The Short Game

Forbidden Solitaire 08.06.2026 50min

Turns out if someone hands us a haunted CD-ROM, we are playing it. This week, Laura once again tricks the whole podcast into playing solitaire, only this time it's *Forbidden*. OooooOOooooOOO.Forbidden Solitaire was made by Grey Alien Games and Night Signal Entertainment, and should take about 4-7 hours depending on your solitaire prowess. (00:00) - Forbidden Solitaire (39:38) - Spoiler Break

Titanium Court 13.05.2026 55min

Titanium Court. An absurd game that refuses to explain itself. Winner of the 2025 Whoever McSomeone Grand Prize.

Skate Story 27.04.2026 42min

This week we're talking Skate Story, a skateboarding game where you're a demon made of glass and pain on a mission to eat the moon. We open with skaterboi stories before kicking into the game's large arsenal of tricks, vaporwave soundtrack, and surprisingly difficult boss fights. Curse you, The Eternal Centipede!(00:00) - Skate Story (02:00) - Skater Bois and Girls (09:36) - Skating in Video Games (14:55) - Aesthetics (16:45) - In praise of Bizarre (19:33) - Mechanics (22:33) - Late Night Gaming (24:00) - It's tricky, tricky, tricky (25:34) - The Camera Angle (30:21) - Yes, This Game has Boss Fights (33:39) - The Skater's Dream (35:34) - Controls (38:52) - Shattering into a Million Shards (40:25) - Final Verdict (41:26) - Outro

Wheel World 05.03.2026 1h

This week on The Short Game, we're toodling around bicycle Valhalla in Wheel World, the open-world cycling game from the developers of Nidhogg. Laura and Shane explore beautiful Italian landscapes, customize bikes, and discuss why this might be the most relaxing racing game we've played.This episode was recorded way back in the summer during our long hiatus. Hopefully you'll feel it holds up! (00:00) - Wheel World (41:35) - What's Making Us Happy (41:42) - Shane's New Bike (48:43) - Laura Talks Movies (58:18) - Wrap Up

BALL x PIT 09.02.2026 56min

In this episode of The Short Game, Nate, Laura, and Shane dive into BALL x PIT, a roguelite block breaker published by Devolver Digital. Recorded a couple of months ago, the episode comes out in time for the release of a free DLC adding new content to the game. The discussion covers the game's unique blend of ball-firing mechanics, character abilities, and city-building elements. Does BALL x PIT respect your time? Maybe, maybe not, but it's a good time either way.

TR-49 26.01.2026 1h 12min

A voice is saying your name. A WWII-era machine, long hidden in a church basement, whirs to life. Through a crackling speaker, a man asks you to find a stolen book. He only knows the title. Time is running out.Inkle has made a Database Thriller. An Interface Game. Or are we just calling these SamBarlow-likes? And it's a taut 4 hours, and just $7, which is also five bucks. (00:00) - TR-49 (45:34) - Spoiler Break (01:09:37) - Wrap-up

Absolum 12.01.2026 58min

This week we are talking about Absolum, a roguelike beat 'em up from Streets of Rage 4 developers Guard Crush Games and publisher Dotemu. This was one of those games that would probably have been near the top of our 2025 GOTY list if we'd managed to all play and discuss it before the end of the year. It combines the incredible beat 'em up mechanics from Streets of Rage 4 with Hades-style progression mechanics. It really kicks ass. There's also one of our classic slightly too long digressions about the Steam Deck and Linux about 33 minutes in. Sorry, and you're welcome.(00:00) - Absolum (26:21) - Digression about Steam Deck and Linux (33:24) - Back to Absolum (52:42) - Wrap up

IFComp 2025 29.12.2025 1h 12min

We're continuing to shake the cobwebs out of the podcast, and this week we're bringing you our coverage of IFComp 2025. Normally we cover the whole competition with multiple episodes as its running, but this year we didn't quite manage that. We couldn't escape 2025 without talking about the comp some though. In this "lost" episode (recorded in late October 2025) we discuss some of the games we had time to check out this year, including a few of the top winners. We'll be releasing a patron exclusive "what's making us happy" episode next week (join us on Patreon!) followed by an episode on Absolum. See you in 2026! (00:00) - Intro & Welcome (00:52) - What Is IFComp? (04:45) - How We’re Covering IFComp 2025 (06:12) - Detritus by Ben Jackson (19:48) - Lady Thalia and the Case of Clephan by N. Cormier (26:44) - The Wise-Woman's Dog by Daniel M. Stelzer (34:59) - The Secrets of Sylvan Gardens by Lamp Post Projects (48:43) - A Visit to the Human Resources Administration by Jesse (53:08) - The Little Four by Allyson Gray (59:11) - The Witch Girls by Amy Stevens (01:03:24) - HEN AP PRAT GETS SMACKED IN THE TWAT by Coral Nulla (01:08:44) - Wrap Up

Short Game Game of the Year 2025 22.12.2025 1h 13min

It's been a weird year, but we're ready to round up the best Short Games of 2025! We're also awarding our other highly prized honors like Dirtbag of the Year and Most "Little Guy who Goes Around."This might be the last episode of 2025, but it's also the first episode of The Short Game Season 2. We figured 444 episodes was enough for Season 1, and we are changing up our format slightly. We're looking forward to a great new year! (00:00) - Short Game Game of the Year 2025 (10:08) - Dirtbag of the Year (15:37) - Most Little Guy Who Goes Around (22:54) - Best Galerius (33:25) - Best Mario (38:26) - Late to the Party (44:35) - Best game that nearly killed the podcast (48:37) - Gaming Moment of the Year (58:04) - Best Rerelease (01:01:22) - Shout out to games ineligible for GOTY (01:02:40) - Game of the Year 2025 (01:08:31) - Wrap-up

444: Deltarune Chapter 4 15.09.2025 1h 17min

After a somewhat unplanned summer break, the Short Game crew is returning to talk about the fourth chapter of Deltarune! (00:00) - 444: Deltarune Chapter 4 (03:17) - Surprise! Structure is Different! (10:32) - Picking up right after Chapter 3 (11:19) - Going to Church! (19:29) - Noelle's House (30:30) - You'll Never Make Me Play The Dark Route (35:56) - Back to the Church (49:23) - Climbing is Fun! (53:20) - Now we're going to spoil Nate (01:15:21) - Outro (01:17:17) - Outro

443: Fan Games on Steam Deck 15.07.2025 1h 33min

The Steam Deck is the number one console(ish) platform for playing ILLEGAL GAMES that Nintendo doesn’t want you to play! This week we’re talking about games that STEAL intellectual property from the RICH FAT CATS at Nintendo and their cronies and remix it into FREE GAMES for the PEOPLE. (00:00) - 443: Fan Games on Steam Deck (03:42) - What Counts as a Fan Game? (06:20) - Explaining Steam Deck Desktop Mode (16:38) - Where do you find fan games? (24:34) - The (Fan) Games (25:26) - Celeste: Strawberry Jam (33:42) - Other Fan Games of Indies (36:06) - Sonic Fan Games (38:36) - Sonic Robo Blast 2 (41:24) - Sonic and the Fallen Star (44:14) - Sonic Triple Trouble 16-Bit (50:33) - Link's Awakening DX HD (01:09:16) - Streets of Rage Remake (01:21:37) - Lightning Round (01:22:24) - Zelda3 (01:24:01) - Dungeons of Infinity (01:24:55) - ZIIAOL (01:26:11) - Decomps - Ship of Harkinian (01:27:38) - AM2R & Metroid Planets (01:28:51) - Wrap-up

442: Deltarune Chapter 3 26.06.2025 59min

Toby Fox is back, and it’s TV TIME! Previously: Episode 320 – Chapter 1 Episode 324 – Chapter 2 Episode 65 – Undertale Episode 66 – Undertale Spoilers (00:00) - 422: Deltarune Chapter 3 (14:37) - Remembering Chapters 1 and 2 (26:50) - Spoiler Break - Chapter 3 Story Spoilers! (54:40) - Wrap Up

441: ENA: Dream BBQ 11.06.2025 54min

From the depths of Steam and YouTube comes ENA, a strange polygonal girl in a surreal hypercapitalist dreamscape. Your hosts were left wondering what the hell this was all about, and why is it so incredibly beautifully animated? (00:00) - ENA: Dream BBQ (33:21) - What's Making Us Happy This Week? (33:26) - Shane: Getting Into 3D Printing (41:16) - Raygan - New NAS Goofin' (46:55) - Laura: The Clock (1945) (53:10) - Outro

440: Skin Deep 30.05.2025 1h 1min

Indie game royalty Blendo aka Brendan Chung, creator of Thirty Flights of Loving and Quadrilateral Cowboy among others has come out of his cicada-like 7 year dev cycle with another instant classic. Skin Deep is an immersive sim about popping the detachable heads off of space pirates and flushing them down space toilets in order to save a bunch of talking space cats. It’s an easily the funniest and probably one of the best immersive sims ever made. (00:00) - 440: Skin Deep (47:07) - What's Making Us Happy This Week? - Fantasy Novel Edition (01:00:36) - Outro

439: Despelote 17.05.2025 54min

A video game memoir by Ecuadorian indie developers Julián Cordero and Sebastian Valbuena, and published by Panic, Despelote takes you back to a childhood in 2001 Ecuador, and the magical grip soccer held over the entire country during the lead-up to the 2002 World Cup. This is something we have never seen in video games before. (00:00) - 439: Despelote (01:00) - Soccer Memories (08:07) - Despelote (14:05) - A long aside about Great Wolf Lodge (16:43) - Despelote! (21:52) - Another digression about child endangerment (24:08) - Despelote!!! (41:36) - What's Making Us Happy This Week? (41:52) - Nate: A Sandworm's Dream (44:26) - Shane: Moms & Myst (47:17) - Laura: Jet Lag: The Game (52:11) - Outro

438: Many Nights a Whisper 05.05.2025 57min

We’re talking about Many Nights a Whisper, a short, meditative archery (kinda!) game from Red Strings Club developer Deconstructeam and Selkie Harbour. The Dreamer has prepared their entire life for one impossible shot that will define a generation. Hear the wishes of your people, and prepare for your one chance to make them come true in this interactive essay on the flight of wishes and the pressure of expectations. In “What’s Making Us Happy”, Nate is playing the classic Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and Raygan recommends an app. An app! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_Mario:_The_Thousand-Year_Doorhttps://www.suppermariobroth.comhttps://reederapp.com/ (00:00) - Many Nights a Whisper (31:29) - What's Making Us Happy This Week? (31:36) - Nate: Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (42:23) - Raygan: Reeder (53:03) - Outro

437: Expelled! Spoilers! 10.04.2025 1h 8min

We spent this week playing a bit more of Inkle’s follow up to Overboard!, and made some shocking discoveries! (00:00) - Expelled! Spoilers! (05:42) - Big Surprises (30:51) - The Content Warnings! (32:38) - Getting Away With It (47:35) - Loose Threads (56:19) - Resetting your Evil Meter (59:24) - Wrap-up

436: Trash the Planet 31.03.2025 46min

This week, Laura and Nate dive into Trash the Planet, a free, browser-based resource-management game that subverts clicker mechanics to serve its narrative. You play as a group of raccoons who start out collecting trash and, through a rapid evolution of society, end up ruling the planet—manipulating the stock market with absolutely no consequences. Stick around for the return of What’s Making Us Happy This Week. (00:00) - Trash the Planet (36:26) - What's Making Us Happy This Week? (36:45) - Nate: Paper Mario: The 1000 Year Inter-Library Loan (40:24) - Laura: Crossed Skis (44:28) - Outro

435: FlyKnight 26.03.2025 1h 3min

Shane and Nate were buzzing about FlyKnight, a $5 indie dungeon crawler that surprised us with its humor and depth. In this episode, we break down what makes this tiny first-person RPG so fun, from its retro aesthetic and first person Souls-like combat to its great co-op potential. Should you bug your buddies to play it? Let’s find out! (00:00) - Intro (01:20) - FlyKnight (01:02:16) - Outro

434: Expelled! An Overboard! Game 12.03.2025 55min

Expelled! is the latest game from all-star narrative design studio Inkle. It’s a follow up to our 2021 Game of the Year winner Overboard!, and it builds on that game’s strengths in every conceivable area. A School Prefect has been pushed out of a window, and everyone says YOU did it! Now you have one day to clear your name. Can you uncover the culprit — or find someone else to take the fall? (00:00) - Intro (01:49) - A Sequel(ish!) to Overboard! (06:59) - Welcome to Miss Mulligatawney's School for Promising Girls (09:34) - The Bad Girl Meter (13:47) - I Didn't Do It, Dad! (15:48) - Optimized for Replay (19:09) - Sparkling Dialogue (21:05) - Verity's Day (32:46) - Filth Book (38:11) - Bringing it all together (44:27) - There's some wild stuff in here (49:49) - Wrap Up