can do dodge rolls and stuff like that. So it's, it's, actually got some really

genuine crisp gameplay for like a hack and slash combat game like that. So this one actually surprised me. It caught me off guard for sure. Yeah, this one's awesome. You get to play through the prologue in the demo but you can also go through like this enemy rush mode where you just

get to walk along and do these different challenges and as you're doing them you unlock more late game abilities and later on you unlock the ability to dash in any direction which like up straight up, straight down, diagonal, which I've never seen in any game before. Usually, you know, you dash, it's left or right.

Oh, dash up and then slash down. Yeah, it's sick, dude. You could pull off some nasty combos. And then there's these run stones, which change how you basically interact with the game itself. Like, every 20 seconds, you'll send out a massive slash that hits enemies and stuns them. Or if you pull off a stunt on an enemy, it causes them to explode and hit other enemies. It was just, it's an awesome game. And I'm very much looking forward to it.

That sounds amazing, guys. If only it was an octopus. That sounds like so much fun. Instead, I got to be an octopus that moved to a lot. You know what, dude? Honestly, though, like when I played the demo, after watching the other stuff and playing the other demos, I was like, oh, thank God I like one of these. Like, I can't dunk on all of Aces's games. I'm like, thank God I like one. The venom sounds great, man.

Like, that sounds so much better than being an octopus and just going left. You know what? I'll take one win out of four. You didn't hate Shrodinger's catburger. You just didn't play it. I probably would like that one honestly You probably would like that. You probably would have honestly. Honestly, that'd be a good one to play through with my spouse

if I'm thinking about it now. There you go. Not to go back to that, but I got a little hat for my cat in that game. It was just a piece of bread. Is it co-op? Really? Is Schrodinger's cat burglar a co-op game?

Yeah, it has co-op. Is it? Okay, I didn't know. Yeah, I believe it has co-op. I played it single player, obviously, but I believe it has co-op. But those were some of the indie demos that managed to find their way to me just before Nax Fest started.

which makes reactions, to say the least. But you make your own decisions, all right? Play them yourself. They're going to be up while Next Fest is ongoing. In fact, DeVenum just got an updated demo to go along with Next Fest, which is pretty freaking sweet, honestly. They bother even updating their demos just for that. So I think that is where we're going to end this one.

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See, everybody.