toothflick

I'd recommend The Silver Case, it's a modern port of a PS1 adventure game from 1999 about society becoming OBSESSED with this serial killer guy, to the point where even though he's caught pretty early into the game people just won't forget about him and kinda start worshipping him as this messianic figure. The game features a ton of startlingly accurate predictions for how anti-social people can just become completely twisted if they get absorbed into internet echo chambers. The game is up there with MGS2 in terms of sheer propheticness.

For a Christmas episode, I'd like to nominate Planet Laika, a Japan-only PS1 game which recieved a fantranslation a few years back about a bunch of dog people (or rather regular humans who have dog heads because they traded their human faces to aliens in exchange for intergalactic peace) journeying to Mars on a fine Christmas day and losing their minds because Mars is alive and evil and actively trying to break them mentally. It's an adventure game with brief combat segments delivered through the medium of SPIRIT PONG. For a regular episode I think it'd be cool to see one on Lobotomy Corporation. It's a brutally hard management sim centered around harvesting energy from what are essentially SCPs. While the game is ludicrously hard and unfair, I think Ross would get a kick out of the insane amount of corporate satire the game has. I'd also like to nominate Dark Seed 2, an adventure game made in collaboration with H.R. Geiger with one of the most gloriously pathetic videogame protagonists I've ever seen, portals to alien dimensions, Twin Peaks inspirations, and uncanny fmv visuals. It gave me a similar vibe to Phantasmagoria 2 (which I know Ross loves) and you don't need to play Darkseed 1 to enjoy it (DS1 has its moments, but it has TONS of failstates and its very easy to softlock yourself, while DS2 still has a few spots where you can softlock yourself into a failstate its not nearly as bad as DS1.)

A really unique combat system and setting where every person on the planet has completeley lost their memories and needed to retreat underground to prevent any further memory loss. It's one of those games where just hanging around the main hub and chatting with all the weird characters there is a treat.

Scorn has an amazing aesthetic and a lot of interesting obtuse puzzles that (for me at least) managed to walk the tightrope of being obtuse but not to the point where you'll need to consult a guide. While I didn't understand the story at all, I really enjoyed the vibe of the game and had a great time with it.

Scorn has an amazing aesthetic and a lot of interesting obtuse puzzles that (for me at least) managed to walk the tightrope of being obtuse but not to the point where you'll need to consult a guide. While I didn't understand the story at all, I really enjoyed the vibe of the game and had a great time with it.

One of the most unique games I've ever played, you'll either love it or hate it. Without spoiling too much, this is a game where you are ON THE CLOCK, time moves fast and you've gotta make the most of it... or not, it's up to you, just know that your first 3 or so playthroughs will likely end in horrible failure. This is a game that's intentionally esoteric with its mechanics and expects you to learn from painful trial and error. It also has an incredible OST and gorgeous sprite art.

A phenomenal short adventure game. The visuals are incredibly off-putting in the best kind of way and it has a great OST composed by ThorHighHeels thats suitably strange and chill in an uncanny sort of way. The game is dripping with clever corporate satire, at its low price point I highly recommend it to anyone in the mood to get lost for 2 hours in a strange uncanny hellscape that feels far to similar to the real world.