Video Gamers Podcast - The Indie Giant: Annapurna’s Defining Games – Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: May 21, 2026

Gaming hosts Josh, Ryan, and Ace are diving into the incredible catalog of Annapurna Interactive and debating which titles truly define their legacy. From unforgettable stories to genre-defining experiences, we’re breaking down the games that helped shape modern gaming and why these unique video games continue to resonate with players years later. Which Annapurna title stands above the rest, and what makes their approach to gaming so special? Join us as we celebrate one of the most influential names in indie gaming, revisit some of the best video games of the last decade, and discuss how Annapurna has changed the gaming landscape forever. This is one episode of the Video Gamers Podcast you won’t want to miss!   Thanks to our MYTHIC Supporters: Redletter, Disratory, Ol’ Jake, Gaius, Jigglepuf, Phelps and NorwegianGreaser, Dettmarp and Night Wizard63   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. Some publishers chase trends, some chase money, and then there's Anapurna, a publisher that somehow built its identity around games that are emotional, stylish, weird, and instantly recognizable. You can usually tell an Anapurna game before the logo even appears. I am your host Ace, and today, we're diving into the Anapurna Effect. Joining me, I can already hear the banjos on his radio, calling him back to space to save the universe.

It's Josh. Bro, I gotta bring up Outer Wilds this early in the episode Ace. Just, you know,

one of the coolest most unique games that's out there, a game that I tell everybody that they should play. And a game that's overwritten the Outer Worlds

instantly as soon as you see it. You're just like, oh yeah, you mean the Outer Wilds. Not outer worlds, people, not the Fallout like game. This is Outer Wilds,

which is a revelation. It's a revelation, it's a revelation, people. It's one I'm like, jealous of people who understood it the first time they picked it up because I'm like, well, I don't got to go back and try to understand that. I mean,

the game itself is super cool. Like, even if you don't get into like the philosophical part of it, which it definitely has a philosophical side, but the game, the game itself is just freaking sweet, dude. I can't think of another game that's like it, honestly. You know, I can't either right now. Yeah. But we'll get to it. And

he's still rocking out in the nostalgia of mixtape, so I already know, Anaperna's in his good books for now. As long as I stop saying the word Anapurna, It's right. Hello everybody. Anna Perna is now banned from Ace's catalog of terms. He's no longer able to use it.

We will all be better for it. Bummer. I love it. Well, guys, I kind of have this idea to, I've been wanting to do this for a while, is to either take a developer or a publisher and kind of go through their catalog of games. And I figured, with the release of mixtape,

what better publisher to go through than Anna Perna. To sort of make sense here. Anapurna is a publisher. It is not a developer. I got to get that out of the way first. They are not the developers. What's the difference?

They don't make the games. They just get them out there to the people. All right. That is the difference. But wait, why is the publisher so important then? I mean, I can buy my games on Steam, Ace. Well, a publisher is important to getting games in front of people and getting them out there without putting a heavy cost on the developer.

themselves, who probably is already stretched pretty dang thin. So wait, you're saying that the publisher is the one that provides a lot of money for development in these games and has a vested interest in the success of the games? Yeah. Ah. But only if they see promise in them. Oh, so you're saying like when I'm an indie dev and I've got a game that I'm like, man, I think there's where I'm on to something with this game,

I then have to take my game and put it in front of publishers so that they'll give me the funding for the game so that I can finish develop. it and then the publisher will handle the advertising and the distribution of the game and all that stuff. No, no, no, no, no. You're not, you're not self-published. You're not a real indie. Oh, my gosh. That's the only argument. I was right. You guys, Ryan was picking up when I was going for there. I knew where you were going with it and I was really hoping it was like it. It's unavoidable. It's a different episode. That is a disgusting topic where people say if you're not self-published, you're not indie.

But there's a lot of indie games that are not self-published. For sure. For sure. I mean, look at all of Devolver's catalog. All of Devour digital. Which is a huge publisher. You can tell me those games aren't indie? Yeah.

I mean, cult of the lamb. Yeah. If anybody that's in the industry, and especially indie devs, if you talk to them, getting a publisher is paramount to the success of your game. So I know that there's a lot of people out there that want to argue what's indie, what's not indie. And it's like, bro, we're always up for a debate and an argument and all that stuff.

As long as it's, you know, with good intentions kind of thing. But most gamers would not look that deep into something. It's kind of like people that want to differentiate between rogue like and rogue light and go like, because actually there's a difference. You know what I mean? It's like, okay, there is a difference. Most gamers don't care, number one. And number two, most people and indie devs have some kind of publisher behind them.

whether it's a large one or a small one or something like that. But talk to any indie dev, and they're going to tell you that getting a publisher is paramount to the success of their game. So you can't hold that against them because this is just the way the industry works for the most part. Yeah. Self-publishing is usually the last thing you want to do.

It's the dead last thing you want to do as an idea. Unless you're like Team Cherry. Yeah. If you're like Team Cherry or Super Giant games or like one of these big indie studios now. Yeah, or like Concerned Ape with Stardy Valley. Like, you know, isn't he self-published on that one, I think? I believe he's self-published.

There's very few. There's very few people. Yeah, there's very, even, I don't think Terraria is even self-published. That one I don't know. You're right. I believe they're published by ReLogic or something. Yeah, no. But having a publisher is a very important thing.

And Anapurna gives these indie devs with, like, unique and weird ideas a chance to get their game published and get it out there. of people and just get funded. Like, we've seen, like, how a bad publisher can really put a stain on your game with some non-a-cutta... Crafton. With Crafton. I'm sorry, I had something in my throat there, guys.

Hey, Kraftin, how's that $250 million bill? Enjoy paying out that $250 million bonus. How does that taste? Have fun with that, buddy. But Annapurna is not Crafton. In fact, they started their roots as a film company, which was kind of interesting to find out. And it kind of makes a lot of sense with the kind of games they've been. publish.

Yeah, that's right. That they, they started in film with the movies like her, Moonlight, and Lady Bird. Never heard of any of them. So it makes sense why they moved on to game publishing. But they started publishing games around 2016, and they built their reputation around prestigious indie games with, like, popular narratives or just weird out there vibes. There's very strong influence of film in the games they publish. Like, you can't, you could see it.

I didn't know this Ace, but like, like, Like, it actually makes a lot of sense now to me, too. Like, looking at the list of their games and then going like they started in film really makes a lot of sense to me now. And I had no clue. Yeah, no. I had no idea until I started doing some research for this that they started off as a film company, which is kind of crazy. A big thing with them is just they look for the underdog. The weird game that nobody else wants to touch.

Do you guys have a game that comes to mind when I say Annapurna? Well, we already kind of discussed Outer Wilds. Outer Wilds. It's not like a, it's not a favorite game of mine, but it's so unique. Like, it's not in like my top 10 games or anything, but Outer Wilds is so unique to me that it's like anytime somebody wants something different, like a different experience, a game that's unlike any other one, I always go to you should experience Outer Wilds. And then obviously the really recency bias is mixtape. I actually didn't know that they published neon white, which I played a good at one point.

And I was like, wait, that's Anna Perna? Like, I didn't know that. That one's like a weird one that kind of stands out from the usual stuff they publish. Yeah, it's very different than what their normal type of game is that they get behind. What about you, Ryan? What comes in mind when Anna Pernas brought up?

Looking over everything and what we've talked about, like obviously mixtape is the most recent one that we've looked over. but um journey is something that i i have yet it's one of those games and i don't i don't know why and maybe after this i'll do it but like i've never played it but i've always wanted to i've look three hours man i've yeah it's not long really it's only three hours long just a three hour long it's not long it looks it looks so cool it looks so cinematic and i'm like i i I feel like I would love this game, and I just never tried it.

It's just one of those ones you just haven't launched into yet, but it's one that I want to, and I'm sure I will kind of after we do this episode. Yeah, absolutely. And that's actually a really good segue here, because the first game we're going to talk about is Journey. They did not publish this game initially. I got to get that other way.

This was published by Sony. Sony published this game on the PlayStation first. They handled the ports of this game onto Steam, iOS, and Mac. I think it's the same thing, yeah. Okay. Yeah, yeah. But they handled those kind of ports

and brought Journey to the wider audience. We've talked about Journey before. It's a massive indie game. It was, I can't not remember what year it won Indy Game of the Year. I was going to say, didn't it win Indie Game of the Year? It won Indie Game of the Year. We did a whole episode on it.

Go back and listen to that if you haven't already. Because it's quite a good episode, I got to say. It is a good episode. The Journey is a very, very unique game. where it's all about being these like settler characters and just going from point A to point B. You start here and you're going to walk to the mountain

and there's something waiting for you at the mountain. But along that way, you'll run into random players who are also playing the game. Journey was actually given away during the pandemic for a stay-at-home initiative so people could interact with one another still. Oh, wow. Yeah.

It's just a very unique and special game. I've never played it. I was going to say, I've never played it, but I'm with Ryan and that I've always been curious because everybody that's played journey has talked about how memorable it is and like how, you know, it's this hauntingly beautiful solitary game. But maybe you have somebody that comes along with you for a little bit. And it's like the visual style is really appealing on it. And it's like, I'm the same like with Ryan. I've never played it. And I've always meant to check it out.

But widely known as being like a game that a lot of. people really, really enjoy. Journey is on some people's top tens for how much it impacted them. And that says a lot for a three-hour game. Yeah. No, I mean, for a three-hour game for sure. And then it's one of those things where you recognize,

like most people know, especially in the gaming world, like if they see kind of that, that it's got a very unique look to it. And so you know what it is. Like when you see it, you know, that's journey. And I can recognize that. I just haven't played it.

But I know that I've always wanted to check it out, but I just haven't had a chance to. But, yeah, it's, it's, gosh, and it's, it's, it come out, it's come out like so long ago. But, yeah, it was in 2012. Did it win game of the year? Yeah, it was indie game of the year in 2012. Yeah, eventually ported to, you know, PC, like 2016, I believe. 2016, okay. Why not?

Yeah, it's one you recognize no matter what. Like, we, neither of us have played it and we could recognize it. So that shows, you can recognize it. That shows like its reach and where it goes, you know, with as far as, you know, the gameplay and what it is. So we're moving on to an Anaparna game that nobody brought up when I mentioned Anaparna. But we've brought up this game several times. And that's what remains of Edith Finch. Possibly one of the best narrative indies.

Yeah, I didn't know this was Anapurna either. And I've played this game. This is up there with like Firewatch and these kind of narrative kind of walking. kind of walking simulator type games. And I did not know this was Annapurna at all. I mean, this was an insane game. It's a story of a girl exploring, or a woman, sorry, exploring her family home.

Her family is, like, cursed so that only, like, the last in the bloodline gets to survive. And you're going through all these memories and you kind of see what happened to each of her family members. Yeah, it's weird. It's a really weird, but really good game. Like, for a narrative game, it has a lot of games.

Gameplay. I'll give it that. Have you heard of this one at all, Ryan? Like, you just did passing between me and Josh? I've heard of it a million times, but I've never touched it, like, ever. Like, yeah, I've heard, it's one of those things, too, again. Like, I don't know, I wish, uh, I guess maybe there was some, some world where you could, like, accumulate all your games together and, like, pick which ones you want to play.

