Emmi & Annie Talk Indie
Two longtime friends discuss what indie (and sometimes not indie) video games they're playing this week.
Episodes
Welcome to Emmi & Annie's year in review, including our definitive video game crush of 2025, episode stats, and a cocktail or two. Thanks for a great year of talking indie. We're really looking forward to the next one.
Girl Mode and the episode we guested on back in May
Emmi’s non-EATI recs
The Apothecary Diaries
A...
Emmi and Annie battle motion sickness to answer a ghost’s questions three.
Chapters:
(00:30) News
(06:45) State of Silksong
(10:32) Carimara Discussion
(01:08:22) Upcoming Games
News Links:
Netflix to buy Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion (GamesIndustry.biz, Dec. 5)
Netflix sells studio Spry Fox back to original owners (PC Gamer, Dec. 5)
Micron announces exit from Crucial consumer business (Dec. 3)
This week we’re talking Dave the Diver, killer whales, and the Ratatouille of it all in Part 2 of our Fishing Game Duology.
Chapters:
(01:02) News + State of Silksong
(25:23) Dave the Diver
(01:11:23) Upcoming Games
News Links:
NYT on the Saudi Arabia PIF being low on funds
Game Developer on the Unity/Fortnite partnership
NYT interview with Roblox’s CEO
Dredge, the yawning horror of that which we cannot change, and you.
Part 1 of our Fishing Game Duology. Look out for Part 2 in a couple weeks.
Links:
80 Level interview with Black Salt Games (November 16, 2023)
The Game Awards' Future Class program remains on ice (November 6, 2025)
How poor leadership slows down game development (November 4, 2025)
Chapters:
(00:37) News + State of Silksong
(14:57) Dredge
(52:29) Upcoming Games
...
Slay ‘er? I barely know ‘er!
Beware: discussions of blood, gore, body horror, cannibalism, the works.
Links:
Nota Press by Reba Elliott open for submissions for Game Books
Arimia Dev - Interview with Black Tabby Games (November 29th, 2024)
Gamespot - Review of Slay the Princess: The Pristine Cut (November 18th, 2024)
Favorite Childhood AMVs:
Ouran High School Never Ends (Anime North 2008 Best in Show)
This one’s for the late game freaks.
Links:
EA considering private buyout (which has since been confirmed): https://www.wsj.com/business/deals/ea-private-deal-buyout-video-game-maker-808aefec
Hades II v1.0 out as of Sep 25: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1145350/Hades_II
Infinity Nikki Girlcott context from Girl Mode’s Robin Bea: https://www.inverse.com/gaming/infinity-nikki-season-controversy-update-apology-girlcott
Sorry it took so long to get back. We got lost in this mansion where the layout changed every day. We've been subsisting on turnips and bananas since June. As always, spoilers abound.
Featuring a new recurring segment, the State of Silksong.
News Links:
Indie game delays due to Silksong release (Game Developer)
A recap of recent Nintendo Direct (Polygon)
Annie and Emmi revisit games from their respective childhoods. Annie brings Mystery Case Files: Ravenhearst, a game about being friends with your ex, and Emmi brings Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When It’s Dark Outside, a star vehicle for Pamela Adlon. Spoilers for games that are decades old.
This episode was deeply cursed with recording issues, roommate noises, and college youths having a party down the street, so apologie...
Gird your chthonic loins for the Hades II Early Access anniversary. Emmi and Annie talk muscle mommies, lunar lasers, and so many spoilers. No section on upcoming games this week because we simply had too much to say about Hades II.
Corrections:
Emmi misspoke when she said Giant Bomb was sold from CBS to Fandom. The 2020 sale of Giant Bomb was from CBS to Red Ventures. Red Ventures then sold Giant Bomb to Fandom in ...
In their first itch.io Snack Mix episode, Emmi and Annie scale fish, believe and forget, and descend into the depths. Snack along at the links below.
Games discussed:
Scale the Depths
Bulbo’s Belief System
Upcoming/newly released games:
Locomoto (Apr 8)
Blue Prince (Apr 10)
Rusty Rabbit (Apr 17)
Beholder: Conductor (Apr 23)
News links:
US Switch 2 Stockpile as reported by Polygon
Chapters:
(00:4...
For April Fools’, Emmi & Annie play a little game called Balatro.
Upcoming/newly released games:
The Chef's Shift (Mar 30)
PEPPERED: an existential platformer (Apr 7)
Tiny Garden (Apr 8)
Maliki: Poison of the Past (Apr 22)
News links:
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/nintendo-announces-new-lending-feature-for-digital-games
https://www.polygon.com/gaming/547367/time-cops-mission-of-lennon-free-narrat-game
Annie is a know-it-all. Emmi is a know-it-none. No news or upcoming games this week because we spend too long talking about which anthropomorphic animals from Aviary Attorney we would kiss.
Vive la France.
Links:
2014 Siliconera interview with Darya Noghani and Mandy Lennon
Original Kickstarter for Aviary Attorney
The Public & Private Life of Animals by J.J. Grandville and P.J. Stahl
Music:
Bit Forest Intro music by Bertsz...
Emmi & Annie played two games with very different styles. Emmi was disturbed by Mouthwashing's body horror; Annie was disturbed by Europa's cuteness. These problems are the same.
TW for discussion of sexual assault.
Maddie Myers on motion sickness in Indiana Jones
Mouthwashing playthrough Annie referenced
Gene Park interview with writer of Mouthwashing
Liz Ryerson, who recommends Decarnation
Upc...
Emmi and Annie played Death of the Reprobate. Content warnings for: Hieronymus Bosch, tomfoolery, bird violence.
---
BBC article about 2011 23-day PSN outage
Polygon article about PSN outage
Emmi wants this Infinity Nikki outfit and she’s stressed about it. This is the pizza box Playdate case that Annie has.
Upcoming games:
Ale Abbey (Feb 18 - Early access)
Unbridled: That Horse Game (Feb 19 - Early access)
Cinnabunny (Feb 19)
Annie has personal news. Emmi makes an inaccurate Nintendo prediction. And they discuss Drova, which Emmi quit after a shift while Annie put in a 40-hour work week.
---
An important note about timing/content: we recorded this shortly after the 2024 election and spent some time up top discussing how we were handling it. We hope we don't sound in any way glib about a situation that's obviously gotten way worse since and hope...
Emmi and Annie play Potion Permit, and discuss the tradition of bad mayorship in video game towns.
Upcoming games mentioned (now out):
Totally Spies! - Cyber Mission
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Europa
Drova: Forsaken Kin
Prim
Intro/Outro music:
Bit Forest Intro music by Bertsz -- https://freesound.org/s/545457/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
Follow us on bluesky! https://bsky.app/pro...
In which Emmi & Annie introduce themselves, and talk about why they like video games so much. Special guest in the subtext: guilt around lack of productivity brought on by the American-Protestant work ethic.
Show notes:
Here’s a decent overview of explicit vs implicit memory
Joint-media engagement paper Emmi was drawing from:
Takeuchi, L., & Stevens, R. (2011). The new coviewing: Designing for learning throu...
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