Listen. We’re not doing great and we suspect you’re not either. After a brief chat about the election and Willa’s recent layoff, we dive into Mouthwashing, an emotionally challenging game that made us both feel like shit and is undoubtedly one of the year’s best.

If you’re looking for something positive to do with your energy after you’ve processed the results of the election, check the end of the shownotes for some hopefully helpful links.

Timestamps

(00:30) What a week it’s been (derogatory)

(01:20) Hey please take care of each other, things are pretty fucked

(07:45) The second annual layoff spectacular

(11:05) Cheering ourselves up with Mouthwashing, the saddest game ever made

(25:20) Mouthwashing spoilers begin [CW: mentions of sexual assault, suicide, alcoholism]

(55:20) Spoilers for Silent Hill 2 and Signalis, somehow

(1:04:00) The Mouthwashing scene that gave Robin a mental breakdown

(1:11:30) What else have Willa and Robin been up to? (feat. Dungeon Inn, Witching Stone, Arcane season 2)

Mentioned this week

Ten Free Ebooks for Getting Free

This post from Rowan Zeoli

Some help changing your name and gender marker

Willa’s blog

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Street Food by FASSounds

Things are bad right now, but you can help make them better. Here are some links that can help you get started:

Lots of resources from Critical Distance

Find local mutual aid groups

Get free masks and Covid-19 tests

Huge spreadsheets of mutual aid, justice orgs, and more

Prisonculture shares a lot of good resources on Bluesky

How to Change Your Legal Name and Gender 101

LGBTQ+ Healthcare Directory

Let us know what we should add to this list!

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It’s our second anniversary AND our 100th episode, a scheduling feat you wouldn’t believe was on purpose even if we tried to convince you it was. We take the time to answer some questions sent in by listeners over the past year, touching on our favorite games and inspirations, some podcasting inside baseball, and of course, the Mets.

Thanks for listening!!

Timestamps

(03:45) First gaming loves and breaking our parents’ rules

(11:55) The Girl Mode canon

(18:50) Sports games and comics

(26:20) Our critical inspirations

(32:50) X-Men by Girl Mode Studios

(36:45) Fixing the video game timeline

(44:00) Finding our podcasting voice/underdiscussed games/the Mets as RPG protagonists

(56:10) Thanks for listening!

(59:25) What else have Willa and Robin been up to? (feat. Dragon Age: The Veilguard, The Vampire Lovers, Late Night with the Devil)

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Music

Street Food by FASSounds

We stand for a free Palestine, and against the occupation, oppression, and genocide perpetrated against its people.

Please consider donating or otherwise standing up to support Palestinians in the wake of Israel's attacks.

Gaza Funds

eSims for Gaza

Medical Aid for Palestinians

Palestine Red Crescent Society

Palestine Children's Relief Fund

Demand a ceasefire from your representatives

Game Assist's "Gamers for Palestine" resource packet

Cartoonist Cooperative’s e-SIM fundraiser

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With her parasocial World Series hopes dashed, Willa has returned to the podcast to talk shit about Overwatch and the U.S. Copyright Office and listen to Robin yap about Dragon Age and Webfishing.

Timestamps

(02:00) The final Mets update

(07:50) Overwatch 2 wants to be Overwatch 1 (and it should)

(13:35) All our homies hate the Entertainment Software Association

(22:45) Dragon Age: The Veilguard is pretty alright

(40:10) Dragon Age spoilers begin

(55:15) Webfishing is the best game in the world

(58:15) Masahiro Sakurai’s video game school is closed

(1:02:00) What else have Willa and Robin been up to? (feat. a whole bunch of vampire movies and The VVitch)

Mentioned this week

Fulfilling Our Promise in Signalis w/ Girl Mode

Can an online library of classic video games ever be legal?

What's New in Game History!

Steam’s Strange New Online Fishing Game Is Like Animal Crossing’s Evil Twin

Webfishing is the ultimate yapping game

Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games: Finale Special

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Street Food by FASSounds

We stand for a free Palestine, and against the occupation, oppression, and genocide perpetrated against its people.

Please consider donating or otherwise standing up to support Palestinians in the wake of Israel's attacks.

Gaza Funds

eSims for Gaza

Medical Aid for Palestinians

Palestine Red Crescent Society

Palestine Children's Relief Fund

Demand a ceasefire from your representatives

Game Assist's "Gamers for Palestine" resource packet

Cartoonist Cooperative’s e-SIM fundraiser

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Willa has taken a vow of silence in honor of her beloved Mets, so this week Robin is joined by writer, editor, and podcaster Rachel Watts! Our giggly, tangent-filled conversation covers our favorite demos from the most recent Steam Next Fest, with lots of recommendations for promising upcoming indie games.

Timestamps

(00:30) Hello Rachel Watts!

(03:45) Citizen Sleeper 2

(08:15) *computer voice* Wormhole

(14:25) Great God Grove

(21:20) 30 Birds

(27:20) Scarlet Deer Inn

(34:15) Proverbs

(38:20) Keep Driving

(45:50) Touch Type Tale

(50:55) Sorry We're Closed

(56:50) Mainframes

(59:50) Is This Game Trying to Kill Me?

(1:08:00) Trip

(1:13:30) Spilled!

(1:18:05) What else have Rachel and Robin been up to? (feat. touching grass and Barbarian)

Mentioned this week

Rick Lane’s Demo Disc

Rachel and Robin’s demo lists

Follow Rachel on Twitter and Bluesky

Listen to Indieventure

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Street Food by FASSounds

We stand for a free Palestine, and against the occupation, oppression, and genocide perpetrated against its people.

