Mosey on over to this here podcast fer some of the worst accents this side of the Mississippi — it’s time to cover Card Cowboy, yeehaw! Saddle up to take revenge on the Gunman who killed your dad, wooed your mom, and kicked your dog. Card Cowboy is basically Western mad libs and we’re happy as hornets. Each playthrough takes about 30 minutes. (Yall make sure to pick up the Steam version, which is fully voice acted.)

What’s been making us happy this week:

• Nate: Marvel Snap
• Laura: The Great Pupkin Costume Contest (photos and more photos)
• Shane: Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities

The Short Game is supported directly by our listeners on Patreon! Supporters at any level get access to our Discord, where we discuss games, plan episodes, and talk about what we are playing in real time. You can also support us by writing a review on Apple Podcasts!

You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame

Your hosts this week were:

• Shane Kelly – @8bitShane
• Nate Heininger – @natestl
• Laura Nash – @laurajnash

This week, we pick back up our coverage of IFComp 2022 with seven more games:

• Into The Sun by Dark Star
• The Absence of Miriam Lane by Abigail Corfman
• Admiration Point by Rachel Helps
• Star Tripper by Sam Ursu
• To Persist/Exist/Endure, Press 1 by Anthony O
• The Only Possible Prom Dress by Jim Aikin
• Trouble in Sector 471 by Arthur DiBianca

Let us know if you’ve got a favorite we haven’t reviewed yet, and we’ll do our best to check it out before judging on November 15!

The Short Game is supported directly by our listeners on Patreon! Supporters at any level get access to our Discord, where we discuss games, plan episodes, and talk about what we are playing in real time. You can also support us by writing a review on Apple Podcasts!

You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame.

Your hosts this week were:

• Raygan Kelly – @raygank
• Shane Kelly – @8bitShane
• Laura Nash – @laurajnash

We love a game that respects our time. But what if you don’t have *any* time? Do two things at once, of course!

To celebrate Raygan’s return amidst new baby mode, we praise games that let us multitask — whether we’re watching tv, listening to podcasts, or even completing a chore or two.

When should you multitask? When shouldn’t you? What sorts of games are good fits? What games require every single bit of your attention? All this and more!

The Short Game is supported directly by our listeners on Patreon! Supporters at any level get access to our Discord, where we discuss games, plan episodes, and talk about what we are playing in real time. You can also support us by writing a review on Apple Podcasts!

You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame

Your hosts this week were:

• Raygan Kelly – @raygank
• Shane Kelly – @8bitShane
• Nate Heininger – @natestl

The leaves are turning, the air is brisk, and we are feeling our seasonal feelings by re-releasing our episode on Night in the Woods. This game’s not only giving us autumnal vibes, it also was one of our 2017 games of the year — we even created the inaugural “Dirtbag of the Year” award to capture our love for Mae Borowski.

If you’re new to Night in the Woods, it’s a story-focused adventure game about a college dropout returning home to a distressed mining town, Possum Springs. It’s about reconnecting with your friends and finding things aren’t the same as when you left.

Also, everyone is a talking animal.

The Short Game is supported directly by our listeners on Patreon! Supporters at any level get access to our Discord, where we discuss games, plan episodes, and talk about what we are playing in real time. You can also support us by writing a review on Apple Podcasts!

You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame

Your hosts this week were:

• Raygan Kelly – @raygank
• Shane Kelly – @8bitShane
• Nate Heininger – @natestl
• Laura Nash – @laurajnash

Happy 28th birthday to IFComp! We’re thrilled to start our seventh year of competition coverage with discussions of seven brand-new interactive fiction games. Nate and Laura open with a brief overview of IFComp for the unfamiliar/forgetful, before diving into individual reviews.

• The Grown-Up Detective Agency by Brendan Patrick Hennessy
• Esther’s by Brad and Alleson Buchanan
• The Thirty Nine Steps by Graham Walmsley
• Nose Bleed by Stanley W. Baxton
• Use Your Psychic Powers at Applebee’s by Geoffrey Golden
• Glimmer by Katie Benson
• HOURS by Aidanvoidout

The Short Game is supported directly by our listeners on Patreon! Supporters at any level get access to our Discord, where we discuss games, plan episodes, and talk about what we are playing in real time. You can also support us by writing a review on Apple Podcasts!

You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame.

Your hosts this week were:

• Nate Heininger – @natestl
• Laura Nash – @laurajnash

It’s all there in the title — there’s both slicing and dicing in this turn-based roguelite! Nate, Laura, and Shane take on liches, witches and other classic monsters across Slice & Dice’s 20 increasingly challenging levels. But it’s not all luck — despite a game full of literal dice rolls, there’s a lot of strategy involved too.

Slice & Dice is available on itch.io for Windows, Mac, and Android (plus there’s a free demo.) A good run will take about an hour to an hour and a half, depending on your undo button use.

What’s been making us happy:

• Laura: An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong
• Shane: Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal
• Nate: Midnight Mass

The Short Game is supported directly by our listeners on Patreon! Supporters at any level get access to our Discord, where we discuss games, plan episodes, and talk about what we are playing in real time. You can also support us by writing a review on Apple Podcasts!

You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame.

Your hosts this week were:

• Shane Kelly – @8bitShane
• Nate Heininger – @natestl
• Laura Nash – @laurajnash