Like, if only that was the thing. If only there was something that could do it, like. One place where you could, like, see all the games. place that had everything, but no, I've heard of this a million times. I have never, again, my brain goes with the wind. So I'm off to something else immediately. And unless it really grabs my attention, I'm not going to check it out. And this one, I've heard a ton of times people talking about it, but I've never really

looked into it too much. That's fair. Do you think it's fair to say, Josh, that what remains of Edith Finch had a big impact on narrative games? I think so. I would say so. Yeah, you had what remains of Edith Fancher, the vanishing of Ethan Carter is another one that I played that's very,

very similar in the same vein. You know, you've got, you know, I mean, recently we've got mixed tape. These walking, you know,

these walking simulators is what people call it. That kind of comes with like a slight like negative connotation to it for a lot of people because it's like, I don't want to play a walking simulator. But it's like there's so much more. to these stories, but they are all very light on the gameplay. So these are the kind of games,

and it's funny because seeing them all laid out in front of me, I kind of go like, okay, Anapurna, like, I get your vibe on these games that you back, but then you have games like Neon White that are all about gameplay, so it's like they have to throw in the weird one to throw things off.

But like, they prioritize story and emotion and emotional impact over everything else. I think, and that includes gameplay to a certain degree. So when I was doing research for Anapurna, a lot of people compare their track record with that of Valve and Blizzard for quality. That is how selective they are.

I mean, that's a little bit of a stretch. Like, a little bit. Like, listen, listen, I love me some Anapurna. I love these games. I'm not going to lie. I mean, I don't want to spoil your whole list, Ace, but like I've always wanted to play Journey. I have played what remains of Edith Finch.

I have played Outer Wilds. And I have played the other two. So there's only one other game on this list that I haven't played. And like, they're all really good games. Mm-hmm. But like, bro, you can't, I mean, Valve and Blizzard is kind of like, that's like, has the same. But maybe based on the indie world, like, based on the-

similar track record for how these games have been received, how Valve and Blizzard's games are received. Okay, okay. I thought you were saying it. like the same level. No, no, no, like, quality. Reception of quality?

Reception. Yeah, reception quality. Quality of how people feel about their games. Okay, that's fair. Minus mixed. That I can agree with. Okay. Minus mixtape.

But the problem is that's just dumb people at that point. Yeah, mixed tape is just dumb people. But it does affect the overall statistic. But yeah. Yeah. All right. Moving on to Sayanaro Wild Hearts. This was one I had never heard of,

but I kept seeing pop up like everywhere, every time I was looking up Annaperna games to talk about. This is just. just a wild rhythm pop game with... I had to look this up. Insane visuals. I had to look this up. I did not know what this game was.

Like I said, I've either played or familiar with all the other games on this list. This one I had to look up. And it is very much a... It's almost like a K-pop, like weird, speeding through hearts, like adventure kind of thing.

It's very different looking. And it's... It fits that same vibe. It's the same vibe that they... They do, man, that they do so well. It's just heavily, visually centered in what it is, and it's very emotionally driven through music. Like, that's what they're super good at, genuinely.

There's no other game that looks like that or plays like that, and that's why Anna Perna chose it. I mean, that's kind of what it comes down to, I think. What about you, Ryan? What did you think of Sionara Wild Hearts? I think crazy. I had to look it up to, and so, like, I was just curious, you know, wondering if, for this for this like they always have the same kind of like layout and sequence and and like with what

they're publishing you know it's got to be like they just got to be some music guys like that that are just non-stop like they have to this has to be the biggest part and i know that we talked about it in the other episode that we did uh for me how much music means to a game and what what music influences within a game. So like having something like this, that's kind of rhythm driven and things like that. And if it's

got as much heart and influence as these other games have, like it's going to hit for those people especially that like this style, like it's going to hit for them. Yeah. You know what I just realized that a lot of these games involve

a single solitary like protagonist. There's something there's something about like Anapurna where they love that solo adventure like journey you're all by yourself for the most part.

Outer Wilds like yes you do meet people but the majority of the game you're out in space on your own like trying to uncover hints about this like prior civilization and stuff you know I'm gonna spoil one stray you're a cat you know you're just living in the city

but it's like all about that solo story. Neon white you know, there's that that one's just weird. Like that's their oddity. Neon white's the kind of odd duck out. And then they went, you know what? Maybe things are better with friends. Let's do mixtape everybody. It's like there really

is this kind of like solo adventure theme that they had going on with their games for a while, man. Yeah. I'd like to think also that Sionara Wild Hearts is kind of them dipping their toes into adding music like this to their games. Yeah. It's like kind of prepping for backing something like mixtape, which is highly ambitious.

And we'll get to some of the things I've learned about mixtape that I want to talk about later. But we got a few more games to get to right after this break. All right. We are back. It's finally time, Josh. It's time to talk about Outer Wilds. Yeah.

There we go. All right. Just turn this over to me, Ace. I got, I got this. You know what? You take the floor, buddy. You love this game. You absolutely love this game.

So look, Annapurna likes to back really good indie games. And so there's this one. one really, really good indie game called Outer Wilds that, you know, we always talk about lack of innovation and stuff on this podcast. And it's like, dude, so many games feel the same and everybody's just copying everybody. But you know who never got copied is Outer Wilds. Outer Wilds is a time is a time loop based game where you are an alien that wakes up and your star goes supernova after 22 minutes. And it puts you in this groundhog day type time loop. you have to go out and explore the world and it's awesome.

That's all I'm going to say about the game itself. It's awesome. You discover things simply by playing the game. You put together this giant puzzle. The really cool part is is that once you gain all the knowledge, you can actually beat the game in less than 22 minutes because you have to beat the game before the Star goes supernova. And it's like you could literally do that from minute one playing the game,

but you don't know that. So you have to play the game to realize how to beat the game. Also has great music. The banjo is phenomenal. The sense of, Exploration and discovery is phenomenal. Anna Perna, apparently they know how to pick good games because they got behind Outer Wilds, and it is one of the most beloved games out there.

I'm going to challenge everybody right now. Go to Google. Type in. Game you wish you could play for the first time all over again. And there are so many people that say Outer Wilds. Outer Wilds is one of those games I wish I could experience again for the first time, and they ain't wrong people. So that's all I know.

I don't know, you know, Annapern is part of that, but I do know the Outer Wilds part of it. Well, obviously, with Anapurna publishing the game, it's a reason we have the game, probably, if we're being honest here, because I don't know, I don't know if anyone else would have been willing to take up Outer Wilds and how bizarre of a concept it is.

But with the recent success of Project Tail Mary, there has been many of edits of Project Tell Mary with Outer Wild's music. and I've just been like getting Oh really? Yeah, I've been getting the itch to play Outer Wilds again. Do it.

So I put it into chat GPT and it is number five on games you wish you could play for the first time again. There you go. Top five. Because you'll never experience it the same way again once you know the secret.

I know. Yeah. That's kind of the thing. What are you right? What do you think of Outer Wilds? You've heard Josh and me talk about it before. I've heard you guys talk about it. I have not, gosh, like the thought of

the thought of getting into something like that is is very very enticing i have not played out of wilds i know that um ryan what if i told you it only takes 22 minutes to beat the game just guide me through it and i'll do it let's do it now you don't want that no i know i know i wouldn't do that no i know i wouldn't do that uh no i i um gosh the the ability to run through through it and then have chance to fix my mistakes because I am I am such a big guy on analysis paralysis and I and I can't choose what to do and I want to fix things and I want to pick the right stuff so then having the ability to redo it when I make the next run like all of that is appealing to me so I love it man and if and if you guys are touting it like it's it's all the more

for it. I've told Josh before if we hit like a nice lull here, I do want you and I to play it and to dive it. That way we can just all go all in on a full dive. I play again. It's been a long time. I'll be honest. If you'll play it again yeah. I don't remember how to beat the game

at this point. Oh, that's perfect. Things that would give me a head start but like I could not just hop in and like beat the game at this point. I would have to relearn a lot of it. It might be worth it then. If there's interest in that then we'll definitely do that. All right. We're moving on to Stray, which was this was Anapurna's breakout hit. This is what put Anapurna out there for a lot of people.

