Thank you for pressing start on episode 80 of Underplayed, KZUMS indie video game podcast.

Today we have two secret games, a discussion with Hey It's Haley, and a review of our featured game Dwarf Romantic.

Here on Underplayed, we review indie games of all kinds, the games with small budgets but big hearts, the lesser known experiences with imaginative ideas.

I'm Bo Po and I'm joined by another.

He got the platinum in going under.

It's one of his numerous claims to fame.

He's the obture IB in a cooperative game.

He runs like a pony.

He loves pepperoni.

It's the one and only Disco Cola.

What's going on?

I almost didn't make it today.

I was stuck on a railroad to nowhere, but a quick Sprint through the lilac field got me here just in time.

How are you?

I'm doing just fine.

My perfect hexagonal tile with grass, a field, a train track, a house, a forest and a river, each on one of its sides.

Those are references to our featured game, Dorf Romantic.

I can't imagine getting that tile in a perfect placement if I'm honest.

Right.

Well, that's why I had to call it out because it was very noteworthy.

And you were that tile.

Yes, Bless you, but we're going to talk about Dorf Romantic.

Today is our featured game.

It's kind of unlike a lot of our other featured games.

It is sort of a board game like game and we've got a guest who's very passionate about it, who's played it a lot in their time and definitely more than us.

That guest is hey, it's Haley, a friend of ours, Variety, Twitch streamer and content creator of Art Co working in games.

And since we do have another kind of bonus section where we'll talk to Haley about her and her contents, we will make this intro pretty brief.

But before we move on, there are a few very easy ways to support underplayed.

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And as always, we love you.

Thank you for listening.

It is time for our secret games.

Secret Games.

Secret Games Secret Games Secret Games is our first longer segment where we each review an indie game we've been playing in Secrets since our last recording.

I have no idea what Disco Cola has been playing these last few weeks.

He doesn't know what I've been playing recently, and we're going to reveal these games to us as a surprise right now.

Why are they surprised?

Just because it's fun that way.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So any game can be chosen as long as it's indie and as long as we haven't reviewed it before.

We will start with you, Disco Cola.

Let the mystery be no more.

Reveal your secret game for Episode 80 of Underplayed.

My secret game is I'm looking real quick here, might be my first sequel.

Well Mighty Gunvault Burst I think is technically a sequel but for sure this is maybe my first sequel.

Apart from that it comes from Richard Hogg and Hollow Ponds.

My secret game is Wilmot works it out.

This is Wilmot Works It Out, a puzzle building game where you make Wilmot's house into a home.

Oh, another box.

Come on, Wilmot, let's open it.

When Wilmot receives a box of puzzle pieces, he needs your help sorting them and putting them together.

This one looks like a burger.

Yeah, that looks like maybe a space cow.

Hopefully this will be the final piece of the burger.

Amazing.

I love this.

Yeah.

So this is a a pretty recent game.

I know this came out last year.

Yeah, I think like late last year too.

But yeah, and the synergizes a lot better than I thought with our future game and also kind of our guest because Wilmot's based in the UK presumably.

Oh yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

But anyways, Wilmot works it out.

Follows our old friend Wilmot, presumably after his warehouse job was automated, alone at home.

Oh, that's so sad.

Well, he's not sad.

He's relaxing.

That's good.

He's finding a new purpose.

A new.

A new chapter of life.

He's enjoying forced retirement.

This is what he's doing.

Before long, Sam the post woman arrives at the door to deliver our latest parcel from our puzzle subscription.

And after Wilmot has made enough correct placements in the puzzle pieces, which in this game are just squares, so they're not like jigsaw puzzles, Sam will arrive with another parcel, and the parcels we receive may include puzzle pieces for more than one puzzle.

You don't necessarily get that at first, but eventually.

It's like opening a box and unpacking.

You know you're you're opening a primarily bedroom box, but then outcomes.

Toasters in there.

Outcomes the toaster.

Outcomes your toothbrush.

Outcomes the toilet paper.

Yeah.

Yeah, so you'll get pieces for more than one puzzle.

The number of pieces included in the parcel does also increase to a point as you progress through the game and as you finish individual puzzles, Wilmot will arrange them on the wall in his living space.

And once you finish a series of puzzles, or like a season kind of as it was in Wilmot's warehouse, you'll be able to place those puzzles in a different room in the house, such as the basement or the bathroom or the puzzle room, which is where you're not doing the puzzles for some reason.

You'll also be able to pick wallpaper for each room once you get there.

And I didn't notice it, but in the trailer apparently you can.

You can decorate with other smaller pieces of furniture as well.

I didn't notice that feature when I was playing, but apparently you can do that as well.

But the game is pretty straightforward, so from here I'll go on to my feelings about the game, unless you have any questions at this point.

No, I might have questions at the end.

Yeah I cuz I'm seeing how this works in the trailer.

I'm watching that silently while you talk and it definitely makes sense.

Lots of beautiful, cute art going on.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

One of the first things I want to point out is that art.

Pretty much everything in this game is monochrome except for those puzzle pieces.

Not only does that help those puzzle pieces pop, but the puzzles are illustrated with this like really bold and beautiful colors.

And then the illustrations themselves are just really attractive and kind of cartoony.

So just the in general, the whole game is just really attractive to look at.

Controlling the game feels just right.

It takes a lot from Wilmot's Warehouse, but feels even better in parts.

This is because 1.

The stakes are lower.

You're not on a timer trying to please a bunch of customers sorting through a bunch of crap.

But just the simple nature of selecting multiple pieces to move instead of just like one at a time.

Just that feels much better than it did in Walmart's warehouse.

Because there are a lot of like quick button triggers that you can do to select a bunch of items at once in Walmart's warehouse.

But because the stakes are lower and because of the way I think they changed it, just selecting like you could select an L shape of pieces and it's a lot easier to do.

It.

Works it out than it was in warehouse.

Yeah, and you're going to want to do that a lot, because when I'm assembling A jigsaw puzzle, for instance, I definitely do sections.

And then you do that thing where you carefully slide a section of 10 pieces that are all together and you attach it to another section of 10.

And I'm seeing that in the trailer too.

Yeah, Speaking of lower stakes, again, that's just something I really appreciate about this over Willmott's warehouse.

You know, granted the stress is kind of the point of the warehouse, but relaxing puzzle time is the point of works it out.

