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The Electronic Wireless Show podcast episode 184: the best video game ideas on paper

Oh, what a hole is man

We're a two-hander this week, as Nate has a sore throat, but Matthew and I have a jolly old time talking about the games that sound like amazing ideas on paper (whether they end up being great off the paper or not) and even manage to contrast them with games that sound like a bad pitch but end up great. We manage to talk about a lot of games in a sensible way, and even gesture at serious discussion of how prestige indies can dominate their niche to the detriment of other interesting games.

Also we talk about holes quite a lot.

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First up we chat about Donut County (not country), a game that sounds amazing as an idea and is pretty great in execution - but not doing quite as much as I hoped it would when I heard about it.

Matthew reckons Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney sounds amazing when you describe it (a lawyer, but, like, fun!)

Daniel Mullins' games like The Hex either sound good or sound bad, but either way next time he should make a game that has no twist in it whatsoever.

Ape Out does exactly what it does on the tin, and it is glorious. Similarly, Untitled Goose Game is the game about a goose.

Papers, Please is winning this topic discussion on three vectors. Please someone ask Lucas Pope if writing the handbook out in real life is 'cheating'.

Matthew is a fan of the game Insurmountable, which gamifies climbing a big ol' mountain.

Recommendations this week are Kotaro Isaka's new book Three Assassins, and the new (and final) series of Derry Girls currently airing on Channel 4.

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