This is what they're known for for the most part because Stray was huge when it came out. So you're saying that COVID was kind to Annapurna because this Stray is a very kind of Anapurna. Yeah, this is, listen, Ryan's laughing. I'm laughing. You cat people. You cat people are so ridiculous. But Stray still is weird to me. It's stray you play as a cat that falls into like an underground city kind of helmed by robots and there's really there's a dark secret to why those robots down there if you actually read any of the lore but it's your whole goal is just as this cat to get out get back upstairs to the above ground world with all the other cats.

It's such a sad moment too when the cat falls because he's just walking with his like troop of other cats and he just slips off the pipe. Oh. Yeah. It's sad. Spoilers. Yeah, spoilers. Spoilers. I guess I'm not playing stray now.

That was next up on my backlog. You were never. You were never going to put it. I was close. You hate that. I had my finger over the install button and then Ace ruins it. It was on wish list. I was about to do it.

Have you guys seen the videos, though, of people playing stray and then their cats run up to their TVs and hiss at them? No, but I'm not surprised. I tried to not watch videos of people playing stray. So I'm glad I'm not in that algorithm. Now, I know a lot of people love stray. It got nominated for Game of the Year. It didn't win, though.

I think it won Indy Game of Year. No, I think it takes two one, but this game won Indy Game of the Year. All right, did win Indy Game of the Year. But it was up for Game of the Year. I believe so. I'm pretty sure it was nominated. I could be wrong. I mean, you know, let's be honest.

We're, you know, we're wrong a lot. But, you know, Stray game of the year nomination. Stray, it's like, this is the game that I feel like, got the attention, and I don't want to say it put Anapurna on the map because honestly, like Outer Wilds is better than all of these games. So, but it did, it did put them into like the mainstream. Stray did not have a chance the year it got nominated for Game of the Year. Eldon Ring was, Eldon Ring was in.

Elder Ring? But it got nominated, though, right? It did get nominated. Okay, see, I'm not a complete. I am an idiot, but I'm not a complete idiot. So I was like, because I'm pretty sure that game was nominated. Yeah, Stray was up against Horizon Forbidden West, a Plegtail Requiem, Eldon Ring, God of War Ragnarok, and Zinoblate Chronicles 3. Oh, yeah, you ain't winning Strait.

You're cooked. You're cooked, Stray. I'm sorry. You're a great game. Wait, Josh, you're saying Adderwilds is better than mixtape? Yeah, I think so. Yeah. He would definitely say that.

Okay, that's like, I love to mix tape. They're different games. They're different games and experiences. but like if I'm saying which one's better like outer wilds is better by far. If you've ever wanted to role play as grace, there you go. Yeah. Because you're saving the universe. So.

All right. Moving on to neon white. This is the odd duck out, I would say, of their catalog. It's not super story focused, but it is story focused. I just heard the story's not great. But it's very gameplay heavy. What does the gameplay kind of consist of, Josh, since you have a first-hand experience? It is speed running parkour with.

very light shooter elements. Neon white looked really neat. I remember when it came out, it was getting a ton of hype, and I was the guy that was like, hey, I'm actually in the mood for something different. Let me check this game out. It's a lot of fun, man.

It's weird. It looks strange to people, but you basically have all these levels that you just need to figure out how to get through, and then you have to, like, speed run them, and you can even see the ghost of like whoever speed run it last or the lead score and stuff like that. but you start to realize that there's a lot of shortcuts and cheats almost that you can do to get through certain levels.

So it's like it's it's it's really fun, man. It's got a weird like dating sim mechanic that's kind of off to the side. Of course. No wonder you liked it now. No, no, no, no, no. That part is weird, honestly, but the level design, the parkour mechanics, the fact that you have shooting mechanics, you pick up cards. Like, through your runs. Yeah, yeah, like the cards will give you like different things like you, you know, if you jump,

through a card, now you get a double jump or you get a pistol. And now that you have the pistol, you have to be able to shoot the targets because you have to clear the targets to be able to clear the level kind of thing. And it just continues to like build on itself. But it's a masterful parkour speed running obstacle type game. It's really, really good, dude. The visuals are also really good. Yeah.

Black and white? Like, it looks really good. I enjoyed the heck out of neon white, dude. Like I said, it's a really, really well done game that I don't think. got enough attention for how unique it is. And it kind of shows Anna Perna's willingness to still publish a game even if it doesn't quite

hit their emotional slow burn style. Yeah. If it's a good game. Yeah. Neon White fits that bill, dude. It's very unique in its gameplay elements and just how it's presented and stuff like that. Like, I can absolutely get why they got behind this and said, there's something different

here than all the other games out there and we kind of want to be a part of this. Yeah. What about you, Ryan? Anything about neon white stand out to you? I mean, the parkour elements look cool. I love the graphics. I don't know, like the card stuff and stacking, you know, I'm sure it's neat. I feel like I would just get kind of bored with that part of it.

But you say you like speed running stuff. Yeah, you like speed running stuff. I do. And I love speed running stuff, but like, I don't know, watching the trailers and stuff doesn't seem like, I guess, I don't know, I'd have to play it to really see. you know, exactly what I would think of of something like that, but I mean, obviously people have liked it, you know, and it did well. Oh, yeah, it did very well.

I believe a lot of people really liked neon white. Fun fact, Alison Packard, who's a very famous voice actress that we did an interview with is the voice of neon red in that game. Well, that's cool. Yep. So it's got good voice acting. Sweet.

All right, bringing it home with the game we just played mixtape. Don't even have to tell you what mixed tape. is, but I will anyway. It's a coming of age story set to some rock and soundtrack. The characters are great. The world is great.

The vibes are great. And mixtape is Anapurna through and through. Everything that we've kind of learned about Anapurna and what they like in a game and what they bring forward with their games, they've absolutely brought forward with mixtape. Does mixtape stand out as like one of the best games of this year so far?

Yeah, for me it does. I didn't play Cairn, so that's one of the, you know, know you guys played Karen. We kind of had this discussion like offline is like, hey, you know, Karen versus Mix tape, Indy, Best Indies so far this year. There's talk of, you know, possibly reanimal in there because that was really, really good. But Mix tape cut through the internet noise. No game is for everybody. That's, that's okay. You know what I mean? Put on your headphones. Yes, but don't listen to the internet noise for Mix tape. I got to say, I love that Anaperna got behind this because I think mixtape's,

stands out big time. But it's weird too because it does follow their trend of story-driven, emotionally impactful music, like audio-driven type game. And again, a lot of these games on this list are going to leave you with the feels. They're going to leave you with the jams because they've got great soundtracks to them. And that seems to be the vibe for Annaperna. And mixtape falls right into that. Well, one of the biggest things with mixtape is all the cinema.

all the all the music is is supposed to be the whole thing is it's tied in with what you're doing in the cinematics and so that's what you know comes together so well within this and i think they really did do a good job and uh props to an operator for for pulling this one out with like you know picking this one i i think that this uh is one of the best kind of of cinematic stuff games that I've ever played for sure. Like, it's the ones that even every time you talk about it and think about it, I envision and hear

the gameplay in my head, you know, and then I get goosebumps. So that's when you know you have a good game. Mix tape is also where I really see that inspiration and love Annapurna has for film. Yeah. Like having that background in film, them seeing mixtape and what it is, I could see why they would be interested in.

because of that background and what a good film is. But yeah. Also, did you guys know mixtape has a permanent license on the songs in the game? I saw that actually. I read that just the other day where they said, because there was a lot of people that were saying what happens when the digital rights expires, is the game going to have to get delisted?

And they came out and said, no, we've taken care of that. Like, you don't have to worry about it. That's insane. That's insane. That's insane thing to get done now. Yeah. Well, you know, it's almost like if you're a musician

and you make music because, you love the art form of making music. And then somebody comes up and wants to honor your music in their art form that you go to, yeah, that sounds cool to us. And it's like, that's basically what mixtape did, you know, as they said, listen, we talked to the musicians. I mean, they made the joke that they went to Billy Corrigan with smashing pumpkins and said, here's, you know, here, I'm drawn a blank on the main character's name again,

but not Cassandra. Stacey. Stacey, there you go. Yeah, Stacy. You know, where here's Stacy. introducing love by smashing pumpkins, and they sent that to Billy Corrigan, and he went, yeah, that's awesome, dude. I love it.

They can use it. Yeah. You know, and it's like, there you go, man. Yeah. Well, I would say that Anapurna doesn't just sell games. They sell feelings. They do. They do.

They are darn good at it. They are darn good at it. I mean, play any of these games, dude. Like I said, play Outer Wilde, play Journey. Everybody talks about the feels. What Remains that Edith Finch will absolutely get you in the field. That'll wreck you. That'll wreck you emotionally.

Stray, I hear people love. I haven't played it. Mix tape I know gets you in the fields. And then Sionar and Wild Hearts, I didn't play that one. So I don't know. But, yeah. All right. One final point for we wrap up here.

Do you feel Anapurna has changed indie games, made them more accessible for mainstream audiences? I think they made, they changed the short-term narrative style game. For sure. Yeah, I would say so. the, you know, three, four, five hour game that most people wouldn't think as a quote unquote game. But people love it. Like, and they want to be part of it.

And they want to experience that world. And that's what you get with these types of games sometimes. And, you know, with what they've kind of backed and helped publish. And, yeah, I'm all for it, man. I love it. I love getting the goosebumps in the fields. And, yeah. And the more avenues we have in the world of gaming to where we have different ways to reach people and reach their gaming kind of, you know, senses, like something that triggers them to want to play video games, like the better.

So I love this. I think it's a great avenue to get more people into the world of gaming. And, you know, they're all the better for it. Absolutely. They kind of prove that these atmosphere first games work. that can work. I like it because we, you know, every now and then you get the itch to play something different. Like, bro, if I have to play another shooter, right?

Like, I'm just going to go crazy. If I have to play another souls like, right? I'm going to go crazy. If I have to play this, like, and then comes Anapurna that goes, well, we've got completely different experiences than what most gamers are used to. And we saw this with mixtape. Unfortunately, you had all these people that were jumping into mixtape. or probably not in just giving their opinion anyway,

and then not realizing what they were getting themselves into and then going like, what is this, right? But for a lot of gamers, we love that change of pace. We love the fact that this is completely different than what we normally play. They're usually short in their duration, so they're very easy to digest and play through in a couple days. They're not expensive, so you get your money's worth at the same time,

and I love it. And I love the fact that Annapurna has said, you know what, we're going to put these unique games in front, of people. We're going to put these emotionally impactful games in front of people. This list is crazy good games, guys. Like crazy good, man. Like, even the oddballs like Neon White, Neon White was a very good, unique video game, you know, so I like that they're willing to take a chance. And to me, that's what you want a publisher to do is say, take a chance on this game. It's going to stand out. It looks unique. We think it's going to resonate with people,

and they haven't been wrong. No, they have a pretty good track record so far. Yeah. And this is only a fraction of Anapurna's catalog, by the way. Yeah. I encourage everyone listening right now to go check out their catalog. You'll, I guarantee you'll find a game that you've either haven't played or you're interested in or you've heard before. There's so many good games out there. But I think that's where we're going to have to wrap it up, boys, because I can only say the word Anapurna so many times before it stops making sense. This is your last time. If you see Anapurna any time after this. My head will explode.

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See everybody.