And while your room may eventually start to look overwhelming as you get parcel after parcel, you will never get a new batch of pieces until you are well enough done with your previous batch.

So it it does start to look overwhelming, but it the game doesn't get ahead of you.

Progression comes from progress, so you get to take your time.

Honestly, not playing either of these games and knowing what you said about Wilmot's Warehouse, that's a big relief.

I have heard a lot of people say that this was relaxing, and I'm kind of seeing why specifically with that point.

Yeah, absolutely.

Pieces will snap together if they match up.

This gives really satisfying visual feedback, but it's also not necessarily permanent.

Like if you if you want to take a piece out even after you found the match that it goes up against, you can, and there may be cases where this will be necessary.

That actually gets to a question I was going to have later is, is it possible to close two groups of collected pieces together and then have a spot in the middle and then you're stuck?

You can't get to that.

You can.

Uncouple things, yeah, but on more than several occasions, Wilmot was trapped inside of a a little box.

No, Wilmot, No.

And then another thing that I really love about this game is that there's actually a bit of story in this game.

Like you kind of get a little bit in Wilmot's warehouse, but not a ton.

You know, basically the story becomes The thing is automated at the end, that's about it.

But in here you get a bit of story.

And the story isn't really about Wilmot.

Everyday Sam the post woman will exchange pleasantries with us.

And as the days go on, we learn more about Sam.

We also learn more about the neighborhood outside of Wilmot's house, or the cat that maybe comes up to Sam when she visits Wilmot's house, or maybe the state of repair our house is in.

And yeah, the, the story is really more about Sam than anything.

And I think it's, it's delivered in a really touching way.

And I really appreciate the they they took that swing and then it paid off in my opinion.

Yeah, I would call that like when I look at surprises of listening to you talk about your games, that's something I wouldn't have expected.

Yeah, absolutely.

But yeah, really pleasant and then just awesome, awesome pay off at the end too.

As far as like things that I don't love quite as much.

There are several puzzles that were pretty hard, mostly because you have occurrences of puzzles that will have similar colors and shapes and you get a taste of that in the trailer.

But there were a few that were incredibly challenging to what I consider an unfun level.

The puzzles that I wrote down as being ones that I just kind of like brute forced that matching click, that auto clipping are are the puzzles named the numbers of the beasts, Meyer's sacrifice and camping.

Those were just three that I wrote down.

There were a couple other that I can kind of picture in my mind, but I just like I brute forced them.

They're just like, is it match here?

No, does it match here?

No, OK, this one.

I have another reason to dislike camping now noted.

So Speaking of brute force, while I ultimately loved that auto clicking for correct matches, it did kind of remove a certain level of challenge.

Now again, some of these puzzles are like mad hard, but easier ones were just a little bit too easy as a result of that auto placement.

OK, the music is really solid, but like Wilmot's Warehouse, it's all a bit samey.

It's good.

I just want a little bit more variety because I love what this composer does.

I just, I just want it.

I want a little bit more flexing, you know?

Sure.

And then maybe my biggest complaint is about decorating the rooms after completing each season, I'm just kind of thrown in and maybe I spent a lot of time arranging my puzzles in the main room where we're putting our puzzles together.

But when we move all of those puzzles to say, the bedroom or whatever, the the placement doesn't match up what I spent all that time doing in the main room.

So at least it it seemed like some of them moved.

So after a while I was just like, well, what's the point of like taking all the care in the main room if I'm just going to have to rearrange it in the other room?

And then it just kind of throws me in with picking wallpaper and colors.

Like I get a selection of maybe two different kinds of wallpaper and two different colors, but the next room will offer maybe one of those same colors that I had the option of before and then another color that I didn't have the option of before.

So like, why can't I select all of the colors when I first get to that room?

Or why can't I select all of the Wallpapers?

And honestly, I don't really like the Wallpapers.

I'd rather just not have wallpaper, but I don't think that's an option.

Like you have to pick one.

So with all of this over time, did you find that the decorating was less important to you or you you I?

Just kind of skipped it after a while.

Just wanted to do the puzzle solving, yeah.

Yeah, because I'm just kind of thrown in.

I'm just, I'm just kind of moving around in the dark.

I don't really know what I'm doing there, and my options don't make sense to me.

And apparently there are even more options that I didn't even know about, like decorating with those smaller pieces of furniture that you see in the trailer.

And I don't feel like the game told me that that even existed.

Now, at any time, you can go into all of your different rooms or like see your previous collections.

And maybe that's where those features are amplified.

Maybe.

But to me, once I did that room that said to me, OK, this is this room is done.

Like you painted that picture and posted it on the wall.

It's you're done with that room now, but that's really it though.

I think some games really shine with the less is more approach, and Wilmot works it out is a pretty good mascot for the concept, for those that want to do some puzzles.

You get that, but you also get some optional stuff too.

If you want to look at your previous work, you can.

If you want to get a bit of story, that's here too, but you can also skip it really quickly too.

All of that is done with really satisfying gameplay and then you get a really satisfying conclusion that is shown to you through the gameplay in a really creative way.

This game is so cute with very few flaws and it's a really good game length so I'm going to give it a nine point O out of 10.

Amazing.

I really want to play this.

You're now 3 for three for having secret games this season that I I at least want to play a little bit.

And so I don't know, Disco Mon Cage might still be at the top of my list, but Wilmot works it out is I already wanted to play Walmart works it out from last year and I never got around to it.

So yeah, I can see, I can see Mon Cage still being like you're jealous game, but I still think, I think Walmart's one that you'll just be like, I'm just going to play this sometime.

I How long would it take to kind of just finish?

To finish well.

Like not 100%, just like I assume you get credits.

You do get credits.

How long?

Would that take 2?

Things.

I did it on the the same road trip where I played Mon Cage.

Oh, Mon Cage, and so I played it for at least six hours.

Might have been made more.

OK, maybe 2 play sessions then.

Yeah, 2 healthy play sessions.

Yeah, 3.

Possibly three, OK, because it's I got to a point and I'm like, oh, there's still, there's still another season.

Like I thought I I filled all my rooms and then they gave me two more.

I'm like, OK, well.

That's good that it's like sizable.

Yeah, it's it's not, it's not that short, but it's it's a good game length for what the game is.

That's another surprise to me is that it's not like I would have thought 2 1/2 hours.

Oh yeah, it's definitely longer than that.

Unless you're like cracked insane insane.

Oh man.