Please consider donating or otherwise standing up to support Palestinians in the wake of Israel's attacks.

Gaza Funds

eSims for Gaza

Medical Aid for Palestinians

Palestine Red Crescent Society

Palestine Children's Relief Fund

Demand a ceasefire from your representatives

Game Assist's "Gamers for Palestine" resource packet

Cartoonist Cooperative’s e-SIM fundraiser

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We got to play one of our mutual most anticipated games of the year this week and were apparently the only people not won over by its big sad wolf. We also talk about how fucking good Citizen Sleeper still is, and cover a new tabletop-inspired tactics game that’s very fun but maybe a little misguided.

Timestamps

(1:00) Let’s continue going Mets

(5:20) Neva didn’t make us cry, it just make us bored

(25:00) Neva spoilers begin

(31:25) Neva spoilers end

(39:30) I can't believe Citizen Sleeper 2 is good

(1:00:30) Sunderfolk is fun, but who is it for?

(1:29:10) What else have Willa and Robin been up to this week? (feat. Joker: Folie à deux, Birds of Prey, Rings of Power, As We Descend)

Mentioned this week

Robin on Neva and Sunderfolk

Willa on Neva and Sunderfolk

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We stand for a free Palestine, and against the occupation, oppression, and genocide perpetrated against its people.

Please consider donating or otherwise standing up to support Palestinians in the wake of Israel's attacks.

Gaza Funds

eSims for Gaza

Medical Aid for Palestinians

Palestine Red Crescent Society

Palestine Children's Relief Fund

Demand a ceasefire from your representatives

Game Assist's "Gamers for Palestine" resource packet

Cartoonist Cooperative’s e-SIM fundraiser

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This week, we’ve both played some games but none of the same ones, so we’re telling each other about Echoes of Wisdom, Metaphor: Refantazio, UFO 50, and (extremely briefly) Diablo 4. And yes, we also talk about the Mets.

Timestamps

(01:05) The Mets are getting close (to the world series)

(09:40) Echoes of Wisdom

(30:20) Metaphor: Refantazio

(56:00) UFO 50

(1:10:40) One minute of Diablo 4

(1:12:20) What else have Willa and Robin been up to this week? (feat. More Than a Married Couple But Not Lovers, Horimiya, We Had No Rules, Will & Harper)

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Music

Street Food by FASSounds

We stand for a free Palestine, and against the occupation, oppression, and genocide perpetrated against its people.

Please consider donating or otherwise standing up to support Palestinians in the wake of Israel's attacks.

Gaza Funds

eSims for Gaza

Medical Aid for Palestinians

Palestine Red Crescent Society

Palestine Children's Relief Fund

Demand a ceasefire from your representatives

Game Assist's "Gamers for Palestine" resource packet

Cartoonist Cooperative’s e-SIM fundraiser

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A runtime this long can only mean one thing. Our X-Men series continues this week as Willa and Robin examine the comics of noted shithead Joss Whedon.

You can follow along with this week's visual learning material here.

If you're new to the show (hi, hello, so glad you're here), you may want to listen to the rest of our X-Men history lessons here before diving in!

Episode 26: Giant-Size Girl-Mode #1

Episode 38: The Sisterhood of Evil Podcasters

Episode 56: Castle of Lesbianism

Episode 72: Goin' Down to Mutant Town

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Street Food by FASSounds

We stand for a free Palestine, and against the occupation, oppression, and genocide perpetrated against its people.

Please consider donating or otherwise standing up to support Palestinians in the wake of Israel's attacks.

Gaza Funds

eSims for Gaza

Medical Aid for Palestinians

Palestine Red Crescent Society

Palestine Children's Relief Fund

Demand a ceasefire from your representatives

Game Assist's "Gamers for Palestine" resource packet

Cartoonist Cooperative’s e-SIM fundraiser

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Robin and Willa have both played The Plucky Squire, a kids’ game with some questionable puzzle design that we’re both pretty fond of nonetheless. Then we talk about some things we’re considerably less fond of, namely, just about every decision PlayStation has made recently (except a beautiful new controller).

Timestamps

(00:50) More Mets news

(04:20) The main event (The Plucky Squire)

(25:20) Plucky Squire spoilers begin

(32:20) Plucky Squire spoilers end

(42:10) Sony being Sony (releasing unnecessary remasters)

(48:25) We will stop complaining about Astro Bot when Sony sends us PlayStation anniversary controllers

(52:10) What else have Willa and Robin been up to this week? (feat. The People's Joker, Steam Deck x PlayStation Remote Play)

Mentioned this week

The Plucky Squire: The Kotaku Review

UFO 50 review: the 8-bit era returns in this fantastic retro collection

Pirate Kart Dot Com

Indiepocalypse

Horizon Zero Dawn and Freedom Wars Remasters Show the Ups and Downs of the Remake Trend

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Music

Street Food by FASSounds

We stand for a free Palestine, and against the occupation, oppression, and genocide perpetrated against its people.

Please consider donating or otherwise standing up to support Palestinians in the wake of Israel's attacks.

Gaza Funds

eSims for Gaza

Medical Aid for Palestinians

Palestine Red Crescent Society

Palestine Children's Relief Fund

Demand a ceasefire from your representatives

Game Assist's "Gamers for Palestine" resource packet

Cartoonist Cooperative’s e-SIM fundraiser

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.