Indieventure

• #49. What We've Been Playing (Ball x Pit, Easy Delivery Co., PowerWash Simulator 2)

  Now that the nights are well and truly closing in (for us here in the UK at least) and Halloween is behind us, there's just enough time for the Indieventure trio to take one last look at the latest batch of new(ish) indie games we've been enjoying before turning our attention to the serious business of end-of-year celebrations. We say new-ish because, while Rachel and Liam are as on it and up-to-the-minute as ever, Rebecca has wandered off on a bit of a side-quest. Basically, it's still Halloween in her heart, and if that means shining a spotlight on some spooky (and/or romantically spooky-adjacent) games from six months or two years or heck, even nearly a decade ago, then it's more than worth it to create what we hope you'll all agree is a suitably autumnal vibe. To that end, our round robin discussion in this episode encompasses games including Absolum, Ball x Pit, Easy Delivery Co., Herdling, Layers of Fear (both the 2016 and 2023 versions), Monster Prom 4, Monstrous Love, and of course, PowerWash Simulator 2. Regular listeners might already have noticed that we've had a longer break between episodes than usual, and so naturally we've found plenty to be hyperfixated on in that time. Rachel has discovered the SCP Foundation collaborative fiction project, and while it's given her a bit of a crisis over her love for a certain suspiciously similar Remedy game, she nevertheless thinks you all should go and read about an eldritch basketball game in SCP-1733 if you haven't encountered it yet. Meanwhile, Liam's been enjoying some movies courtesy of Eatflix in Newcastle, and also thanks to everyone's favourite breathtaking meme machine Keanu Reeves' latest starring role in Good Fortune. And Rebecca has finally got her hands on Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2, her feelings on which are far too complex to condense down into this brief text summary, but on which she is at least qualified to speak with some authority as an OG mega-fan of the 21-year-old original cult classic. Our music was written and performed by Ollie Newbury! Find him on Instagram at @newbsmusic. Meanwhile, you can find us at indieventurepodcast.co.uk or wherever you listen to podcasts. Don’t forget that you can now join our dedicated Discord too, and be sure to check out our new Steam Curator page if you simply still can't get enough of us!

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• EXTRA: Rachel wrote a book!

  This episode of EXTRA is a particularly special one, as our guest today is none other than our very own Rachel Watts! Rachel has spent the last 12 months writing a book all about COCOON, the 2023 puzzle game developed by Geometric Interactive. The book chronicles the development of the game, including its puzzle design, world-building, and soundscapes. Featuring exclusive interviews with its creators, this stunning tome is available for pre-order RIGHT NOW via the Lost In Cult website. In the episode, Rachel reveals what it was like to undertake a project of this scale, as well as providing some teasers of what you can expect when the book is released next year. Of course, this wouldn't be an EXTRA episode hosted by Liam if it didn't dive into Rachel's past a little bit, too. Listen to find out about the early days of Rachel's career in journalism, an incredible anecdote about her time studying film at university, and an absolute gem about her brief stint at Card Factory. You can read Rachel's work on FemHype here. Pre-order COCOON: Design Works here! Our music was written and performed by Ollie Newbury! Find him on Instagram at @newbsmusic. Meanwhile, you can find us at indieventurepodcast.co.uk or wherever you listen to podcasts.  

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• #48. The Vault: Spoooky Edition

  There's been a bit of a scheduling pile-up at Indieventure HQ: within the next three episodes we somehow have to fit in our 2nd anniversary, Halloween, and our 50th episode, and make all of them feel as special as they deserve. Working around a lot of real-life commitments at the moment also means that we had to bulk-record a bunch of episodes back-to-back and… look, what I'm trying to say is, yes I realise now that we're technically hitting Halloween an episode early, but let's just agree that it works and feels deliberate, OK? Because we've decided to hold back the traditional anniversary bit-o'-bullshit for Ep.50 (mark your calendars for November!), we decided that this milestone deserved another trip to the prestigious Indieventure Vault. We've been toying with the idea of dedicating some Vault space to specific genres for a while, and where better to start than with horror? It's a linchpin within the indie gaming scene, after all, and as ever our hosts can get some good mileage out of the fact that we all have very different feelings towards the genre: Rebecca is a total scare-seeker, Liam won't even talk about spooky games without a light on in the room, and Rachel is a recent convert who now happily occupies a space somewhere in-between. When it came to picking our favourite spooky games to induct into the Vault, we were slightly surprised to realise that there aren't actually very many in there yet, which gave us something of a blank canvas to work with. In deference to everyone's wellbeing and in the name of keeping things interesting we were pretty loose on what we think deserves the title of "horror game", but it was nevertheless surprisingly easy to settle on our three latest submissions: Signalis, Slay the Princess, and Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, all of which we give their rapturous (and increasingly surreal) initiation ceremony in this episode. Onto hyperfixations, and you can tell we're approaching the end of the year because everyone's suddenly checking out a bunch of games. Rachel's been playing some solid gold indies as ever in the form of Öoo and Rise of the Golden Idol's latest DLC, The Curse of the Last Reaper. Meanwhile, Liam's been enjoying the glorious experiment in indie dev collaboration that is Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 1 Re-Raptored. And, because Rebecca's schedule can't be tamed at the moment, she's bucking the trend with two of the biggest AAA releases of the year instead: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (on PS5) and Silent Hill f. Our music was written and performed by Ollie Newbury! Find him on Instagram at @newbsmusic. Meanwhile, you can find us at indieventurepodcast.co.uk or wherever you listen to podcasts. Don’t forget that you can now join our dedicated Discord too, and be sure to check out our new Steam Curator page if you simply still can't get enough of us!

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• EXTRA: Leaving the games industry with Ed Thorn

  The last time Liam spoke with Ed Thorn, he was days away from announcing his departure from Rock Paper Shotgun. Beginning his career as a guides writer, Ed climbed the ranks to become reviews editor of the prestigious PC gaming blog, before deciding it was time to finally move on. Ten months after that original episode went live (eight when we recorded this - soz for the delay) Ed returns to discuss what it's like to say goodbye to your dream job. Together, the pair discuss their reasons for moving on, the things they're glad to leave behind, and the moments they'll always look back on with fondness.  This one has a slightly different vibe from our usual episodes. It's less "three feral goblins screech about Peggle", and more "two old men reminisce about the good old days".  You can find more of Ed's thoughts in this wonderful article he kindly wrote for our website. Our music was written and performed by Ollie Newbury! Find him on Instagram at @newbsmusic. Meanwhile, you can find us at indieventurepodcast.co.uk or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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• #47. The Silksong in the Room: Indie Game Sequels

  OK so here's the thing: as an indie game podcast – even one that we put out for free and entirely just for fun – we can't not acknowledge the recent release of Hollow Knight: Silksong, one of the most anticipated indie games ever, right? But also, as it turns out, for various reasons, none of us have actually played it. What to do, then? Well it turns out that while exactly zero out of three hosts had the time or – to be honest – inclination to jump right in and play Silksong at launch, we've all got a lot to say on the subject of indie game sequels more broadly. While Triple-A and even Double-A gaming spaces are absolutely saturated with long-running franchises, even very popular and successful indie games are seemingly more likely to be standalone than not, which makes sequels something of a curiosity when one comes along. So that's how we manage to talk about Silksong without actually mentioning Silksong very much! Be it the indie game sequels that really worked for us, the ones that never saw the light of day, or our dream indie game follow-up wishlist, it turns out we have a lot to say as usual when we throw the topic open to a wider examination of an intriguing industry trend. Why is it mainly puzzle and/or horror games that manage to turn themselves into full-blown indie franchises? Do spiritual sequels count? And is Liam over the cancellation of Dreamsettler yet? (Sadly: no, but we shouldn't rush him.) Our hyperfixations this week see Rachel once again chilling with some cute critters in Star Birds, Liam once again chilling with some factory management in Oddsparks: An Automation Adventure, and Rebecca once again seeking out the least chill time imaginable by going to see The Long Walk in the cinema (it was a great film, just… harrowing). Our music was written and performed by Ollie Newbury! Find him on Instagram at @newbsmusic. Meanwhile, you can find us at indieventurepodcast.co.uk or wherever you listen to podcasts. Don’t forget that you can now join our dedicated Discord too, and be sure to check out our new Steam Curator page if you simply still can't get enough of us!

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