I won't be that way.

I'm not good at the jigsaw puzzles.

And even though it's squares, even though it's a little bit more straightforward, I will still take that time.

I guess I don't have any questions about the game itself, like you've explained it really well, but I want to pose a question, just throw it out there.

I don't have any ideas for this, but what do you think is next for Wilmot?

Wilmot is kind of like.

Are you familiar with the turnip boy games like?

I've heard of.

Them.

Turnip boy commits tax evasion.

Turnip boy robs a bank.

Each game in the turnip boy series is a different genre, and the 2 Wilmot games are doing the thing of like sliding blocks.

One was a little bit more stressful than the next one, one's more relaxing.

So I'm curious, what within this world of moving squares could we do next with Wilmot?

Oh, that's hard because I'm the first thing the like word association game in my head brought me to this mini game from and get ready for this title, the misadventures of Tron Bon, the Mega Man legends spin off game.

And it's a mini game where you're picking up crates and moving them on like predetermined paths.

But then there's also crates of crabs and you're trying to get those onto the ship and you're like driving around in this mech.

So in my head, maybe it's something like that train game where you have to like you can only move the blocks in One Direction and you have to create a straight path to the exit and the exit is just on that.

Let me see if I can pull up a picture of what I'm talking about because it's it's been represented in a bunch of different ways.

So like.

Oh yes, I have played that.

I mean, I've played video game versions of that, but you're, you're showing me like a, a little square board that has these wooden pegs and there's one that's red and you need to get the red one to the exits.

Yes, I I understand.

Yes.

So this is totally different from the misadventures of Tron bond analogy I was making.

But sure, I could see Wilmot maybe doing something kind of like this.

Yeah, which would be more stressful than the works it out, but less stressful than the warehouse probably.

Right, So one idea I had was something that's really hot right now is the Resident Evil 4 like inventory management and you know, like dredge.

Dredge did the let's organize our fish and our all of our components in our cargo.

That's a mini game in its own.

And maybe this is kind of like warehouse, but could there be something with we have a confined space can will not push things into the spaces to aesthetically pleasing, you know, layouts?

So that that may actually be a more likely scenario because it could you could story a Fiat.

As to you're packing your bag for a vacation and that would play into some of the story elements of Wilmot Works it Out.

Oh.

Wow, so this could be like a.

Prequel like an in between game?

Yeah, it could be like a pack your bag Wilmot packs his bags or something.

Yeah, and I've recently explored that idea in a demo for a game called One Move Away, which is a wholesome first person game.

It's kind of like a reverse unpacking where you're loading up your car with all the stuff that you need to fit in the car and there are boundaries.

I found it to be fun, but I kind of wished at a certain point that I wasn't in the 3D space.

I kind of want a 2D version of this, maybe a top down version of this.

So I will always take like an inventory, a backpack management game and Wilmot has like a certain charm to it that still calls to me.

Yeah.

So, yeah, just like his toothpaste is just like 2 squares and maybe his like snorkel is an L shape.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I guess that's also getting into like this whole other brand of puzzle games like the I talked about this in our Haven episode, actually, when we talked about things we've been doing recently.

Our Haven episode on no small games not of underplayed.

That's right on on their feed at the end where we talked about what we've been getting up to lately, like the one small thing and I talked about dogs organized neatly.

Oh, Yep.

That's where you have you have a certain number of things.

And there's also cats organized neatly, birds organized neatly.

I think Wilmot would fit into that whole world too.

Yeah, that's a better idea than what I had.

Very, very, very, very astute.

I hope Wilmot gets to explore lots of of different games.

Over time, he's a He's adorable, nice job Wilmot.

Wilmot Works It Out is available on Mac, PC and Nintendo Switch which is where I played it.

Beautiful, it is time for my secret game.

My secret game is also a wholesome game.

It is a game that I know that our guest today.

Hey, it's Haley has played and enjoys it is called Frog detective the entire mystery.

The Oh, not duck detective.

Frog Detective.

Correct, correct.

I I've actually was afraid of accidentally saying duck detective in this episode.

I might accidentally let that slip.

I always have duck detective on the brain, at least a little bit Disco.

You're always thinking about the secret select.

I knew that was coming.

How did I know that was coming?

So this is a, this is a bit of a Tory 2 kind of situation in a sense.

Kind of.

Except this is not me just playing one sequel and kind of skipping another game that is basically the same.

This is a collection.

So what happened here is the entire mystery came out in 2023 as a collection, but the games that released were originally released in 2018-2019 and 2022, and the third one is the last one.

So this is a definitive like this is the entire series, thus the entire mystery.

And it was developed by Grace Bruxner and Thomas Boker as Worm Club.

It was also published by Worm Club and Super Hot Presents.

And we've talked about Super Hot Presents in the past.

That was the publishing label of the Super Hot team.

After they did so well with Super Hot, they decided to help other Indies and this is an example of a game that they've published.

So the game synopsis from the Nintendo storefront says quote, you're a detective and a frog and it's time to solve 3 thrilling mysteries.

End Quote.

Now I wanted to play this game because I knew our guests is familiar with it.

I also have seen Frog Detective show up as a cameo in other games we've played in the past.

Oh, maybe that's OK.

So I recognize the frog and maybe that's why.

Maybe because I know that this frog shows up in chicory.

A colorful tale.

OK.

He might show up in the game Teacup if I'm remembering correctly.

There's like a game I played.

It was now years ago that I I feel like he was just kind of chilling next to a body of water or something.

Or I could maybe I'm mixing that up with chicory, but I'm also pretty sure he showed up in the gardens between.

OK.

And I still haven't played that, so I I wouldn't recognize him from that, no.

Sure.

I, I just know that he's one of those characters, you know, one of those mascots that you just see pop up again, not Shovel Knight levels of appearances like Shovel Knight's probably like the one I think of as the poster child of cameo appearances in indie games.

But I have seen Frog Detective.

Frog Detective is pretty well known.

And in this game, you play as the frog detective, who also just goes by detective, and you work for a mystery and crime solving agency.

You walk around in the first person, you're engaging with dialogue with other anthropomorphic animals in each of the three episodes, and every episode is focusing on a different mystery.

So episode 1 is the Haunted Islands, where a sloth has reported sounds of ghosts.

Episode 2 is the case of the Invisible Wizard, where a parade for a new resident of a forest town has been ruined, and episode 3 is Corruption at Cowboy County, where you work with Lobster Cop to investigate stolen hats in a sheriffless Wild West town.

That old chestnut.

So it's irreverent.

It's goofy, it's somewhat of an anthology series, but certain characters show up again, there's a through line for bits of the story and lore, and as you're selecting these episodes, you're in the main menu selecting which one you want, and they're just side by side, so it feels cohesive.

It feels like, you know, this is intended to be played as a collection.

You're supposed to just move from one to the next, and it happens pretty seamlessly, and you have a magnifying glass you can use to look at things closer.

You also get a journal in episodes two and three that track all the personal bits about the suspects you come across, and you often are finding items that you need to trade with the various characters to get what you want.

Someone might need an explosive to clear a pile of rocks, or ingredients for a soup or a forged ID, and they'll give you something you need for another character when you help them out.

So it's about finding that right string of quests and fetching things for people to finish the stories, and you're talking to everybody about what they know about the particular case.

Frog Detective is the #2 best investigator behind Lobster Cop.

So by chapter 3, you end up working with him and the series works up to a conclusion for the entire story.

So what I liked about Frog Detective, the entire mystery, is the personality and the humor.

This is something you can see in the trailer.

There's just a lot of witty, goofy dialogue that happens.

A lot of understated comedy is happening.

It's silly and cartoonish, but also really light and charming with how it's delivering the the humor.

It's not like, I don't find it to be like childish, even though it does look like a game that you might play with a family.

It looks appropriate for any age.

But I think there's like some really witty stuff here.

There's a lot of nonsense to what the characters want, which I find funny too.

You never know quite what a character will ask of you like to make an explosive in the 1st chapter, you have to find toothpaste, wool, a chunk of gold and pasta and all those things combined together to make an explosive.

I've made that one before.

Yeah, it's in the.

It's in the cookbook.

Ravioli.

Explosioli.

Yeah.

And I love the character designs, too.

There's a monkey, you know, There's a panda.

There's a cow, you run into lobsters, there's this mole that shows U multiple times and ends U being important later, and they're all really cute and provide moments of levity.

I also really enjoy how the games progress.

So episode 1 is relatively basic compared to episode 3.

When they made episode one, they made it really straightforward.

There's no journal, you don't get as many of the features.

You're just kind of walking around talking to people.

By episode 3, you can ride on a scooter to explore the Wild West town.

You have the journal, you can get a rundown of like what everybody wants.

And so it feels like over time they expanded what these games were able to do, and so you could tell that they put more and more care in over the years.

Characters also call back to the events of previous chapters, and things can connect in really fun ways.

So I liked being in Chapter 3 and hearing someone reference something that happened in Chapter 1, and that made it feel even more appropriate for this to be a collection.

Each chapter is visually distinct as well.

So we're on the island during the day in Chapter 1, we're in a dark forest town at night in Chapter 2, and then we're in the desert town in Chapter 3.

So you can look at any screenshot from any of the games and you just know what place you're in.

I also really like the fun touches that you find throughout.

One of the developers, Grace will appear as an in game interjection to break the 4th wall.

In all three of the chapters you'll just be in a conversation and Frog Detective will talk about something with a character and Grace will come in and comment on that for a moment.

And sometimes it's to give real world advice.

Also, the end of the third episode has a wild series of developments that I didn't see coming.

As for things that I didn't like as much, I find that the gameplay in all the Frog Detective games is pretty basic and I don't feel as stimulated as I was hoping to be.

So despite this being a series of mysteries, these games really only amount to reading the dialogue, which is great, and looking for items here and there and fetching items for people.

You don't actually solve mysteries yourself.

You're not taking in the clues and using your brain to connect the dots.

And I think this is just an instance where you need to set your expectations appropriately.

I had no idea that that's how these games were.

I thought, you know, the name of the game is Frog Detective.

I've played other games like Duck Detective where I had to use logic and information I had gathered to fill in blanks.

You don't do that, really.

You walk around, you talk to people, you have a silly time and you find items.

So it's a foregone conclusion, and the only way you get to that conclusion is just by completing your side quest.

That's right.

Yeah, that's right.

And a lot of it is walking around in first person.

Sometimes you're looking for things, you know, things will be on the ground or hidden in places, and you need to find like a certain number of objects for a person.

That happens from time to time.

But other than the talking, the collecting, it's not a whole lot.

And the end of Episode 3 has really interesting ideas, but it did feel pretty drawn out and I think it could have been tightened up a bit for my taste.

That's what I point out for dislikes.

Not a lot of dislikes, but the fact that the nature of the game wasn't what I was hoping for in this time means that I think you should play this if you want a wholesome, easygoing and silly time.

It's not going to be challenging.

It's not going to ask you to use your minds to connect clues, but I do find it to be pleasant.

It's not going to be 1.

I think back on much.

So I'm going to give this, I'm going to give this a 6.5 out of 10.

So still fairly positive on this.

I I do recommend it to quite a few people and it's playable on PC, Switch, PS4, PS five which is the version I played, Xbox One and Xbox Series.

Most of what I am still unsure about is gameplay related.

Like, is it?

It's first person, right?

Yeah, it's first person until you talk to someone, then you're watching the conversation.

Third person.

Like, you know, last episode we talked about Sable.

It's kind of looks like that style where you're not hearing the voices you're reading.

OK.

And then as far as moving around, how does that feel compared to other 3D first person games that maybe we've played recently?

Like how does it feel compared to Valley Peaks?

Is the first thing I think.

Oh.

OK, there's only one speed you move, but in the 1st 2 episodes the area that you're walking around in is so small that I didn't mind that there wasn't a run button in the desert town.

That place is the largest area wise, but they do give you a scooter.

If you press Y on your Xbox controller or triangle on your PlayStation controller, for instance, you'll hop on your scooter and then you're in the third person now and you can kind of really oom to where you need to go.

So that was fun.

That was an instance where I could tell they thought about that and making things easier for the player.

So I wasn't bothered by the movement just because most of the time it doesn't take long to walk from one point to the next.

OK.

I appreciate that it's disciplined and it's boundaries and then where you can go.

And then I guess lastly, just how, how long did all three?

Because this is 3 episodes, how long did all three take you?

The episodes at their shortest can be what feels like 45 minutes for the first one.

The last one took me the longest because that ending was pretty drawn out and just had more conversations.

I feel the whole package I would say is 3 to 4 1/2 hours depending on how fast you read and how leisurely you are with moving around.

That would be my estimate.

I did all these in one day and I did it in two play sessions.

I like spent an afternoon I got through the 1st 2 episodes.

Then I did a another session later that night on just chapter 3 and I got it all done in like, you know, a handful of hours.

Perfect.

So all right, that's all I needed to know for for what I need.

I think your kids would like this at maybe when they're a little bit older they might enjoy these characters.

I'm, I'm starting to get ready for stuff that they can do once they can read.

Yeah, that's what I'm starting to think because I'm like, all right, Bug, let's let's pick out your favorite Digimon so that when you're old enough to read, I can teach you how to play the card game because you kind of have to be able to read, but.

Oh.

Yeah, so I'm.

Starting to think about that kind of stuff.

Well, some of the humor might be a little over their heads, but it's nothing that there's.

It's like watching a cartoon like Ed and Eddie.

There's going to be like jokes in there that are for the adults.

And yes.

But all the language is all ages appropriate and things like that.

So yeah, great game for young kids and families I would say.

And if you just want a relaxing time, those are our secret games.

Wilmot works it out and frog detective, the entire mystery.

Let's move on to our discussion with Hey, It's Haley, this episode's special guest.

Our guest today is going to teach us all something, how to get perfect tiles with no undo button.

She streams tons of games that you should all play on her channel.

You're more productive the longer you stay.

It's the artist and crafter, the board game broadcaster, the Co working master.

Hey, it's Haley.

What's going on?

Hello, what an intro.

Oh my goodness.

Can you incorporate that into my content?

I think.

Yes, I I didn't incorporate the part that we talked about at the end of our last season where I think we said she does it all y'all.

Yeah, it just didn't fit the the meter.

I know, but you got you got broad caster in there.

So you you got the emphasis on the caster.

Yes.

So that was pretty cool.

Welcome.

Hey, it's Haley.

Hey, Haley is our friend and just a wonderful content creator.

And we're really glad you could join us for this episode.

Thank you so much.

I'm so glad to have been invited.

Thank you so much for having me.

Do you do you mind if I if I shorten it to Haley for the rest of the episode?

Is that cool with?

You.

That's absolutely fine.

That's just my name.

So no, yeah, that's absolutely fine.

We'll call you Haley from this point, yes.

So again, welcome to Underplayed.

Something we always want to do when we have a guest on is to have you tell us about yourself.

What are what?

What do you like to do inside of your content creation?

Outside of your content creation.

So yeah, I'm I'm Haley.

I'm a variety content creator and artist with a focus on gaming and hobbies.

I've been streaming on Twitch now for like over 4 years and I also somewhat recently branched into other forms of video content as well.

I'm very much a homebody, so lots of hobbies that are in my house.

I I like to stay at home, video gaming, board games, arts and crafts, stuff like that.

And that's, that's both my content and also my time outside of content.

So yeah.

Yeah, that makes it a natural fit.

When you're doing a variety of things week in and week out, it it's always refreshing because you have a variety of interests and they're just things you love to do.

You do them anyway.

So that just makes sense.

Yeah.

So on your Twitch channel, which we're both fans of, you do all kinds of things.

You do art, you do Co working, you do video gaming, board games from time to time and more.

What have been some of the most fulfilling aspects of exploring all these categories with your community?

I think one of the best things about it is all of the different kinds of people that I've gotten to meet.

Like we have community members who have come to the stream from all sorts of different categories and then just kind of stuck around, which is cool.

And also a lot meeting lots of different streamers that way as well, plus having that sort of flexibility when it comes to my schedule and sort of being able to just stream whatever feels right and knowing that the community is OK with that because that's the way that it's always been.

It's, it's very refreshing as you, as you said a minute ago, so.

Awesome.

Yeah, it it's a great community you have.

You do lots of community games too.

You include people?

Recently I've seen you do the Skyrim crowd control stuff can.

You.

Explain a little bit about that.

Yeah, absolutely.

So for those who aren't familiar with, well, Skype, I mean, I assume people are familiar with Skyrim, but that's a Bethesda Elder Scrolls open world adventure.

I'm bad at game genres.

Is that that's what Skyrim is.

Crowd control is an application that links up with the game that you're playing and your Twitch stream.

So the people who are watching your Twitch stream can redeem for these special crowd control coins and then they can influence the game by.

For example, in that one they can give me some coins, they can give me some arrows, they can take things away from me, they can spawn enemies.

And it's just adds a level of chaos into the game and and gives Chad a way of interacting with what would otherwise be a single player game.

So yeah.

I've been in some streams that are like that and I'm I'm more an agent of chaos spawning spawning enemies is my go to.

It's good to have the balance of some good actors and some bad actors, yeah.

A lot of people particularly like the crowd control option to throw a bunch of cheese at my head.

It's called the Cheese Splosion.

So that's that's a fan.

Favorite.

That is a more creative one than I've seen.

Never complain about cheese being thrown in my head.

I I don't like the soft like liquidy cheeses.

I would be upset if that got in my hair.

This is the This is the mammoth cheese, I imagine, or something similar.

You know, it's the it's the big yellow cheese wheel.

Oh, the big.

Cheese wheel.

OK, that might hurt.

Yeah.

Probably it does.

Actually it causes.

Damage.

That's amazing.

Wow.

And then I've also seen you play Jack Box games and things like that.

So if people are interested in getting involved in Haley's community, Haley's very welcoming.

So are her mods and all the people who are regulars there.

And we'll put links to your stuff in the show notes so people can check you out.

Yeah, absolutely.

Another thing we like to ask all of our guests is just get the get the roots of your gaming taste.

So So what are some games that got you started and and where do you come from in the gaming world?

I have quite varied gaming tastes.

I mean, we've we've so we've already mentioned Dorf romantic and Skyrim.

I would I would say those are not similar games.

You know, I love puzzles, I love cozy art styles and wholesome games, but I do also really like strategy and adventure games.

Pretty much as long as it's not like a platformer, horror or shooting them up, those are not for me.

But anything else, pretty much, I'd probably give it a go.

The first game I remember owning is Pokémon and Pokémon stuck with me through, you know, I'm I'm still a big Pokémon fan to this day.

My parents got me and my little brother matching Game Boy and I had Pokémon Ruby and he had Sapphire.

That was that was my my start.

I remember my older brother having a PlayStation that lived in the living room because there weren't TV's in the bedrooms at that point.

And there were games like Spyro, Crash Bandicoot.

I think I remember Lord of the Rings game as well.

So those are some of my earliest gaming influences.

But yeah, my tastes are very varied for sure.

Yeah, Pokémon Sapphire was my my first one.

Like I've been around for for, you know, I've known about Pokémon since forever, but that was the first one I actually physically owned.

Yeah, nice.

Yeah, I, I had a lot of those PS2 games you mentioned, especially The Lord of the Rings.

I had The Two Towers and Return of the King, and those were just great action games and addicting because you could just keep upgrading characters and things.

So that's awesome.

Now, we're also interested in the content you create about indie games on social media.

This is something you do in your free time.

You make these little vignettes about newer games that come out.

How do you choose what games to highlight and what have you loved discovering and making that content?

Tell us a little bit about that.

So a lot of the times I will just scroll through the list of Steamx Fest demos and just pull out any that catch my eye, which does mean that it, it ends up a little bit more catered to my tastes, but I just still try and get a variety in there.

But yeah, pretty much just if I see a demo or if I, if I hear about it, if a, you know, a fellow indie game content creator mentions it and it seems like my kind of thing, I'll play it.

Also, occasionally publishers reach out with game keys to cover on stream.

And so then I sometimes will use that footage in shorts as well, and then as long as I don't have any like glaring issues with the demo, then I'll generally end up making a short about it.

A lot of the time the footage sits on my computer for a while and they'll sort of get spread out over the few months between Nextfest.

But yeah, and I've discovered lots of cool games this way.

One of my favourites from for example the most recent Nextfest which I know you played as well but was Dispatch.

Yes.

Dispatch demo.

Oh my gosh.

Yes, that one really caught my eye.

I'm not sure if disco if you've played it but.

I actually talked about it in our last episode.

We did.

We did a little round of like games we're looking forward to that are imminently coming out or coming out sometime in the next year or so.

Dispatch was one of the three that I talked about.

I remember, yeah, I remember I was donating plasma and trying to catch up on a bunch of like, showcases or whatever, and that trailer was in one of them.

I was like, oh, dope.

And also Aaron Paul's in it.

Cool.

It has a stats test, yeah.

Yeah, I was going to say it's it's got such a mix of like talented actors and the game mechanic seems like interesting and clever, but not like overly complicated, which is good, yeah.

There are a lot of dynamics going on.

You're trying to pick the right heroes for the right problems, and they're talking over each other and like talking over the decisions you're trying to make.

It's it's really funny.

Throw a bit of humor in there and the demo seemed really polished because I know you said, you know, just upcoming and I don't think it has a release date yet, but it seemed very polished.

Yes, definitely.

We're here for indie games.

Obviously this is underplayed, the Indie game Podcast.

So if we look at indie games from the last few years, we want to know what you've noticed, which which Indies have left an indelible mark on you?

I mean, in terms of specific titles, I mean of course, or fermenting.

A couple that stand out to me are for example, Sleigh the Spire, which I feel like I haven't been playing it since it launched, but I've been playing it for a few years.

I feel like it's sort of carved the way for the whole rogue like deck building.

Like it really made that sub genre boom.

Tara Neil is one that stands out and more recently blueprints as well.

Like I feel like they took an interesting twist on a common genre of game, which was which was really cool.

And then also I noticed that there's been an increase in games with like a super impactful story, like emotional stories.

Devs aren't afraid to like cover hard hitting stories and get emotional with it.

Like Wanderstop recently for example.

Spirit Fair as well.

Stuff like that's really cool to see.

Yeah, We encounter those more mature, heavier themed stories from time to time.

And I feel like every season we might have like one or two of those, you kind of have to space them out because they sometimes do what we call change our DNA, like, like a story that's so impactful that we think about it forever afterward.

Yeah, our our Slay the Princess episode is only just a little fledgling right now, but I still think about that one all the time.

That's one of those and and I never stopped thinking about Ghost Song.

Yeah, very recent additions to that phenomenon and yeah, slay the Spire.

You love that so much.

You made emotes based on.

I did, yeah.

What what characters did you make from that?

Did you make like all the?

I did the the four player characters and the cultist.

Oh, that's right.

Yeah, I've seen the cult is cool a lot.

Yeah, yeah.

And you, I mean, I don't if this is OK to mention people can Commission you for art from time to time.

And you've used the sleigh, the Spire art as sort of an advertisement for like, here's an example of what I can do.

And it's it's very good.

Yeah, very good stuff.

I think I know the answer.

I think I've asked you before, but what is your favorite Sleigh the Spire character to play as?

But to play as the the Ironclad, partly for nostalgia reasons, but also just it's so satisfying to just get really, really hench and then just slam down on his enemy, to be honest.

Yes, get hench, folks.

Yeah, hashtag get hench.

Actually, let me take a note here.

That'll be wait, I need to guess.

I need to predict something.

Is that going to be a stream tag when you broadcast this episode early on Twitch?

Disco likes to take the little inside jokes from the episodes and just insert them as stream tags on on our early premieres.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Cool.

Those are great games.

We're going to play Blueprints pretty soon for the podcast.

We might look to you for maybe not to hold our hands through it, but if we have thoughts about the game, we might have to nerd out with someone else that we know has played other than our guest.

So.

Oh, absolutely.

Yeah.

My, my, my inbox is open.

You know where to find me.

I love the blueprints.

Amazing.

Cool.

And then when you look ahead with all of your projects, all the content you want to make, maybe just personal things, what are you looking forward to doing next?

So what, Yeah, what what's, what's coming up for me in terms of like projects, like content and stuff.

I'm right now trying to sort of focus on maintaining my schedule, keeping up the regular streams, the regular variety.

I am still trying to work on, you know, the indie game shorts.

But I'm currently in the process of getting a chronic health diagnosis.

I'm getting ACFS, chronic fatigue syndrome diagnosis.

So more personal goals for me sort of, you know, discovering my my new limits and reaching good balances.

So I'm not, I'm not aiming for any new big projects for the time being.

Just why I sort of figure all of that out.

So just just maintaining the status quo right now is my my main goal essentially.

Yeah, I think that's a very noble goal and thank you.

Best of luck with that journey of of getting that diagnosis.

I'm sure that's not a one step thing and it's something that you can find yourself in the middle of for a bit, but we hope that that is smooth as possible.

And it can be hard to to know what parts of your lives you can change when when something becomes concrete on paper.

You're like, OK, well, what do I do now?

And what, you know, what advice can I seek to to make everything flow the most efficiently and prosperously as I can?

So yeah, I do wish you the best of luck with all that.

Thank you.

And while you're seeking that status quo and continuing to do your thing, I guess this is a good place for us to have you tell listeners where they can find you and your content online, if you don't mind.

So the best place to find me is on Twitch.

That's my my main platform twitch.tv/hey under score.

It's Haley.

That's Haley HAYLEYI.

Stream Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday in the afternoon UK time.

A variety of content as we've discussed, and you can also find me on various socials with some variation of that username.

Perfect.

Well, Haley, it's been great having you talk about yourself and all your interests and your contents.

We're going to move on now to our next segment with you, which is reviewing the game you picked from our list, Dorf Romantic.

It is our featured game.

Dorf Romantic is a 2022 strategy puzzle game.

It was developed and published by Tukana Interactive.

Do we know if I'm saying that right, Tucana?

I mean, you could maybe Midwesternize it, Maybe go Tucana Tucana.

It.

Was.

Developed and published by Tucana in Reactive.

I think it's.

Tucana.

Tucana, one of those has got to be right.

The game synopsis from the Steam storefront reads quote.

Dorfromantic is a peaceful building, strategy and puzzle game where you create a beautiful and ever growing village landscape by placing tiles, explore a variety of colorful biomes, discover and unlock new tiles, and complete quests to fill your world with life.

So when we start describing the game, usually we begin with the story in the setting.

I'm not sure that there is a proper story or descriptive setting other than the fact that you're in this blank space and you start with one hexagonal tile usually.

And from that you get a stack of procedurally generated tiles that can be placed onto your starting tile and all the tiles you place after that.

And you see your creation expand as new landscapes are unlocked.

So this is very much a game that's it's just a game.

You know, this is a game.

This is a game.

Is is the story slash setting.

I mean, from what I recall, you start the game and it says for me it said continue was the first option, which was odd because I've never played it before.

Description.

It's not pulling in a description.

I kind of wish it did.

That'd be interesting to see in a game.

Like yeah, imagine a a secret horror twist.

I know, right?

Yeah.

That might turn into a game that Haley might not like so much.

You have to get to the the tile that has the shed and in the shed is the secret.

Oh my gosh.

And then it turns into a grun like or something.

But yeah, it says like, you know, you have your options.

I believe it encourages you to start with the tutorial, but I can't say anything else here because now I would throw it to Disco Cola to talk about the gameplay.

I think you have the the heavier job.

I do have the heavier lift, which is not usually the case.

Indoor romantic, you can't really do a ton, as you might imagine, because you're in this blank space and you just start giving these tiles.

But there are a lot of like little mini actions you can perform as inputs.

So like Boppo said, you'll be given a random tile and for the most part you can place those anywhere you like.

But you will, there's a, there's a point system.

So you get more points if one or more of the sides of that hexagon match where you place it.

And so to maximize points, you will be able to rotate most tiles.

That way you can maximize matching up, you know the the different landscapes which include, I'll call it forest and fields.

Blank space like empty space.

Yeah, like just simple grass.

Grass, maybe, yeah.

And then you've got water and train tracks.

Yes, those are the ones.

I'm I'm.

Aware of and villages.

And villages, yes, yeah, thank you.

I knew there was 1 missing.

There was like, there's the one that I like the second most and I can't remember it.

Same, Yeah.

You can also use your stick to move around the tiles you've already placed and you can also pan the position of your camera to get in different angle on your board.

Some tiles that you're given will have like an extra bonus that will require you to place in a way that has a a contiguous amount of the same environment.

And so this is where camera panning becomes extra helpful because the the bonus signs can sometimes obstruct your view pretty often.

So having that camera pan is is nice when you've start placing all those bonus tiles.

And then as far as other inputs, you have the option to undo one move as well, your most recent move.

That's all I could remember that was noteworthy as far as inputs.

Yeah, they're different game modes.

As we play, we can unlock different looks for certain kinds of tiles.

Anything else we should call out about the gameplay in general?

Can't think of anything, it's pretty straightforward.

I can't think of anything that sounds.

Yeah, it's a it's very straightforward game.

It is, and when it comes to the history of this game, it was made by a handful of German and Swiss students in a game design program in Berlin.

I think maybe just like 4 people made this initially and the game's title is a German word that means village romanticization.

Did I say that word right?

Romanticization.

Romanticization.

Yes, romanticization.

It's just hard.

And the game is inspired by romanticists and impressionist landscape paintings, as well as other city building games.

We might talk about some games that this reminds us of later, and Dorf Romantic was in early access for about a year when it first was made available, and it was fully released in 2022.

A board game adaptation was released in 2023, just the very next year, which I find very.

Impressive.

Very fast.

Wow.

Yes, and that board game won the I hope I'm saying this right, Spiel de Jars.

Is that right?

Hey, are you familiar with this award?

The.

I mean, I know Spiel is correct.

The rest of it I'm not sure.

OK, but do you know this award?

This is like.

I'm vaguely familiar with it, yeah.

OK.

It is basically game of the year for board games, I guess, and it's a very prestigious thing.

So like Settlers of Catan got this back in 1995 for your awareness.

I didn't know it's been around that long.

Right before.

I was born.

That's wild.

And then another example would be like Ticket to Ride got the spiel de jars in 2004.

I was just doing research on this earlier today and I was trying to find like some extra noteworthy board games that have gotten us.

So I hope that gives people an idea of how well received the board game has been and the the board game was obviously directly inspired from the video game.

This is an example where the video game version came first and inspired a board game.

We see it go both ways sometimes, but Haley, you picked this from our list.

We gave you a long list of featured game ideas.

You picked a short list, And from that list, we narrowed down to Dorf Romantic.

We know you love Dorf Romantic, but what stood out about Dorf Romantic?

Why'd you pick it for this episode?

Yeah, I mean, just looking for another opportunity to gush about the game.

Really nice.

I was.

I was honestly a little surprised.

Also relieved to see that it was still on the list, that that you hadn't covered it before.

It's a game that I go back to quite frequently.

I've been playing it since it was in early access.

I think April 2021 was when it started, and I've been playing it since a month or two after that, I think.

So it felt like the perfect pick for me since it's such a comfort game for me.

So yeah.

Yeah, in early access, this came out like kind of at the peak of those pandemic times when people were still isolated and not doing a whole lot.

So I imagine it was a comforting game for a lot of people, just a source of relaxation, maybe meditation.

Did you find that it was a comforting game for you in that time?

I did somewhat, yeah.

So I was already streaming at that point.

So it actually was one that I did.

I started doing it on stream, which was which was good.

I was very early in my.

Content creation journey at that point.

So it was, it was good to have a game that made me feel good and safe and calm to sort of have that.

So.

So yeah, in a sense.

Nice, and then so we know you love the game, but could you walk us through your overall feelings on Dorf Romantic?

Yeah, so I like that the puzzle mechanics are difficult, but not complicated.

So it you, you, you get this satisfaction when you do well, but it's not too heavy on the brain.

And also since the mechanics are so straightforward, I find it really easy to come back mid game and pick up where you left off, which is how I like to play it all sort of have a game in progress and I'll come back and I'll play like 30 to 40 minutes of it while I'm like watching something or or whatever.

I I also like the blend of strategy and like logic puzzle gaming with the wonderful soothing atmosphere from like the background music and the art style and stuff like that.

It just makes for a really gentle puzzle game, which I think is a really nice combo.

Awesome, and if you had to give

a score to the game from 1:00 to 10:00, what would you give Dorf Romantic.

It's difficult.

I've, I've been trying to think about this because I knew you were going to ask.

I I feel maybe a nine or a 9.5, but I can't really pinpoint any particular dislikes.

Yeah.

So I'm not really sure what would bring it up to A10.

Yeah, it's interesting.

My philosophy on this is that even if you don't really have dislikes for a game, that doesn't mean it's necessarily A10, because sometimes there's nothing inherently wrong with the game, it's just not elevated to that level that would warrant a 10.

So yeah, whatever whatever you feel like is good on your heart right now, it's only going to get locked into stone forever.

So it's not a not a big stressor.

I.

Hope ready with the chisel?

Yeah, we'll lock it in as a nine.

Then we'll lock it in as a nine.

Nice.

Very cool.

All right.

Disco Cola.

What are your thoughts on Dorf Romantic?

You got to play for several hours.

OK, so for the most part, I'm gonna I'm gonna throw this out there.

I don't play and or enjoy too many board games.

Just throwing that out there at the start.

But as far as things that I like about Dorf romantic, I like the general vibe of the game.

It's peaceful.

I kind of feel like I'm in a screened in porch during a gentle rain and that's just a really pleasant feeling.

You know, maybe I just have like a little a little lap blanket in a, in a crazy wooden rocking chair, just having a good old time.

I think the visual feedback of placing tiles and especially of getting bonuses or perfect placements, that's incredibly satisfying because you get the placement visual feedback, but then you get an extra little like pulse from the perfect score.

You get the bring.

Yeah, yeah, you get the score popping up.

So it's that's real, a really satisfying visual effect that rewards me for for doing something strategic.

Though I don't really like the intervals at which I get them, I do like the cosmetic unlocks.

They really, they feed really well into that vibe.

I like getting the tiny little tugboat, or the the little train on the track, or the lilac fields.

I I don't think I get them often enough, but I do like getting them.

I get a great satisfaction in thinking about how my board got to where it is at the end, and maybe thinking of a story to explain why they decided to build a house in the middle of a train loop or why there are houses in between these long stretch of fields.

And then three fields away, there's two more houses.

I kind of like thinking of the the geography and the story of how that might have happened as time went on.

I would try to go for a long stretch of houses and most of my runs, but sometimes you get those tiles that are hybrid tiles.

They might have forests on one side and then like maybe a house on one of the edges.

Yeah.

And you really want to put that mostly forest tile in a string of forests tiles.

And that means you have to commit to putting a house down.

And I would do the same thing.

I would think, like, oh, this person just loves the living.

They love being in a remote.

Place that's Kate, that we just place Kate on the board.

It is.

Maybe it's Maine, Yeah.

That's the forest Ranger.

Yeah.

There you go.

Maybe they like to hunt or shoot their guns a lot.

Or maybe they're a I was a hunter.

Yeah.

Anyways, I would think about that all the time, especially when it came to like, houses being placed in seemingly remote spots.

I like that in creative mode, I get to control the rate at which certain tile elements will appear.

And related to that, it's because I love the look of forests and cobblestone villages.

And while I can find that they are often a pain to deal with, I do love the intelligence of water tiles as you place them next to other tiles.

On the flip side however, this is where I move into my dislikes for the game.

I really hate the train tiles a lot.

Oh, interesting.

And I, I know that the game like needs some sort of challenge, but the amount of dread I get when a train track shows up, it's just like, I can only place this in two spots maybe.

And it, it's disrupting other things.

But I'm also trying to plan ahead for other train tracks that might show up, so that I can keep the train tracks isolated from everything else that's going on, because I feel like they're the most fickle, incompatible with other tiles.

That you have less options for where to place.

Them.

I would find that sometimes I had a string of bad luck with getting train track tiles that would split into 3 paths.

I would get maybe two or three of those in a row.

Yeah, and that's just the RNG, right?

That's the just the randomization.

Sometimes that's the hand you're dealt.

But by and large, I did find that a lot of the pieces were either like the curved corner or just the straight train track.

And I totally get you.

You don't want to start putting down train tracks everywhere that can get chaotic.

But also trying to manage one or two train tracks.

You know, you can be limited in where you're supposed to go.

And I also was worried about closing in a train track.

So many times I'd I'd get that train track end piece, like where a train starts and then it's in basically a corridor.

It's surrounded on all sides almost by other tiles I've placed.

And I've, I thought, Oh no, I have to remember, don't close it in because I want to commit to building this train track.

So it does.

And I would look forward to trying to close it off.

Could be like, OK, this one's done.

I can start building around this track now and I don't have to worry for sure.

I don't like the look of the fields.

I don't think they're especially attractive, especially when compared to how pretty fields can actually look from the sky in real life.

I didn't think the fields in the game really matched that beauty personally.

Sometimes when I'm being super strategic about placements, I can end up with a really like oblong shaped board and I guess that's not a huge deal.

But when I have to like move camera from one end to the other, that can get kind of tedious.

And I guess I should mention that I played this on Switch.

I don't know if you played this on Switch or PCI.

Played it on PC?

Have you mostly played it on PC, