Video Gamers Podcast - The Next Big Indie Hits Are Here – Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: May 7, 2026

Gaming hosts Josh, Ryan and Ace are diving into the hottest May indie releases and breaking down which hidden gems deserve your time. From fresh ideas to breakout hits, the crew covers the indie video... games creating buzz and the surprises shaping the gaming scene this month. If you love discovering new video games before everyone else, this is one gaming packed episode you don’t want to miss from the Video Gamers Podcast!   (If there’s extra you’re welcome.. thank Ace) Constance https://youtu.be/NlB2gcB8-HY?si=gjwPbT7mHyFoV3n6  Dead as Disco https://youtu.be/VL3c6SmUxgw?si=5ud9yiQnXDuqfb0g  Motorslice https://youtu.be/8vW97gUFHh8?si=w8FSR7HwGZj2Aidj  Alabaster Dawn https://youtu.be/ZfalpO_3NL0?si=HZnCnhvLSSfaADnE Outbound https://youtu.be/_x2X9azAUOQ?si=Uvu4xTCoccEKenou  Better Than Dead https://youtu.be/Kqf4Jirj-aw?si=OHnYF6qRW6mQc9xL  Darklight Survivor https://youtu.be/PCVCA9zDgfg?si=FDAqczzYqQntoc8_  Thick as Thieves https://youtu.be/NZ-uZ1K-KxY?si=ObV5tVDdjqt4-ydu  Luna Abyss  https://youtu.be/REioBR3iOa8?si=mrJy1DzR0IN1r8of  Stonemachia https://youtu.be/mhAOUns4Drk?si=ufjX2jvf9vdnnnRd Echo Generation 2 https://youtu.be/HFteGacUV50?si=-abXkBtZQek1wSpN  Crashout Crew https://youtu.be/VqjPRHfWP4s?si=xqv3CkiW1N7tXDDe      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

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Starting point is 00:00:12 fellow gamers, May is out of control. Like, no, seriously, who approved this? This might be one of the most stacked indie months I've seen in a long time. And instead of just a few standouts, it's hit after hit after hit. I physically cannot cover everything. So today, we're just going to do some damage control. I am your host, Ace. And joining me, the man already narrowing his eyes at me over the fourth mention of
Starting point is 00:00:42 Dennis Disco? It's Josh. What you didn't say, Ace, is that May is also early access month. You might as well just saying we're celebrating early access releases. Happy early access console release or whatever you celebrate. It's here. Yeah, it's so many early access games coming out. Like, what are we doing?
Starting point is 00:01:05 Although, hey, there's some really good looking games on this list, too, Ace. So May is looking to be a really good. month. I think early access is unfortunately just our future, but we'll get to that. And he is the human embodiment of saying, I'll probably try it with absolutely no intention of doing so. It's right. Why are you going to call me out like that, man? Why are you going to call me out like that? Acey discovered this when I was like, yeah, there's really nothing in my backlog. Like, I just play it I'm going to play. Yeah, I kind of figured from our backlog episode. He's like, hold on, you've
Starting point is 00:01:45 said you were going to play a lot of games. I know you haven't played them. They're not in your backlog? No, no, they're not, no. They're not even on my wish list. That's why I say probably. It's got that out. Bam, easy peasy. That's like what is it? Saying allegedly
Starting point is 00:02:02 when you're talking about legal. Allegedly. It's like, probably. It's possible. Hey, why do you think I'll give you guys ish on time? One day, Ryan's going to be like, guys, I picked up this game and we're going to be like, you did? Like, you picked up a game? Like, on your own?
Starting point is 00:02:18 Like, not for the pod and you've been playing it? I'll be shocked. I might actually jump out of my skin. We've already kind of talked about how busy May is for video games. Indies are no exception. There is quite a lot of indie games that I actually have to cut from this document because it just was so long. We stole a couple from you too, Ace.
Starting point is 00:02:42 Thankfully, yes. Thankfully you did because there was no way we were fitting them in here. First and foremost, we're just going to have to jump right in because we have so much. May 1st, Constance, a game we've talked about, game I reviewed. We're not going to talk about this for long. He is coming to consoles, finally. After a long wait, Constance is on console. I know people really enjoyed that little review I did of it.
Starting point is 00:03:05 I actually quite enjoy Constance as a Metroidvania enjoyer. Definitely check it out if you've been waiting for it. This is your chance on PS5, Xbox, and Switch. Ooh, trifecta. I've heard a lot of good from people on Constance. We have a lot of people in the community that have played it, too. If you're in the mood for a Metroidvania, Constance is up there or should be up there for people. Yeah, I agree.
Starting point is 00:03:28 And a lot of people said I undersold it with my rating, so that was kind of funny. This is a janitor game where they carry around a broom, right? It's a paintbrush, Ryan. It's a paintbrush, buddy, boy. I know, I know. It was all hand drawn, all right? All right, May 5th, Dead as Disco enters early access,
Starting point is 00:03:47 guarantee you're going to see this game blow up, like genuinely. Ace, you've met your Dead as Disco quota. I know, I know, I know, I know. That's why it's just here for a quick mention, all right? I've talked into the ground about Deadest Disco. If you have no interest in it at this point, there is nothing more I could say.
Starting point is 00:04:09 Hases tried he put every every ounce of effort in to convert you. I quite literally have. It's a flashy rhythm-infused combat game with heavy style. It's pure vibes and enjoyment, and I love it. Josh is very excited for it. Josh is very excited. I played the demo. I was a good boy, and I played the demo on this.
Starting point is 00:04:28 There is a very good video game there, especially for people that like rhythm-based games. We've talked about this a bunch, but it's high-quality, beautiful. You can upload your own. songs that, you know, so this game is offering a lot. I'll be honest, I'm not really sure what the early access thing is about because the demo was really good. And I think, you know, the last trailer we got on this showed some boss fights and stuff as well. So everything's freaking releasing in early access.
Starting point is 00:04:56 But there is a, I'm going to say that there's a pretty much a full-fledged video game there with Debt is Disco already. So this is not one of the games that we're going to talk about later where it's like, oh, you get four hours of content and that's it kind of thing. Yeah, unless they're doing like a chapter release kind of thing, which I can see, since it has story and bosses,
Starting point is 00:05:19 I don't see them not basically having a finished game. I think you're right to be excited for Dennis Disco, like honestly. We think because you don't get super excited about a lot of games, but for some reason, Dead is Disco, Ace is just all about it.
Starting point is 00:05:34 I think this is just right, man. I think this was the last time I saw Ace this excited about a game. there's another on this list I'm pretty excited for that I can't wait to talk about we'll get to it okay uh but does this goes only come to PC because obviously early access PC it's just how it works unfortunately but uh hopefully console will see that when it gets full release all right moving on to motor slice I don't think we've talked about this game at all this is a 3D action platformer where you have to climb up a giant megaplex using your chainsaw sword you're you're fighting giant construction vehicles. Like, yep. I used to climbing up a Megaplex and I'm going like, this is like a Dark Souls game
Starting point is 00:06:15 where you just fight all giant construction vehicles. Like, it is actually, it's more action than platformer. I'll give it that. It is. This is, this game looks weird,
Starting point is 00:06:25 but it also looks weird kind of in the best way. Where, you know, if you've ever wanted to just get run down by a bulldozer the size of like a skyscraper in the middle of the desert, or like,
Starting point is 00:06:38 What do you even call that thing with the giant freaking saw blade at the end of it? It was like a crane with a saw blade at the end. Like an excavator? Is that what that is? Yeah, it looks like a trench or something. Like, yeah. But like I, dude,
Starting point is 00:06:51 this game looks crazy to me. But it also kind of looks cool at the same time. Like, it kind of reminded me of like, Shadow the Colossus as well. Like when that giant robot shot its arm down and she stuck the chainsaw into the leg and just went up. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:07:06 Yeah. That was cool as heck. like genuinely. This game looks bonkers, but it also looks kind of cool. And it's not releasing an early access. It's actually a full release. Full release. Yay.
Starting point is 00:07:19 A game's actually fully releasing. So are you just like an environmentalist and you're just like going against the man? Like, you know. Maybe. You're just trying to shut down these machines. Just trying to shut down the machines. You got to beat them all. That or someone left their child with a chains on the construction site.
Starting point is 00:07:37 and she's just destroying everything for no reason. Becky, no, what are you doing? Hey, that's expensive. The government paid for that. Yeah. But that's also coming out on May 5th, and it is actually coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox,
Starting point is 00:07:52 because it is not early access and it will be a full title release. Very excited for that. It actually looks quite good. I'll probably end up grabbing it. Me too. May 7th. Yeah, you too, huh?
Starting point is 00:08:04 Probably. Probably? Probably. I'll probably check it out. out for sure. I'll probably joke it. There is a free demo on Steam. I will say that.
Starting point is 00:08:11 Oh, there you all. There is a demo. Okay. There is a demo on Steam. I might have to check that out. Yeah. Probably. That's shaking.
Starting point is 00:08:22 That was meant for Ryan, not for you, A's. I thought Ryan was looking. I just shook my. You looked dead into the camera. And just said, for our audio-only listeners, Josh just shook his head at the camera. You should be one.
Starting point is 00:08:37 And for our audio-only listeners, we have video. You should be watching. Yeah, you should be watching sometimes because it gets pretty funny. May 7th, we've talked about this game as well, but Alabaster Dawn will enter early access on PC. This is a big game, Jens. I'm oddly excited for this game, man. I don't know. I don't have this before.
Starting point is 00:08:58 We've covered this before. This is from the makers of Crosscode, which is a beloved game by a lot of people. This is an action instead of a turn-based, like J-R-PG. these games hit like hard sometimes man there's puzzles in this game there's upgrades like we've talked about this I like the art style even though it's a pixel
Starting point is 00:09:18 JRP style like this one kind of stands out to me I think it is the weirdest thing in the world the weirdest thing in the world to have an early access release for a JRP that is just something that does not compute for me like at all but dude there there's like a really good video game here man yeah no this will this will do gangbusters i'm telling you now that it'll do really well especially with
Starting point is 00:09:43 that crosscode name carrying a lot of the yeah a lot of the title for it i don't skate just looks good man it does look good and i love how too like like the village in the town like it progresses like society develops and it continues on and like you know it helps you can help like kind of build things and get things going as you're as you're going through the world yeah and it does like i'm with you josh like i'm never the biggest fan of the of the pixel graphic style but this one um this one looks good it's it's a little different for some reason and i like the look something a little special about alabaster don yeah again that i agree only coming to pc for now because of the early access thing no clue what the early access
Starting point is 00:10:22 is like if it's just like okay you get to this point now the game's over until we're done or if it's like you can beat the whole game and there's just like little bug fixes i have no idea i don't know what you early access in a jrpg i'll be so real i don't either I've never seen this before, but I'm excited for it, but this is one where unlike Subnotica 2, where I'm trying to make myself wait. Like, I'll absolutely wait until this game's done and release, but it will stay on my wish list and my radar for sure. Yeah, I think that's a good choice, honestly. I mean, if you're going to buy it and go out and support it, do that.
Starting point is 00:10:58 Like, I'm not discouraging that, but we, we prefer full releases of early access here. Yeah. May 11th Outbound was pushed back to its release date So now it is releasing instead To May 11th for PC and Xbox Series X and S But it will not come out until May 14th For our PS5 and Switch users
Starting point is 00:11:17 Everyone remember Outbound The Cozy Adventure with Your Friend Games Ace ask me how I feel about cozy games Like out of- How do you feel about the cozy game Outbound Generally no But for some reason I am morbidly curious about Outbound You are morbidly interested in an outbound.
Starting point is 00:11:35 I don't know why, dude. Yes. I don't know. Like, this is the kind of game where if you said Josh, let's pick up outbound, I'd go like, okay, I might refund it two hours later, but I am oddly, like, you know why? Because somebody equated, maybe it was us, outbound to Raft. And I love the game Raft, which now I know Raft is a little bit more of a survival crafting game, you know, but like, give me that like chill vibe of like playing something
Starting point is 00:12:01 with your friends where there's a little bit of progression involved or hey let's just pack up the van and go over here kind of thing like i don't know man i don't know what's wrong with my brain lately but i'm i'm actually kind of interested in giving outbound a try all i can think about when i see outbound is how you shot me down immediately when i wanted to do that one with the cars driving over the dunes i was like we could take pictures and make memories oh i remember that game he just immediately shot me down like i don't want to take a road trip with you outbound you at least get to upgrade your camper van, you know, and like, go prices. Josh is in, Josh is in his sunset era. So he's like, kind of winding down. And so he's starting to like, okay. Like, like,
Starting point is 00:12:41 you're not wrong. I know. I know you're not wrong. Because like legitimately like my wife and I have said like in retirement, we want like a little camper van that we can go places for like a weekend. Like I want to just go to like, you know, Yosemite and park the camper van like. Yeah. You know, in the woods. And just chill. Yeah. And like outbound is kind of that. So I maybe that's why is it's like, let's see if this is really what it's cracked up to be. Dang it, Ryan. I hate when you just, dang it. What about you, Ryan? Where do you land with outbound? I like it too. I, um, I'm a little bit more higher on these types of games than Josh, but still, I'm not a big cozy game guy, but something about the outdoor experience in the nature world and like, I'm an outdoorsman as well. And so there is something interesting about it to me.
Starting point is 00:13:30 It is, it seems unique. It seems like something that I'd like to check out. And I'm, you know, I'm probably going to, I'm probably going to do that. I'm probably going to check it out. Yeah, all right. Yeah, I'm probably going to check it out too. Honestly, Outbound is too big a title to not at least have some more curiosity in. Yep.
Starting point is 00:13:46 Absolutely. There are a lot of people excited for Outbound. Didn't you say it's one of the more wishlisted games right now? It's, it's one of the most wishlisted games on Steam. It is quite high. That's crazy. Yeah. But also, that probably means we should probably.
Starting point is 00:14:00 I'd give it a try too. That probably means we need to pay attention to outbound. Here's the thing, people. If I give it, if I give outbound a try and I hate it, I will rip it to shreds. But you all out there have to let me rip it to shreds, okay? That's the agreement that we need to make on this where like I. You're going to hurt so many hearts, dude. I'm willing to give it a try.
Starting point is 00:14:25 It is outside my normal gaming, which I normally would just say no. but if I'm willing to give it a try and I hate it and I do the Josh rip this game to shreds thing, I don't want to hear from people about how I'm being mean, okay? Like this is the agreement
Starting point is 00:14:42 that I will make with the listeners is like I will try outbound but if I hate it, y'all got to let me just riff. I mean, you got to let me just get on my soapbox and talk about how stupid this game is and these kinds of games are
Starting point is 00:14:54 and blah, blah, blah. I love how, you know what's funny, like these cozy games that are supposed to be just like a vibe been chill. But if you talk disparagingly about these games, they're some of the most ruthless people ever
Starting point is 00:15:08 in all of gaming. Oh, they'll rip you. They will come after your throats and they will take no mercy and you just it's like, whoa, I thought you're a cozy gamer, man, chill. Yeah. Dude, that's what the cozy games are what keep them chill. You
Starting point is 00:15:24 start dunking on their cozy games. Now they don't have their therapy and now you're doomed. But we'll do one more and then we'll take our break here. May 12th, a game known as Better Than Dead releases into early access. This is what I can only describe
Starting point is 00:15:38 as a body cam, realistic FPS, following the narrative of someone who was, I guess, kidnapped in China and escaped, and is now taking her revenge on her kidnappers.
Starting point is 00:15:49 Jeez. This is a intense looking game. I don't like this game at all, dude. These are those ones where they post them, they post the videos on, on YouTube and Instagram and stuff, and then people think it's real. Oh yeah, and people think the body cam footage
Starting point is 00:16:02 Yeah, they think that's real body cam footage and stuff, but we had the game body cam that looked ultra ultra realistic. I don't know if people remember that game, but it was one of the most realistic looking games that we had ever seen. Like, I just don't get this game at all, man.
Starting point is 00:16:18 Like, it's going for realism, but it's not the realism of body cam, but then at the same time, like, and maybe it's just a bad trailer, but like, you were only shooting this pistol. you're only shooting this pistol. The guy is shooting it like freaking crazy.
Starting point is 00:16:36 He's always panning like with his shots from like the left to the right where he's like and I just like, I don't know, man. I think maybe this could be a case of it's just not that great of a trailer. But like this game got repetitive to me within the two minutes that this trailer was. And I just am like, I don't know that this does anything for me, man. Like you don't even see him ever use a different gun. it's i don't know man it just looks very repetitive i guess is the nice that's that's fair based on
Starting point is 00:17:05 what we can see from the trailer it looks like it will be also but what are you doing releasing this game in early access i that's what i was going to ask what do you think's early access about this i don't know man because like is it is it just going to be like i really need like twice as many rooms for my guy to spray the gun through you know it's like i'm already bored by the end of your trailer like you're just going to give me more of that like in the in the in the as you're working on the early access part i don't know i'm so glad you guys have joined me on this early access thing or at least josh has i hate early access so much i understand early access to a degree and and again i don't hate it when we see games like balder's gate three come out and they were in early access for a very long time
Starting point is 00:17:50 but it was very very lucrative to the game and from like they got a lot of input from people and it came out and balder's gate three was incredible You know, satisfactory, early access, but you had almost an entire game's worth of game that you could play. So you could still get all that enjoyment out of it. But now it's like everybody wants to do early access. And the problem with that is, is that more often than not, early access is, please pay me for my beta version of my game. And I can call it something else. And that's where we start to have a problem.
Starting point is 00:18:22 Some games, early access, absolutely makes sense and can benefit. The problem is more often. than not, this is a way for a developer to get funding and for people to beta test their game, which you should be paying people for or giving them free access to beta test, not making us pay for it. So it's tough because there are different levels of early access and one level sucks. The other level actually makes sense, but the problem is it's very hard for people to discern which is which. Yeah, that's totally fair. What about you, Ryan?
Starting point is 00:18:55 Where do you land with Better Than Dead? I don't like it. It looks. All right. Fair enough. I just, yeah, it's, it's, you know, I, I mean, we already had body cam or whatever, and, and this one to me just didn't look good overall. Did you guys ever play body cam? I didn't ever, I did not play it.
Starting point is 00:19:10 I looked at a lot of footage. I watched a lot of, of gameplay of it. I thought it was really unique. And it was, it was different. It's something that, that, that we don't see a lot in gaming like that, that, that's the issue, though. There wasn't much gameplay to body camp. Like, it was impressive from a visual standpoint.
Starting point is 00:19:27 but like the actual gameplay part was not really anything interesting. Yeah, that's the thing. That's why I didn't play it. The fun for body came came from the PVP. That was the only thing with that. It was PVP. So it was also one shot, one kill. So it was like, uh-oh.
Starting point is 00:19:45 Yep, yep. Everyone else is better than me. I don't get to play the game. Oh, man. All right. We got a few more games we're going to have to get to right after this break. This episode is brought to you by Fed, These days, the power move isn't having a big metallic credit card to drop on the check at a corporate lunch.
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Starting point is 00:20:56 All right, we are back with May 14th releasing a highly anticipated game. I can say that because it's true. Darklight Survivor. Oh my gosh, this game looks bananas. Let's take the perspective of hell divers. Yeah. Throw in some vampire survivor's elements as well as some roguelite elements and throw you into a horde of horrifying Eldridge monsters.
Starting point is 00:21:22 Guys, what did you think of Darklight Survivor? I'm in. This game looks in. Like, it's what I was going to say. Bunkers enough to me. to where you go from like over the shoulder, like you said, like, I don't know.
Starting point is 00:21:37 Sometimes you're zoomed in over the shoulder la space marine two. Like there's very much that like space marine two where you're over the shoulder, you're up close. And then it pans out. And now you're in this like, like you said,
Starting point is 00:21:47 hell divers two, chaos with like hordes of enemies. But then you get this weird pixely. Like this game's changing. It's graphical style like so many times. And then That's a filter. A vampire survivor.
Starting point is 00:22:04 But why put a filter on that then? Is it just because you choose to do that? You choose to do that or not. That was just showcasing that that that's in the game. So why would you let me make the game look worse? If you felt nostalgic and you wanted your games to look like that. Okay. That's weird.
Starting point is 00:22:20 Hey guys. It's just a filter though. You don't have to use it. Really bad for a little bit when it looks really good. You don't have to use it. Yeah. I mean, I mean, it's weird. This is a very, very strange.
Starting point is 00:22:31 mix of a vampire survivors-esque type auto battler, but then you're very much active and playing it in a third person over the shoulder with a shooter and guns and chaos. And I don't know, man, I'm kind of in on this. It looks different enough. We're always talking about innovation and stuff. It looks different enough that it absolutely catches my eye and my attention. I think it also looks like it's a lot of fun. So they've done their job and this last trailer. This last trailer,
Starting point is 00:23:03 they did a really good job showcasing a lot of the things they've added, which is classes and, you know, loadouts. Like there's going to be so much in this game. Where did you land with this one, Ryan? You said you're in. Yeah, dude, I'm in too. I think it looks, it looks
Starting point is 00:23:16 very much, it has that like arcade like shooter gene to it. Very arcadey. I would say that. You see, like, you see like the numbers pop up when you're shooting. And then, and then you, You're, you know, you're sitting there shooting and then he pulls out this giant sword and you can slash at him and it like shoots electricity throughout, you know, the enemies. Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 00:23:35 attacking. And so I love that there's like multiple class systems and you can like kind of tailor it to what you want. So I love the chaotic arcade nature of it. I think it looks a lot of fun. And I'm always, I'm just so genuinely impressed where when we do these indie episodes, you know, every week, some of these games, they just don't look like indies anymore. And it's cool to see. It's like cool to see a genuinely good looking game that's from an indie developer. And I hope they do well.
Starting point is 00:24:04 I hope it sells well. And I think it's a pretty solid looking game. Yeah, I agree. Unfortunately, I only have a confirmed release date on May 14th for PC. Hopefully it will do well on PC and we'll see it, you know, make its way to consoles because this looks like honestly the perfect console game. It's another early access game, though, is the problem. Is it?
Starting point is 00:24:23 It says early access. Oh, it did not show up that way. Yeah, it says coming soon to early access. So here's the other issue with this is that it's single player. And this game looks like it would make a fantastic multiplayer. Yeah, this would be fantastic multiplayer. I'm still interested. I'm not slamming it.
Starting point is 00:24:39 There is a demo available people. So if you want to try the demo and see what this game's about, there is a demo on Steam as well. Again, I'm very excited for this. I just two things. It is releasing into early access. And I really feel like this game would thrive as multipurpose. player, but I get the single player down first, you know, get the game rolling and then figure out how to let your buddies play with you kind of thing. So I could absolutely see them doing that.
Starting point is 00:25:03 Yeah, I feel like they could. It kicks off. Yeah. All right. This is another title. Everyone's tired to hear me say. But we're going to say it here. It'll be the last time you hear it for a while. I promise. May 20th. Thickest Thieves will be launching. It's going to be on PC. It's going to be on PS5 and the Xbox series X and S. Think as Thieves has changed dramatic. from what we initially saw. Not for the good, man. Not, I would agree. Some people disagree,
Starting point is 00:25:33 because I made a little short about the fact that Thickest Thieves was changing from a PVP focus to a PVE focus thing. And people were like, oh, it's just great. I hate PVP. It's like, okay. But it wasn't like PVP. Like, people think that means like people are just working
Starting point is 00:25:45 to do and headshot, boom, headshot, you know? And it wasn't that kind of PVP. It was it was trip wires and bolas and things like that. It was never like, it was never direct attacks. It was traps. I don't know that a game has come out that we got so excited for that has made some development decisions that has that has disappointed me so much, man. I think, yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:26:13 What do you guys think made them change it? They said they had more fun playing at solo. Ambition? Yeah. I say maybe ambition, maybe the. No, I saw something where the developer said that one of the reasons that they made the, the decision was that when they were playing the solo mode, that they all agreed that they were having
Starting point is 00:26:28 more fun playing the solo mode than they were the PVP mode. But like, when this game was revealed, it was revealed as having that PVEVP element, but again, it wasn't combat. It was that you're trying to outsmart your opponents that are in the map with you so that you can
Starting point is 00:26:44 be the one to pull off the heist. And this competitive heist type game sounds amazing. Amazing. Right? And now it's just a stealth-based game where you just have to hide from some guards and zip line up to a roof and then try to not make noise. And it's like, it's just a stealth game now. And those are a dime a dozen, man.
Starting point is 00:27:03 And so it's like you took the thing that set you apart and you got rid of it. Now, I'm not saying, I still think thick as thieves looks like a great video game. It still looks fantastic. Yes. I'm not slandering the game. I'm still excited for what this game can be. I'm just saying that I feel like they've made some poor decisions in how they change things. I think the game looks great.
Starting point is 00:27:24 great. It's probably going to be a lot of fun. I am not a fan of pure stealth games. I love games that have stealth as an element, but not only stealth, and that's the problem for me is, like, you took away that element for me, and so now it feels like it's just a stealth-based game, which doesn't interest me as much.
Starting point is 00:27:40 I think, sort of comparing this to Assassin's Creed Unity. You could play multiplayer in Assassin's Creed Unity. Obviously, there was a little more death in Assassin's Creed. I think you could still have fun doing this co-op more than solo for sure, where you're just both trying to sneak around and maybe you just decide to
Starting point is 00:27:58 screw your friend over who's behind you. Just for the fun of it. Because they kind of showed off how many each character, you know, had their own gadgets, they had their own abilities and things like that, how you could take things back to your hideout to, you know, upgrade your abilities and all the gadgets and unlock new things and new classes. Like there's a lot here. It just feels very scaled back from what we expect it.
Starting point is 00:28:21 It just seems like you lost a layer of threat there. where you don't have that other entity within that kind of setting. When you're pulling off a heist, that tension should be like absolute peak. You know what I mean? Knowing that another player could show up at any time. And to me, that's what I was looking forward to. And they took that part away to where it's like, it's just a stealth base game now. Yeah, it is just.
Starting point is 00:28:47 There's two crazy things on this ace. One is the price and one is the playtime in the early access that we don't have. have 100% verified, but there are some strong, like, leads that say that the playtime for this early access is actually going to be pretty low, but then the price is pretty low. Yeah, like people are saying it's like two to four hours. You could play the first two chapters of the game, presumably just over and over and over again. But the game is rumored to only be five bucks. Yeah, that seems weird to me.
Starting point is 00:29:19 I am so confused about what thickest thieves is. guy. Yeah, we don't know at this point. I guess we're going to find out a while. It looks great. It looks amazing. You would think they would have to charge like $25 just to, you know, get the money back on the graphics alone. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:29:35 But, I mean, if they'd only want to charge five bucks for this game, I'm in. I'm all in. May 20th, we are also having the release of a game called Luna Abyss. This is basically first person, returnal, first person, Saros. It's a bullet hell. It's an FPS. It's got an intense narrative. narrative and story behind it.
Starting point is 00:29:55 It looks fantastic. It looks really good. The environments. It looks really good, man. Those environments were so beautiful. Oh, my gosh. I've seen this game on X a few times. I have not like paid it a ton of attention until now,
Starting point is 00:30:09 but this is absolutely a first person, a returnal slash seros type game. And it looks really good. It does. What about you, Ryan? Where do you land? Don't play if you have epilepsy. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:30:22 Yeah, Ryan is correct on that one. No, I think, again, this is just like, this is an indie. Like, what? This is, it's wild, man. I think it looks, like you guys said, you know, first person returnal, Saros. It's, it's beautiful, it's amazing, it looks wild. Again, don't play it if you have epilepsy. And they're prone to seizures.
Starting point is 00:30:45 But it looks, it looks so good. This is one that I'll probably check out. Demo on Steam. by the way, free demo. Oh, really? Yeah, free demo. I actually really want to try this demo. I would say, if you want to understand, like, how the gunplay feels and how, like,
Starting point is 00:31:02 because that's obviously what's most important in a first person shooter. Yes, for sure. Like, yeah, you definitely can. And like I said, that's coming out May 20th. But it's not just coming to PC. That is coming to PC, PS5, and the Xbox series X and S. So we've got some lofty indies in here, guys, going for, yeah. Josh, you're going to play it on your PS5?
Starting point is 00:31:22 No, I'll probably play it on PC Just because, you know, I'm a PC kind of guy All right Hey, Josh, they finally made Saros for you on PC Can't play Saros, man, bummed It's apparently IGN said Saros Is repetitive anyway, even though it's a rogue like So whatever
Starting point is 00:31:36 I'm gonna dunk on IGN for that Yeah, of course it's repetitive, it's a rogue like Yeah, didn't they also say That's how they work? MousePI had too much cheese and black and white Too much cheese not true to my noir fantasy Shut up Gosh.
Starting point is 00:31:52 No colors. Yeah, where's the color? Where's the color? May 26th. I am stoked for this game. Stone Machia. Let's take the concept of chess and make it a freaking souls like. You swap between the pond, the bishop, the rook, the knight, and you get different
Starting point is 00:32:12 abilities and loadouts. Ace, you get so excited over the weirdest games sometimes. It looks incredible. We are always begging for something. unique and interesting that stands out. This is chess but a soul's life. Pons and rooks and knights don't have arms, Ace. It's so weird to watch these things move in this world and dodge around because it is like they're inanimate objects.
Starting point is 00:32:38 They're inanimate objects carrying like a sword. And it's like there is a soul's like game here. And there is like the atmosphere and the visuals are like unique. and it's kind of like, I get it, but at the same time, I'm like, what are we doing people? And I love chess. Like, I'm a huge fan of chess, dude.
Starting point is 00:32:57 Like, I legit love playing chess. So it's like, I kind of like the imagery with the pawns and all. But I don't understand why they're trying to mash up chess pieces with like a Dark Souls game, man. And it looks like you evolve from like a pawn to a knight to a rook and stuff like that. But the animation is so weird to me at the same. time that it's like, I don't know what they're doing. All I know
Starting point is 00:33:23 is like, oddly, and I hate this, but it looks like there's a good game here. It shouldn't work, but it kind of works, man. That's what I was going to say. It's so ridiculous that it's actually going to be pretty good. It's probably going to be pretty good. You can look at this, put it
Starting point is 00:33:39 beside every other game that's come out in the last five years, and this stands out because of how weird. Well, it stands out. That's for sure. It's not always good. It's like, Sometimes it's good. Have you read the description? Fight Zephyro.
Starting point is 00:33:56 Arm yourself with the power of chess and explore medallon. A land haunted by a plague of angels and a dark action soul's like, will you be able to return to heaven? The story is. What does that have to do with chess? ChatGBT, GBT wrote that for sure. These guys were doing acid or something. No, Italians wrote that.
Starting point is 00:34:17 Italian wrote that. What kind of game they were making, man. Then they wouldn't have their espresso I am litrethia I am litreed Stone Macchia has a demo available on Steve if you want to check it out It's only coming to PC to my knowledge
Starting point is 00:34:28 I've not seen anything else otherwise Probably because they can't afford To point it may very clear that it's a Zero Budget game too Yeah but I gotta say For zero budget They've done they've done good Like we've seen a lot worse
Starting point is 00:34:42 From developers that haven't spent any money Solo developed self-published So you know This is as indie as it gets. Yeah, heck yeah, dude. May 27th, Echo Generation 2. Yeah. What is this game, guys?
Starting point is 00:34:56 I don't know, but I like it. I don't know, but I like it is. It is like a sequel, some cult favorite turn-based RPG about kids in a haunted town, but now you're an adult who gets Isakied through a freaking stranger things portal into a magical world. Yeah. This game looks insane. I kind of like this one, man.
Starting point is 00:35:16 This one looks really good. I do not blame you. It is, it is a weird, almost like it's got like voxel art at sometimes. Very voxel art at other times. It's a card based, like turn based game. Then it's got like giant Mac robots, but then the cards that you get are all animated. So it's like this terrible like rainbow just like a rainbow puked all over your cards. And they're all moving and stuff.
Starting point is 00:35:44 And then the boss fights look cool. And I don't know, man. but I kind of dig this one, man. Dude, I kind of dig it too. I get some weird fantasy star vibes from this, too, with some of, like, the combat and that, like, mech slash fantasy blend at the same time. I don't know, man. I'm very interested in this, so call me crazy.
Starting point is 00:36:05 Ryan, can I assume that you have no interest in this team-based card battler? I am so excited for this game. I cannot even tell you how much I don't want to play it. Ryan's going to be like, play it. I might pick it up. I may pick it out. I'll probably check it out. I'll probably play it. This also has a free demo on Steam.
Starting point is 00:36:26 So there is that. I will say the second the second it, like I saw cards being drawn and I was like, I knew it. I'm out. I'm out. That's so funny that to me that is a draw and to Ryan that is a nope. You know? This is what I love about gaming, dude.
Starting point is 00:36:41 Like Ryan sees he's like, nope. I see it. I see it. I'm like, it's kind of like I'm bringing games before the sharks. It's like, all right, sharks, this is why I brought it. And for that reason, I'm out. For that reason, I'm out. For that reason, I'm out. Yeah, exactly.
Starting point is 00:36:55 Okay. Yeah, Echo Generation is coming out on PC Xbox and it'll be on GamePass. So pretty cool. Final game on our list, boys. Let's wrap it up here with Crashout Crew, the follow-up from AgroCrab, which is one half of the dev team behind Peak. You drive a forklift around in a warehouse with your friends. Random events will happen that cause VeroCrabb.
Starting point is 00:37:17 pretty insane things to happen like lava or the lights will turn out and you just crash into one another. You can upgrade your forklift with the money you make from doing jobs. It is just a really fun party game. Very akin to something like overcooked, I would say. Okay.
Starting point is 00:37:35 I can't wait to hate you guys. I will. You will. I want, I really want to play this and I want us to do a VGP community night with this. Like, I think this is something that will be really, really fun. Well, how many people can we play with this? Oh, up to four. Yeah. Yeah, up to four. So four v four. That's only eight. I'm going to get so
Starting point is 00:37:56 darned at both of you. Four v. Four. Because I'm like, I'm going to be like, let's go. Let's beat this level, boys. And then Ryan's going to be just crashing into everything. Oh, yeah. It's, but also this game looks like it's dumb fun. It's going to be dumb fun. Uh, it's apparently you lose control. A long time back. Yeah, you lose control of your forklift all the time through various things. that happen. You can spin people out. You can like mess them with them and spend them out and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. You have to stack the boxes to try to be the most efficient to get things over there. But the higher you stack them, the more likely they are just to fall off. Yeah. To me, I don't, do we know the price on this one yet? Because to me, this is a perfect like eight bucks weekend. You're going to play it for three nights. You might drop off after that, but it's going to make for a heck of a fun weekend. And I know we've talked about it before, but there's something to be said about those games. Because what does it cost to go see a movie? movie like 1350 now you know so like getting three nights of just hilarious fun you get maybe six eight hours into this game over the weekend and you play with your friends and then you probably don't go back maybe you go back the next weekend one more time but that's well worth
Starting point is 00:39:02 eight dollars and it's smart for them to price it this way yeah i think party games are a little underrated honestly i think people yeah people kind of write it off all to mario it's like oh we'll just play mario party but if you don't have a switch and you don't have or eighty dollars or $80. Yeah. There are just a lot of options on PC for like party games you can play with your friends. It's weird because a lot of people resist. I'm one of them.
Starting point is 00:39:25 So like, you know, honestly, a lot of people resist buying games because it's like, well, if I can't devote 30 hours to this game, then I don't want to buy it, you know, but you got to remember the price on this. Like I just rented a movie the other night that it's like, you know, it's $20 to rent the movie because it's not like fully out on like streaming services yet. So it's like, you know, you can rent it for 20 or buy it for 25. It was like an hour and 45 minute movie. Like for 20 bucks.
Starting point is 00:39:51 I got an hour and 45 minutes. You're telling me I can drop $8 and get, you know, 10 hours worth of, maybe not 10 hours. You know, six hours worth of fun out of a game with my buddies. That makes sense. But I get that like mental barrier sometimes where people are like, I don't want to buy this game and then just throw it away three days later. But that's okay. Like you're supporting the devs. You're having your fun.
Starting point is 00:40:13 The price makes sense. like you don't have to long-term commit to these kind of games. And I'm saying that to remind myself on these at the same time because I know there's a lot of people out there like me because part of me sees crash out crew and I go, this is dumb. I'm not going to play this for very long. But I don't have to play it for very long. I have to play it for like a Friday and a Saturday night and that's it. And then I go, cool, I'm done.
Starting point is 00:40:37 I had my fun. And I don't ever have to play it again. And I still got value out of it at that point. So don't be like me. I think it's a good. that's a good point of view Josh I'm learning I'm learning I'm trying to that guys
Starting point is 00:40:49 I agree a good take on an India look at that well because if we were to like if we were to go back to lethal company right now like it would be a fun time like we would have a good time and it would be enjoyable and like we probably wouldn't play long we'd play the weekend but you can go back a year or two later to these games you know if they're still
Starting point is 00:41:06 going you know but uh but yeah there's something to be said about that just entry access cheap game that's party and fun and you get, you know, six, seven hours, and then you move on to something else. And so there's nothing wrong with that. And I love them. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:41:21 Now, Crashout crew is coming May 28th to PC and the Xbox series X and S. Definitely worth playing. If you got some friends, you're just waiting to play something. It's going to be like $8, which is like $5, according to the peak devs. So, right. It's like, people see $8. They see $5. Yep.
Starting point is 00:41:38 Steam gets that 30% is why. So, yeah. Yeah. And I'm sure it'll be on a discount the first day. out too. Always, always the case. But guys, that is all our indies for May that are, well, I'm not going to say
Starting point is 00:41:52 all of them. All the ones we could fit into this episode for May and it's stacked. I mean, we just covered 10 games for the main show for the May releases and then we've got all of these games for Indies too. Like, their may is a stacked month, dude.
Starting point is 00:42:09 Yeah. All right. Just to go through it one last time. May 1st, Constance gets its console release. May 5th, Dead is Disco Early Access and Motor Slice will release. May 7th, Alabaster Dawn's Early Access Begins. I know there's going to be a lot of people hopping into that. May 11th, Outbound will release for PC and Xbox. However, you will have to wait until May 14th if you are on PS5 or Switch.
Starting point is 00:42:30 Better Than Dead releases into Early Access on May 12th. May 14th, Darklight Survivor enters Early Access. Probably going to be a banger game, not going to lie. May 20th, Thick as Thieves enters not early access. surprisingly just drops. It's just coming out. It'll be how. Now we're talking.
Starting point is 00:42:49 Rumored five bucks. Oh. That's weird. May 26. Stone Machia. And May 27th, Echo Generation 2, May 28th, crash out crew.
Starting point is 00:43:00 Oh my gosh. Going back over them like that really puts into perspective just how many there were. If any of these sounded interesting in you, be sure to pick them up. Be sure to wish list them, even if you can't pick them up right away.
Starting point is 00:43:13 It just means, Yeah, a lot to the devs. And it makes a big difference. I know a lot of people don't think about that. It's like, well, I don't want to, you know, blow my wish list. These two don't have that issue. They just don't do it. So don't be like them.
Starting point is 00:43:28 Hey, I got 28 games on my wish list. I'll have you know. Oh, yeah? Yeah. How many of those have been put on here because I've poked you to do so? Anyway. 28. Are we out of time at the end of the show?
Starting point is 00:43:41 Oh, it looks like we're all. Oh, darn. a lot of time, A's. Well, if you enjoyed this episode, be sure to rate us five stars on Spotify. Leave us a review. If you are on Apple podcast with that five star rating, we would love to read it on our show because we read reviews around here to show our absolute love for you. We also have an amazing Discord full of fantastic gamers that you will be missing out on.
Starting point is 00:44:03 You need to be there. Like, that's where we are. We want to talk to you. We want to hang out with you. And so does our entire community, which is full of amazing people, like I said. but if you want to go that extra mile and you truly, truly enjoyed all this state of the art news that you can't get anywhere else,
Starting point is 00:44:20 be sure to support our Patreon as little as $5 a month for pre-show content, as well as higher tiers providing some very fun perks, including one we cannot wait to bring out. But I think that's all for now. So until next time, happy gaming. See ya! All right, see everybody.

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