Stay ConnectedGirl Mode is a podcast (mostly) about video games by two trans women and gaming journalists where we talk about the latest news in the industry, our takes, weekly topics, and more about the Mets than you’re probably expecting.
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This week, Robin and Willa have a conversation no one will disagree with about a game everyone is being reasonable about. We talk through why Clair Obscur, the FRPG of the year, didn’t live up to the hype for either of us, and inevitably detour into why criticism is good and cool and doesn’t have to make you a killjoy.
Timestamps:
(00:30) Setting le tableau (or, don’t yell at us about Clair Obscur)
(03:40) Prologue: A Very Somber State Fair
(35:00) Act 1: Lost Syndrome
(45:45) Act 2: We Don’t Care That [REDACTED] [REDACTED]s
(53:00) Act 3: Every Frame A Painting
(1:04:50) Epilogue: Blaming Women
(1:18:18) Inspirations and comparisons
(1:29:40) Why everyone is being so weird about this game/why criticism isn’t a dirty word
(1:42:00) What else have Willa and Robin been up to this week? (feat. Gundam GQuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuX, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown)
Mentioned this week:
The best part of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is it explains nothing
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s style is its substance
I Want to Be Potboy! (with Robin and Tori!) - Into the Aether
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Street Food by FASSounds
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CW: Brief reference to suicide between (01:05:00) and (01:05:45)
This week, Robin and Willa dive into the work of Selkie Harbour, developer of the recent (and excellent) Many Nights a Whisper. We get into the interesting parallels and outliers among the studio’s catalog and come away more excited about ice skating than we ever thought possible. We also completely spoil all of these very short games, so consider taking a couple hours to play through all of them if you don’t want to hear about them first!
Also check out Robin's recent appearance on Into the Aether, where she talks indie deckbuilders and Expedition 33 with Stephen and Press Start's Tori!
Timestamps:
(01:20) X-Men belongs to the dolls
(02:45) A walking tour of Selkie Harbour’s itch page
(6:15) A Message for the Stone King
(12:15) The Well
(19:30) Everything You Didn’t Get To Do
(31:50) Sunset Shift
(40:20) I.C.A. Calendar Photoshoot 2023 (see Robin's calendar here)
(46:10) Rêverie
(51:30) The Anglerfish Project
(58:35) Wrapping up Selkie Harbour
(1:00:40) What else have Willa and Robin been up to this week? (feat. Easy Delivery Co., Apocalypse Hotel, a great piece on Superhot VR, Blue Prince)
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Street Food by FASSounds
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This week, Robin talks to the delightful hosts of the equally delightful Emmi & Annie Talk Indie podcast. We discuss a whole mess of games, with tangents on sexualizing playing cards, furry-friendly pizza restaurants, the games that taught us to type, and learning the name for a group of butterflies.
Timestamps:
(00:20) Introducing Emmi and Annie (who talk indie)!
(14:30) Making dogs immortal in Many Nights a Whisper
(43:30) A food service soap opera in The Chef’s Shift :3
(1:02:55) Christine Mi’s games make us want to make games
(1:23:00) Growing a story in Tiny Garden
(1:26:45) Worshipping the devil after gym class in Expelled!
(1:39:00) What else have Annie, Emmi, and Robin been up to this week? (feat. traumatic YA books, gacha-based disappointment, The Apothecary Diaries, Changes of Heart, Look Back, a 29-year-old calling herself old and instantly killing Robin)
Mentioned this week:
Follow Emmi, Annie, and EATI on Bluesky
Annie, Emmi, and EATI’s websites
A very good Christine Mi comic
Dotzip on Worm Girlfriend Dating Simulator
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Street Food by FASSounds
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Like everyone else, we’re still reeling from the destruction of Polygon and Giant Bomb, but trying to do more than curl up into the fetal position about it. After the most constructive takes on games media we can muster, we talk through a few great games Robin's played recently, put a pin in a not-great one, and check in with Willa’s three favorite things (the Mets, weird New York lore, and gay mutants).
Timestamps:
(00:20) Meet today’s guest, Willa Rowe
(01:20) The shocking delay of GTA 6, which no one saw coming
(06:00) RIP Polygon and Giant Bomb
(12:30) The future of games media, if there is such a thing
(21:21) Navigating games journalism in its death throes
(25:20) You don’t need to pay $80 for games
(30:10) Many Nights a Whisper
(36:30) Ending spoilers for Many Nights a Whisper
(38:00) StarVaders fuuuuuucks
(40:05) We will talk about Clair Obscur at a later date
(41:05) Brief LudoNarraCon shoutouts
(43:30) Surprise Mets/Astoria the turkey update
(46:30) What else have Willa and Robin been up to this week? (feat. The X-Men, Super Cub)
Music:
Street Food by FASSounds
Mentioned this week:
Many Nights A Whisper Lets You Decide What Wishes Are Worth Granting
I Can’t Believe How Good StarVaders’ Deckbuilding Riff On Space Invaders Is
Willa’s deranged Clair Obscur thread
Hazel’s Anime Countryside video
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This week, critic and essayist Autumn Wright joins Robin to talk about Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, a game about growing up as a queer woman that’s just as messy as the real thing. We discuss how the game still works even when it’s fraying at the edges and wonder whether the mid-budget talky game can survive even if Don’t Nod doesn’t.
Timestamps:
(00:20) Welcome Autumn!
(24:50) Tape 1 ending spoilers
(29:10) Tape 1 Spoilers end/Tape 2 spoilers begin
(38:25) Tape 2 ending spoilers begin
(1:17:05) Tape 2 spoilers end/Don’t Nod and conversation games broadly
Music:
Street Food by FASSounds
Mentioned this week:
Autumn on Bloom and Rage Tape 1 and Tape 2
Robin on Bloom and Rage Tape 1 and Tape 2
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Street Food by FASSounds
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This week, we played a bunch of different games and now we’re gonna talk about them. I don’t know what else you want.
Timestamps:
(01:25) News we don’t care about and jokes we do
(03:00) Sunderfolk
(21:10) Mandragora
(29:30) Shadow of the Colossus
(35:50) Metroid Prime
(44:30) What have Willa and Robin been up to this week? (feat. Season of the Witch, The River Has Roots, Taco Bell Quarterly)
Music:
Street Food by FASSounds
Mentioned this week:
Sunderfolk Is An RPG Everyone Can Enjoy, But It Might Be Hard To Love
Mandragora Is The Most Infuriating RPG I’ve Played This Year And I Can’t Put It Down
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Street Food by FASSounds
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The worst February of our lives continues with the release of Hogwarts Legacy. We discuss how the media failed to take its significance seriously, why our reactions are about more than just a game, and why, yes, supporting it does make you a bad person.
We cap off this week’s fun-filled episode with a genuinely much cheerier segment recommending some great games by and about trans people that you should be playing instead.
This episode touches on transphobia throughout. While there's no detailed discussion of any particular transphobic comments or acts, please proceed with caution.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(04:40) The Flaco Report
(07:35) Hogwarts Legacy or: Why your trans friends seem so mad lately
(57:15) Robin tries and fails to recommend a game
(1:00:00) Oh god no we're talking about Harry Potter again
(1:03:40) Trans games you should play instead of Hogwarts Legacy
(1:11:30) What have Willa and Robin been up to this week?
Music:
Street Food by FASSounds
Mentioned this week:
Five key takeaways from Supreme Court ruling
UK Supreme Court Rules That Trans Women Aren’t Women under the Equality Act 2010
Hogwarts Legacy does not deserve to be reviewed on its own merits - GamesHub
There Is No Magic in Hogwarts Legacy - Wired
Trans Witches Are Witches bundle
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Street Food by FASSounds
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Since we’re sure you’re not sick of hearing about the Switch 2, we’re covering the Direct from a couple weeks ago before moving on to the Triple-i Initiative (featuring indie publisher Ubisoft) and a remake of The Talos Principle. Then, of course, Mets updates and baseball players who are “just roommates.”
Timestamps
(02:20) Switch 2 hardware
(16:40) Switch 2 games
(37:50) Triple-i Initiative
(48:45) The Talos Principle
(1:00:15) What else have Willa and Robin been up to this week? (feat. buying zines, Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-ne, and dotzip’s Pale Dot episode)
(1:09:00) The Mets/baseball players saying the f-slur update
Mentioned this week
A godawful Atlantic article we briefly make fun of
Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-ne
Exploring the Galaxy in Pale Dot - dotzip
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Street Food by FASSounds
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While we take the week off, we’re re-airing a 2023 interview with Rue Dickey, who’s currently organizing the TTRPGs for Trans Right Ohio charity bundle on Itch.io. In the episode, Willa and Robin speak to Rue about a similar, very successful bundle they organized for trans charities in Florida two years ago.
Listen in as we discuss the realities of fundraising, why tabletop games are so darn gay, what YOU can do to help queer people around you, and of course our mutual love of tieflings. Plus, Rue shares some of their personal picks from the 2023 bundle!
Timestamps
(00:10) What’s going on this week
(04:30) Our 2023 interview with Rue
Mentioned this week
TTRPGs for Trans Rights - Ohio
A 2022 interview between Robin and Rue
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Street Food by FASSounds
Things are bad right now, but you can help make them better. Please take some time to consider how you can help trans people, immigrants, and others targeted by our fascist government with this Big List Of Links.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week, Nintendo sends off the Switch with one of the weirdest Directs ever and we’re here to talk through the 30 percent of it that was actually interesting to us. Then, after a brainstorming session about Sabrina Carpenter and Xenoblade Chronicles, we half-heartedly predict what’s coming at the Switch 2 Direct that you probably just watched.
Timestamps
(00:20) All of our beautiful boys are back
(04:30) Sicko Direct
(25:40) Our extremely noncommittal Switch 2 predictions
(36:55) The only good games media news in the past two years
(41:00) What else have Willa and Robin been up to this week? (feat. Xenoblade Chronicles X, Ice Cream Fever, Fringe)
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Music
Street Food by FASSounds
Things are bad right now, but you can help make them better. Please take some time to consider how you can help trans people, immigrants, and others targeted by our fascist government with this Big List Of Links.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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