Describing The Skybox

You little podcasts are going to have your bodies ripped in half. Welcome to our last episode of Mystery May this year, where the game we play is decided by dice roll. This time around, fate has deemed it necessary for us to play the Earthbound Halloween Hack, which is notorious for a few reasons, most notably being that it was created by Toby Fox who would later go on to develop Undertale. However, the games share little in common and even the writing doesn’t quite hit the same mark (and in some cases falls exceedingly short), but you can tell in the spirit of the whole thing as well as in the art and music, which were mostly also done by Fox where they weren’t borrowed from the original game. The game’s difficulty is also ramped up within the hack, requiring a truly awful amount of grinding for the average player, so I do think the audience for this is limited, though there is a creative idea here that is expanded on in a fairly interesting way. We’re going to be talking about the creative elements of this game and its novel setup, the nature of romhacking and how it even came to be, and then we went and drank some beer and banged some chicks. Hell yeah. Thank you for joining us again this week! This whole month has been interesting game after interesting game and for very different reasons each time, so while maybe we didn’t play a whole lot that we outright loved, it sure sated our curiosity a good bit. How much did you know about this game on a scale of “this is the first time I’ve heard of Earthbound” up to “I edit the Toby Fox wikia”? Let us know over on our Discord or in the comments below! I fell probably somewhere around the high “knew Toby Fox used to go by Radiation online” range and still didn’t get exactly what I was expecting out of this. Next time, we’re going to finally do some regular episodes for the summertime and up first is Donkey Kong Bananza, so we hope you’ll join us then!

A great podcast has been revealed to you. Welcome back to Describing the Skybox! Today, as our first episode in Mystery May, we’re going to be talking about Fez, a now shockingly 14 year old game. Fez is a puzzle platformer, emphasis on the puzzle, but not a complete dis-emphasis on the platformer, in which you move around on a 2D plane, but have the ability to rotate the play area, adding a bit of 3D thinking as well as some perspective-based puzzles to work through. This carries the game surprisingly well, with it feeling very clever but also surprisingly intuitive. Along the way, there are numerous hints and secrets to find which could lead players to an ultimate secret about the world of the game, but are more often than not just additional collectibles to pick up. This cleverness and emphasis on secrets in the exploration are both the game’s strengths and its weaknesses, as it does create an atmosphere that makes you want to explore, bolstered by the fun, cartoony art direction, but also asks a lot of the player to even get from place to place. Navigating can be a little stilted as your destinations aren’t clear and exits to each zone are not necessarily immediately visible with multiple angles to look through. If you’re looking for a fun, light, platformer game, don’t be fooled by the game’s visuals and presentation, but if you want to dedicate some time, Fez does feel like a kind of pioneering game in the indie space. Thank you for joining us again this week! Fez has been on the list about as long as we’ve been doing the podcast, so we thank the Mystery May die for finally pushing us into doing it. Fez is such a hot and cold game, emblematic of the indie scene at the time it came out, with equal parts misguided ambition as well as genuinely clever design. Did you fall down the Fez rabbit hole when it came out, or did you bounce off of it? Let us know in the comments or over on our Discord server! Next time, we’re going to be talking about Dreams, the game development software slash game browser for the Playstation 4, so we hope you’ll join us then!

To listen to this podcast is to walk in a world of impurities. Welcome back to the podcast! Today, we’re going to be talking about Silent Hill f, an action survival horror game and the latest entry in the Silent Hill series. This game takes a more combat-focused approach with stamina management and dodges, making it feel different from the majority of games in its genre. Beyond that, it separates itself from Silent Hill as a physical location as it is usually depicted in other Silent Hill titles, and is instead set in 1960s Japan. This change in context allows it to tell a story that, while it does still focus on the personal demons of its protagonist, takes the setting more into account and can address the societal issues of the time and place more directly. And it does a really good job telling this story, particularly through its cinematics and their impeccable pacing. It gives the story so much room to breathe and emphasizes when things really pop off. Which they do, of course, the game is not entirely comprised of slow, quiet moments. There are moments of the game where the mechanics can clash with the tone, and the combat itself isn’t exceedingly well designed, but it work shockingly well more often than not and I think it’s a game worth checking out, especially during this spooky…Thanksgiving season? We’re going to be talking about enemy designs both visually and mechanically, our favorite and least favorite areas and puzzles, and a joke is made that will really only work for some of the more cultured in the audience. Thank you for joining us this week! It’s been a bit of a hectic time recently so we’re just now finishing up the Halloween games, but I assume that’s expected at this point. I know this game has received ever so slightly mixed reactions online, so which side do you fall on? Do you like the direction the game took compared to previous games or are you disappointed in the sort of mechanical/tonal mismatch? Let us know in the comments or over on our Discord! Next time, we’re going to be talking about Hades 2, which just had its full release recently, so I hope you’ll join us then.

Even if you don’t understand, your mitochondria will. Welcome back to the podcast! For our second game for the Halloween season, we’re talking about Parasite Eve, a survival horror action RPG from PlayStation era. And for being from that era, Parasite Eve honestly looks incredible and is, for me, the biggest draw. Mechanically, the game is a little clunky, with some extremely crunchy systems and a real time battle mechanic that can be frustrating to interact with at times. But they you will get rewarded with a perfectly disgusting cutscene where a rat’s eyeball melts out and its arms grow ten times larger. It’s a push and pull, but it never becomes entirely unfun and it’s a surprisingly gentle difficulty level. You’re largely playing this game for the (somewhat silly) narrative, creature designs, and wild visuals, but if you take that into account it is a surprisingly enjoyable experience. We’re going to be talking about the surprising roster of people who worked on this game, the disparity in the systems between different styles of paly, and hot bodies in multiple senses. Thank you for joining us again this week! This game has a reputation that after playing it I completely understand. I would be so nostalgic for this just based on the set pieces alone had I played it when it came out, and I was surprised at how quickly we were able to pick up the basics. Are you a long time fan of this game (or its sequels)? Did you understand the weapon system better than us and are frustrated with our struggle? Let us know in the comments or over on our Discord! Next time, on Halloween itself, we’re going to be talking about Slitterhead, so I hope you’ll join us for that!

Did you know you can hold a podcast in your off hand? Welcome to the 200th and (kind of) final episode of NOCLIP! With it being both the 200th episode and our tenth anniversary, we figured now would be as good a time as any to finally play Minecraft, one of the most popular and the best selling game of all time, which neither of us had actually played before. Minecraft popularized the previously niche genre of survival games, captivated a huge number of people, and to some degree altered the landscape of online content creation, all while being a procedurally generated game full of blocks created predominately by one guy. Reputation of that one guy aside, it’s impressive what this once small game accomplished and the culture it developed. The simplicity of its design allows for more complexity in its systems, with hundreds (probably? Thousands maybe?) of items to craft and a huge world to plumb for resources. The game is also very self-directed, allowing for a lot of player creativity if it does leave you a little directionless at times. The world is equal parts hostile and enticing due to unforgiving enemy spawns and procedural generation, so it is up to the player to determine where and how far they want to go given their current gear and needs. We’re going to be talking about the ubiquity of Minecraft in modern culture, the ups and downs of the open nature of the game, and how Minecraft is about two inputs away from a dissociative experience. Thank you for listening this week and for the last, shockingly, ten years. Minecraft is probably the biggest milestone type game we haven’t covered yet, and for those of you who have been playing this game for a decade or more, we probably only embarrassingly scratched the surface, so be sure to let us know in the comments or over on our Discord. We have a lot of changes coming soon, the biggest of which is that we are changing the name of the podcast (same great taste though, we aren’t changing the format or the contents), so keep an eye on things and don’t be shocked when elements of our branding change. Additionally, to celebrate both occasions, we have released a list of my top 100 games of all time, something I’ve personally wanted to do since I was a kid, so give that a read here (splattershot.pro/top100) if you’re interested! Next time, and for the first episode of Describing the Skybox, we’re going to be talking about Mouthwashing to kick off the Halloween season! We hope you’ll join us then.

Caked up podcast, goated with the sauce. Welcome back to the podcast! Today, we’re going to be looking at the most recent Life is Strange title, Double Exposure. This picks up roughly ten years after the first game in the series and returns to the point of view of Max Caulfield who has not been using her powers. The game largely follows the same trajectory of the more recent games in the series, lacking time reversing powers, it is a narrative adventure game where you make choices in dialogue and occasionally solve puzzles. The character dialogue is as awkward as ever, but it does still have the earnestness that the series is known for. It is, however, much smaller in scope than previous games, with few locations to explore and a reserved, linear plot. Mechanically, there is potentially more to explore with the set of powers available, but it has a smattering of interesting puzzles here and there that put the game’s premise to use and it’s well worked into the story. Whether you enjoy this game will probably come down mostly to how much you like that story and how it is told, but I think fans of the series (as in, more than just the first game) will find something about it to find endearing. We’re going to be talking about the story and how it calls back to the first Life is Strange, how the characters and world building have evolved over time, and lame dudes. Thank you for joining us again this week! I recognize that we talk about Life is Strange fairly often, but it felt appropriate to talk about a podcast favorite series as we inch ever closer to Episode 200. Double Exposure may not reach the highs of the series, but I think it also avoids the lows. How was your experience playing through the game? Let us know in the comments or over on our Discord server! Next time, we’re going to be doing a very special epilogue episode where we talk about Bloodborne, something like 9 years after we did it the first time, so I hope you’ll join us for that!

I’m literally a podcast, what’s your excuse? Welcome back to the podcast! Today, we’re going to be talking about Balatro, the hit poker roguelike from last year. Balatro is, in my opinion, the best kind of roguelike, with very synergy focused modifiers in the form of Jokers and card enhancements, as well as very permissive deck building options. You can, with proper management, cut large swathes of cards from your deck and really enable playing specific hands that synergize with the jokers you’re offered, meaning you can really set concrete goals for each run depending on what you are given early, so that strategic element is always at the forefront. A lot of this can be a little difficult to understand from the start though, and bouncing off is a real danger. To help ease that, the game has a really novel video-poker style aesthetic, with screen shaking effects and a dynamic, though single-track, score, which help draw you in and keep you invested. In the end, it’s a deep system that is still accessible and gives the player a lot of control over their runs, which does an especially great job of making higher difficulties feel challenging but not unfair. We’re going to be talking about joker designs from both a visual and mechanical standpoint, how strategies can differ depending on your goals in any given run, and how great twenty dollars actually is. Thank you for listening this week! This was a necessary episode to put a period on the addiction this game caused in me over the last year, but even so I definitely recommend giving this a try if you haven’t already. Did you get sucked into this game at all since it came out and generated a lot of hype? Is it really worth the time to go for Completionist++? Let us know in the comments or over on our Discord! Next time, we’re going to be talking about Astrobot, so I hope you’ll join us for that!

There is only you, and the spark of the podcast that is your mind. Welcome back to NOCLIP! Today, we’re going to be looking at The Talos Principle 2, a first person puzzle game developed by Croteam. The game builds on, and stays pretty close to, the mechanics of the first game, using connecting lasers with various tools as the primary method of puzzle solving. Despite this, it does a good job of feeling familiar while also adding novelty with each new area. There are many new puzzle solving tools and they make you approach the puzzle rooms in different ways, with some of my personal favorites being the ones that allow the player to move around in different ways, which really changes your relationship with the space. Narratively, the game picks up where the previous left off, just very far in the future. The plot focuses on the society that has built up around the designs of the characters from the first game, but the philosophical focus has shifted from questions of personhood common in the first game to questions of humanity’s impact on environments and societal responsibility. This feels like a natural evolution and one that is more reactive to current social issues. We’re going to be talking about the pacing of the game and how it’s unusual difficulty curve is actually a boon, what makes the puzzles of this series as enjoyable as they are, and how we like colors and shapes, y’know, like newborn babies. Thank you for listening to NOCLIP this week! This was a game we knew we wanted to play but took a while to find its spot. I’m glad we did get around to it, because it ended up being a really good time, but also because it provides a complete tonal contrast to the games surrounding it in the schedule. Were you a fan of the original game and waiting for the sequel? Let us know in the comments or over on our Discord. Next time, we’re going to be talking about Uma Musume: Pretty Derby, so we sort of hope you’ll join us then.