This week we’re returning to something we used to do semi-frequently: we’re highlighting some of our favorite video game music tracks! We haven’t done one of these in quite a while (years!) so let us know if it’s something you’d like to see more of.

For your listening convenience, here’s a link to a Spotify playlist of all of the songs mentioned on this episode!

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

This week we are re-releasing our 2015 episode covering the Spider series from Tiger Style games. Both Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor and Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon are iOS classics that have recently been re-released in improved versions by GameClub. Since our episode, Shrouded Moon has also been released on Steam, and on Playstation 4 and Vita! If you haven’t played these classics, we highly recommend checking them out!

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

Speed Dating for Ghosts seems at first like a riff on the comedic-dating-sim-adventure-game in the vein of Dream Daddy or Monster High, but this short narrative game doesn’t ever do quite what you’d expect. Get to know a cast of 9 ghosts (plus extras!), each of whom has a story to tell. Some funny, some sad, and some just downright strange things happen as you date these spirits.

Recently released on iOS and Nintendo Switch, Speed Dating for Ghosts is also available on Steam and itch.io. Expect it to take around 2 hours to complete.

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

Guildlings is a charming mobile-first adventure RPG set in “a world of wizards and wifi.” We’ll be scribbling bad fan art of the characters in this Apple Arcade adventure for a long time.

Guildlings is exclusive to Apple Arcade, and is playable across all Arcade platforms. Expect it to take around 5 hours to complete, with additional chapters coming as soon as summer of 2020.

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

This week we’re discussing Wide Ocean Big Jacket, a story-game camping trip, from developer Turnfollow and publisher Tender Claws. Mord and her boyfriend Ben are on their first camping trip together (like, together together) accompanied by Mord’s uncle Brad and aunt Cloanne. From MEAN TEENS to birdwatching, this game was Short Game bait, and clocks in at 60-90 minutes, or as the developers describe it “like watching a good movie with friends or curling up to read a book”. It’s also an IGF Finalist for Excellence in Narrative! Available February 4th on itch.io, Steam, and the Nintendo Switch.

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

Shane and Laura take the podcast where it’s never dared to go… up off of the couch! Ring Fit Adventure for the Nintendo Switch is yet another Nintendo attempt at a fitness game, but it falls much farther on the “game” side of the line than past offerings. Laura and Shane have both been playing the game for a few weeks, and discuss how it’s transformed their approach to exercise.

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
• Laura Nash – @laurajnash

Kentucky Route Zero, both the game and this episode, have been a long time coming. With the 5th act of the long in-development magical realist adventure game finally coming on January 28th, we decided it was time to cover this frequently requested game. We played and discuss the first two acts, with plans to cover the remainder of the game after the release of chapter 5.

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

This week we’re breaking from our usual format to discuss the 2010s, and the arc that indie games (and gaming generally) have taken through the decade.

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

As Nate put it, Katana Zero is a game that really goes for it. It goes for ALL of it. Incredible high speed acrobatic melee combat. Clever time-manipulation mechanics. A dialogue system that lets you literally slice through your opponent’s words with your sword. All of this, in service of a story that, well… let’s just say it prompted a very spirited discussion both before and after our spoiler break. This episode was enormously fun, both in the playing and in the discussion.

Katana Zero is available on PC/Mac (Steam) and Nintendo Switch. Expect it to take around 7 hours to complete.

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

2019 was a divided year in so many ways, so perhaps we should have expected a stalemate when picking a Short Game of the Year. All four hosts run down our exceedingly divergent Short-GOTY picks while also calling out other games we loved in 2019. We also include some listener picks from our Patreon supporters!

00:00:00: Introduction
00:03:58: Raygan’s List
00:25:53: Shane’s List
00:43:35: Nate’s List
00:57:50: Laura’s List
01:06:58: Picking The One And Only Game Of The Year
01:15:17: Long Games Of The Year
01:20:15: Listener Picks
01:25:50: Outro

Raygan’s GOTY: Manifold Garden
Shane’s GOTY: Untitled Goose Game
Nate’s GOTY: Slay The Spire
Laura’s GOTY: Baba Is You

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