Episode 4: Valentine's Day special

Indiescovery

It’s episode four of RPS’ indie podcast Indiescovery and this week the team got into the Valentine's Day spirit and had a long chat about our favourite indie game romances (any excuse to gush about how hot the characters are in Hades, really). We get gabbing about our favourite game OTPs, the fabulous representation of queer romances in indies, and then finish with a cursed (not horny) Cosmo-style dating quiz.

Just as a bit of a heads-up, we do spoil some of the romantic developments in the following games. No major plot spoilers, but you’ve been warned!

Our initial frolic into the realm of video game romances are the first games we remember playing with romance options. For Liam that would be Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life on the GameCube, the ninth entry in a series that is considered the great great grandpappy of all farming sims. Rebecca’s is the Gabriel Knight series for PC, a game that she remembers being quite sweet in amongst the murder-mystery-ing. For me, I lament about villagers moving away in the Animal Crossing series, which will never stop feeling like you've just been broken up with, and my frustrations with having to choose either Yennefer or Tris in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - of which my choice is NEITHER.

We then jump into our favourite romances in indie games. Liam kicks us off with Gregg ‘Be Gay, Do Crimes’ Lee and Angus Delaney from Night In The Woods. Rebecca’s OTP is Anna and Ashely from Simulacra, a surprise pairing in what is an incredibly creepy horror game. Rachel’s vote goes to Red and her giant sword boyfriend from Transistor, which leads to the gang chatting about their favourite dateable weapon in Boyfriend Dungeon.

We then get into a bit of chatter about representation and how indies have recently led the charge for queer romances outside of the hetero norm. There’s been a great deal of progress in a short amount of time for LGBTQIA rep, so we dive into why that’s the best thing ever.

To sign off on all our romance hot-takes, Liam has prepared a saucy (but, again, not horny) dating quiz where Rebecca and Rachel each get coupled up with an indie game through hilarious - and completely cursed - multiple choice questions.

This episode is a little more loosely structured, so here is a quick list of other games we mention in passing: A Year of Springs, Monster Prom, Firewatch, Unpacking, Bustafellows (and otome games in general), Mystic Messenger, Stardew Valley, and a big ol’ chat about Hades.

For this week’s hyperfixations, Rebecca has started Danganronpa 2, a dangerous decision for someone who became completely obsessed with the first game. Rachel is diving straight into the deep end in cosmic horror fishing sim Dredge, and Liam is trying to recover from the emotional devastation of finishing the first season of Telltale’s The Walking Dead (hopefully listening to Paramore’s new album is helping, bud).

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