Raygan and Nate dig in to this tough as nails retro-inspired ninja platformer. This game is a little longer than our usual limit, but it hides an interesting structural twist at its midpoint that made it too interesting not to cover.


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:

We’re finally saying goodbye to Kentucky Route Zero, with an episode covering Act V as well as the interludes Un Pueblo de Nada and Death of the Hired Man. It’s been a long, strange journey.


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:

In a world where all mixers are outlawed, the world’s greatest bartender fights against evil corporations by mixing 50/50 vodka and absinthe.


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:

You demanded it, so this week we’re talking about Animal Crossing. Because Raygan doesn’t know anything about Animal Crossing, Shane brought in two subject matter experts: Returning guest Mark Bramhill is a podcaster and radio producer, and joining us for the first time, Anna Delos Angeles is an artist and designer who does marketing and community management for Coral Sword. We talk a bit about our histories with the series, some of what’s new in this iteration, and dish the dirt on the weird and annoying villagers we are trying to kick off of our islands.


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:

Death Crown stands out with a 1-bit pixel art meets metal album cover aesthetic, but it’s also something we don’t often see: a real time strategy game with a campaign that you can complete in about two hours.


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:

It’s been a pretty normal couple of weeks with nothing strange or concerning happening at all, so we’re curling into a ball and playing comfort food games. What’s comfortable will be different for each person, so we’re sharing our personal picks and talking about broad categories that say “comfort food” to us.

If for some reason you need some human interaction, stop by our Patron only Discord!


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:

Kentucky Route Zero’s fourth act is its longest, most complex structurally, and might be its saddest yet. We continue our discussion of the game as well as the interlude Here & There Along The Echo.


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:

As you’ll hear in the intro we initially planned to discuss both Act III and Act IV on this episode, but we had such an interesting talk about Act III that we used up all our time.

We start with a chat about the two interludes Limits and Demonstrations and The Entertainment, then go deep on themes and references in Act III.


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:

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:

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: