Category: Episodes

VA-11 Hall-A

Episode 14: VA-11 Hall-A

by Twenty Dollar Gaming on

It’s the cyberpunk future, and it’s your job to mix drinks and change lives in a grungy bar. Meet regulars! Watch people get drunk and fall asleep! Discuss your clients’ personal problems while you decide how much alcohol to give them and Glitch City crumbles around your ears!

Listen for our thoughts on:
– The “mix drinks to make choices” mechanic
– The colourful (crazy?) cast of characters
– Dorothy the sex worker who inhabits the body of a 12-year-old (yes, really).


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Panoramical and Islands

Episode 13: Panoramical and Islands: Non-Places

by Twenty Dollar Gaming on
You are feeling very relaxed. You see an escalator. Some palm trees are riding the escalator. This is fine. This is all perfectly fine. You remember something about a French anthropologist…
This month we played two strange games: Islands: Non-Places (featuring escalator palm trees) and Panoramical (which Jamie describes as “conducting a dream orchestra” and Andy describes as Hello Games dropping acid at a game jam).
What did we discuss? Here’s a list!
  • What’s the goal? We don’t know – there are no extrinsic rewards!
  • Is it a game? Who knows? Who cares?
  • A French anthropologist on “non-places”
  • A brief foray into absurdism
  • Vignettes are cool, so is sound
Lists are fun! 😀 Give us a listen for all that, and MORE!

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The Curious Expedition

Episode 12: The Curious Expedition

by Twenty Dollar Gaming on

Day 25. We grow weary. I was delighted by Sister Mary’s sermon this evening – a pity she accidentally-on-purpose set fire to the forest and died screaming horribly. Only remaining companion is Robert, deranged cannibal. Friendly chap.

Day 26. Supplies getting low. We possess only a solid gold llama, a mystical crystal ball (useless for another week) and a strange object we acquired from a trader. He calls it a “podcast”, and claims it will bestow great wisdom upon us. I am curious…

This month we played The Curious Expedition! Explore strange, untrodden lands in search of fame! Annoy natives who only want their sacred artefacts back! Collect golden statues, hunting trophies and… shudder… BUTTERFLIES.

Here are just some of things we delve into this episode:
0:32 – Overview of game mechanics and setting
4:30 – A look at the combat system
9:04 – Thoughts on unlockables and roguelikes
15:00 – The influence of Lovecraft
17:30 – In-depth discussion of colonialism in the game
32:56 – How the game handles native populations
39:00 – The long-lasting appeal of the game
41:20 – Closing thoughts


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Quadrilateral Cowboy

Episode 11: Quadrilateral Cowboy

by Twenty Dollar Gaming on
> twentydollargaming.exe
> connect podcast
> play

 

That’s right, this month we played Quadrilateral Cowboy, the puzzle-heist-hacking tale of three friends, one supercomputer and a dream: to ditch their useless diplomas and live a life of crime! Also features a cute little robot thing, an eye-catching boxy art style and an illegal cat dealer (a cat who sells illegal things, not someone who sells cats illegally).

Will Quadcow’s retro-cyberpunk theme win us over? Are the puzzles up to snuff? And how does it tell a story about friendship with no text?


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The Magic Circle

Episode 10: The Magic Circle

by Twenty Dollar Gaming on

This month we play The Magic Circle, a game about a game about games. This is the gamiest game ever gamed, made by gamey people who think about nothing but games. GAMES. This is gamenip for us.

But that’s not why you should listen. The reasons are:

1) Andy and Jamie disagree about something! The end times are near!! :O
2) Jamie finds out how many times he can say “auteur” in a podcast and then worry that maybe he’s been saying it wrong.
3) Andy invents a new game called Mr Potato that may or may not be related to Mr Potato Head.

This podcast summary might seem meta, confusing and weirdly circular. But you know what else is meta, confusing and weirdly circular? The Magic Circle. Ok, that was a little impressive. You should listen just for that.

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