Episode 6: What the heck is an indie game anyway?

In our sixth episode, we belatedly turn our attention to the question of just what the heck we're doing here anyway. The issue of "what makes an indie game an indie game?" is full of twists and turns, and nobody has ever really come up with an answer that covers all the bases. Lucky for us, that's not really what we're talking about here, although we do use that as a jumping-off point for our chat. Instead, we try to come up with an Indiescovery Manifesto, one that will guide us in the future when we're thinking about what games we ought to cover on the pod. We achieve this through a lively discussion that mainly involves Rebecca playing devil's advocate by throwing out ridiculous edge cases until Rachel and Liam want to break down and weep. (What can we say, Rebecca never saw a fence she didn't want to touch just to see if it's electrified.) To help us calm down after that, the second part of today's episode is a more laid-back catch-up on some new indie game releases we've been playing over the past few weeks. Liam immediately walks back some of the good work he did in the first half by admitting he really wants to talk about Resident Evil 4, but he's also been enjoying Rhythm Sprout lately, so all is forgiven. Rebecca and Rachel have both been playing Anemoiapolis: Chapter 1 and spend some time comparing notes. Rachel has also been playing Paranormasight — a horror visual novel from Square Enix and therefore not technically indie but with some vibes an indie-loving audience will no doubt appreciate — and The Pale Beyond, a Frostpunk-esque narrative survival game set on a boat. We love boat horror here at Indiescovery! As always, we close things out with our latest batch of hyperfixations. Liam still wants to talk about Resident Evil 4, and truly, who can blame him when his favourite game of all time just got a remake that lives up to the original? He's also been binge-listening to Let's Make A Rom-Com, a new podcast from the team behind last year's Let's Make A Sci-Fi, in which a trio of comedians bring in expert advice to help them write a Hollywood-grade movie script. Since the surprise announcement of a new Professor Layton title at last month's Nintendo Direct, Rachel has been reliving happy memories of adolescence by revisiting every previous game in the series she can get her hands on ahead of the impending closure of the 3DS eShop (RIP). Rebecca has been non-stop crying with joy ever since Everything Everywhere All At Once cleaned up at the Oscars, and elects to shout out some of her favourite video game fan art Twitter accounts to browse for a quick emotional pick-me-up, including Paula Peroff, Kiana Mai, Johnson Blazkowicz, Nastia Croft, and Angie M. Indiescovery is a podcast by Rock Paper Shotgun. Our theme music is by Dylan Sitts, specifically the songs Tahoe Trip, Pool Sticker, and Express Check-in. You can contact the podcast by chucking an email to podcast@rockpapershotgun.com, or by chatting to like-minded individuals about PC gaming over in our Discord. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices