We do not choose what we inherit, but we can choose what we carry. This week we're joined by sunset visitor 斜陽過客 Creative Director Remy Siu and Narrative Designer Pinki Li to chat about their journey as indie devs bringing 1000xRESIST to life -- and the resonance that has been deeply felt by players within and outside of the Asian diaspora.

Hailed by PASTE Magazine as one of the best games in the genre AND one of the best games of the year (agreed), 1000xRESIST is a thrilling sci-fi adventure where a disease spread by an alien invasion keeps you underground. You are Watcher, dutifully fulfilling your purpose in serving the ALLMOTHER -- until the day you discover a shocking secret that changes everything.

1:11 - Patreon shoutouts

2:21 - Welcome Pinki and Remy!

11:29 - 1000xResist conversation begins

52:34 - 1:01:45 - SPOILERS!!

1:05:42 - 1:13:15 - MORE SPOILERS!!

Read the essay '1000xRESIST is a game for a post-2019 Hong Kong protest generation of diaspora children that doesn't exist yet' by kastelpls: https://cohost.org/highimpactsex/post/5960606-1000x-resist-is-a-gam

Watch the live recording of this episode on YouTube here: https://youtube.com/live/YIubeBZyPbM

Side Quest

tinyurl.com/opolivebranch

Operation Olive Branch is a grassroots collective effort to amplify Palestinian voices and their GoFundMes – visit the link to learn more or visit their Instagram page at @operationolivebranch.

About Pixel Therapy

We're a podcast queering and transcending video games for all kinds of gamers and those who love them--get cozy with us! If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate us, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (or your listening app of choice) and subscribe! Want more? Join for free or unlock monthly bonus episodes for $2/mo at patreon.com/pixeltherapypod

This week on the podcast we're chatting about Akupara Games' CRYPTMASTER -- a bizarre dungeon-crawling adventure where words control everything. It's like Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing, but with more necromancy. And we mean that in the best way possible.

0:55 - Patreon shoutouts

3:22 - We're going to PAX West!

6:28 - Cryptmaster conversation begins

Watch the live recording of this episode on YouTube here: https://youtube.com/live/RT775n2Zep4

Side Quest

tinyurl.com/opolivebranch

Operation Olive Branch is a grassroots collective effort to amplify Palestinian voices and their GoFundMes – visit the link to learn more or visit their Instagram page at @operationolivebranch.

About Pixel Therapy

We're a podcast queering and transcending video games for all kinds of gamers and those who love them--get cozy with us! If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate us, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (or your listening app of choice) and subscribe! Want more? Join for free or unlock monthly bonus episodes for $2/mo at patreon.com/pixeltherapypod

This week we're joined by AstralShift's Kira (António Lopes / @kirariinn) to talk everything Little Goody Two Shoes -- a lush, gorgeously detailed horror-adventure-visual novel following Elise, a rebellious young woman daring to build a better life for herself in a deceptively peaceful small town. The game expertly explores the queer subtext beneath the horrors of witch hunts and religious ostracization, and we had an absolutely lovely time unpacking it with the game's lead artist and co-director!

PS - there's still time to enter our giveaway of a Steam key for Little Goody Two Shoes! Just visit patreon.com/pixeltherapypod and sign up as a free or paid subscriber! The winner will be notified on Patreon by this Sunday, May 5th. Thanks, AstralShift!

0:52 - Patreon shoutouts

3:04 - Introduction of Kira

7:19 - Discussion of Little Goody Two Shoes begins

Side Quest

tinyurl.com/opolivebranch

Operation Olive Branch is a grassroots collective effort to amplify Palestinian voices and their GoFundMes – visit the link to learn more or visit their Instagram page at @operationolivebranch.

Watch the live recording of this episode on YouTube here: https://youtube.com/live/wp8zS3TyjX8

About Pixel Therapy

We're a podcast queering and transcending video games for all kinds of gamers and those who love them--get cozy with us! If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate us, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (or your listening app of choice) and subscribe! Want more? Join for free or unlock monthly bonus episodes for $2/mo at patreon.com/pixeltherapypod

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, originally released in 2013 to critical and fan acclaim, transformed the way many people thought about what games could be and laid the groundwork for director Josef Fares' later explorations in cooperative mechanics (y'all may remember his title It Takes Two won Game of the Year in 2021!). Lovingly remade by Italian developer Avantgarden, critics have been torn on Brothers 2024 -- but we sure aren't! Join us as we re-traumatize ourselves on this heartbreaking adventure while Spencer recaps their experience at GDC 2024.

For real though: Content warning for discussions of gameplay involving depictions of attempted suicide and death.

0:58 - Patreon shoutouts

3:09 - Spencer went to GDC

34:58 - Brothers conversation begins

1:07:27 - Content Warning: Mention of Suicide

1:10:35 - End of Content Warning section

1:17:09 - SPOILERS for Brothers

1:35:10 - End of Spoilers

Side Quest

tinyurl.com/opolivebranch

Operation Olive Branch is a grassroots collective effort to amplify Palestinian voices and their GoFundMes – visit the link to learn more or visit their Instagram page at @operationolivebranch.

Watch the live recording of this episode on YouTube here: https://youtube.com/live/Etg-ZgICP-g

About Pixel Therapy

We're a podcast queering and transcending video games for all kinds of gamers and those who love them--get cozy with us! If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate us, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (or your listening app of choice) and subscribe! Want more? Join for free or unlock monthly bonus episodes for $2/mo at patreon.com/pixeltherapypod

Join us as we break down DON'T NOD's spiritual Vampyr successor, the doomed love story of ghost hunters Red and Antea in Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden.

0:45 - Patreon shoutouts

3:05 - Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

9:10 - Showtime's The Curse

16:51 - discussion of Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden begins

Side Quest

tinyurl.com/opolivebranch

Operation Olive Branch is a grassroots collective effort to amplify Palestinian voices and their GoFundMes – visit the link to learn more or visit their Instagram page at @operationolivebranch.

Watch the live recording of this episode on YouTube here: https://youtube.com/live/Cppl6h4hWh8

About Pixel Therapy

We're a podcast queering and transcending video games for all kinds of gamers and those who love them--get cozy with us! If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate us, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (or your listening app of choice) and subscribe! Want more? Join for free or unlock monthly bonus episodes for $2/mo at patreon.com/pixeltherapypod

This week, we're so excited to welcome cartoonist, animator, and game developer Adrienne Bazir (she/they) into the studio to talk about their 2023 timeloop RPG, In Stars and Time!

In Stars and Time is a turn-based RPG that follows a group of adventurers at the end of their journey to defeat a king slowly freezing the land in time. It's also a game about found family, snacks, cosmic indifference, and the power in knowing where you come from and embracing who you are. Safe to say it has us in a chokehold.

0:57 - patreon shoutouts

2:07 - introduction of adrienne

6:53 - discussion of In Stars and Time begins

Learn more about Adrienne and In Stars and Time:

https://www.insertdisc5.com/

https://www.instarsandtime.com/ - available now on Steam, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch!

Side Quest

https://www.instagram.com/anat.international/

Salma Shawa (@anat.international) is a content creator pushing followers to think critically about Palestine. Give her a follow on Instagram!

About Pixel Therapy

We're a podcast queering and transcending video games for all kinds of gamers and those who love them--get cozy with us! If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate us, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (or your listening app of choice) and subscribe! Want more? Join for free or unlock monthly bonus episodes for $2/mo at patreon.com/pixeltherapypod

Welcome to our third annual totally unserious end of year review! Let's dive into some of the games that we were especially delighted, transported, and inspired by in 2023.

3:27 - thank you!

7:14 - 2023 in games - great games vs. terrible layoffs

17:04 - recapping our year in games

31:49 - our 2023 Top 5 games

1:41:58 - honorable mentions

1:48:32 - favorite character of the year

Articles Referenced

https://www.theverge.com/24009039/video-game-layoffs-2023

Side Quest

https://www.instagram.com/connectinghumanity_/

Connecting Humanity is a non-profit organization dedicated to connecting vulnerable people in conflict zones by distributing e-sims, digital sim cards allowing for connection to a cellular network, bringing vital communication to family, between medical providers and patients, and more in Gaza and beyond. Check them out on Instagram!

About Pixel Therapy

We're a podcast queering and transcending video games for all kinds of gamers and those who love them--get cozy with us! If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate us, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (or your listening app of choice) and subscribe! Want more? Join for free or unlock monthly bonus episodes for $2/mo at patreon.com/pixeltherapypod

As we close out a difficult year, two great games with interesting parallels remind us to keep it pushing -- with profound meditations on what happens when we look away from the world and from each other. In Rundisc's Chants of Sennaar, a hooded protagonist strives to reach the top of a mysterious tower while decoding language barriers that have kept its inhabitants isolated for generations. In Don't Nod's Jusant, a young climber scales an abandoned mountain in a treacherous journey to restore balance to a planet trapped in limbo. And they both slap!!!!

1:51 - Patreon shoutouts! Thank you all!

4:09 - Casual home disaster chat (thanks for your patience as we've rescheduled lately!)

6:27 - We both finished Sea of Stars!

17:23 - Jusant and Chants of Sennaar conversation

Article referenced:

https://www.polygon.com/reviews/23864920/chants-of-sennaar-review-puzzles-stealth

Side Quest

https://www.antipoliceterrorproject.org/

The Anti Police-Terror Project is a Black-led, multi-racial, intergenerational coalition that seeks to build a replicable and sustainable model to eradicate police terror in communities of color. We support families surviving police terror in their fight for justice, documenting police abuses and connecting impacted families and community members with resources, legal referrals, and opportunities for healing.

About Pixel Therapy

We're a podcast queering and transcending video games for all kinds of gamers and those who love them--get cozy with us! If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate us, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (or your listening app of choice) and subscribe! Want more? Join for free or unlock monthly bonus episodes for $2/mo at patreon.com/pixeltherapypod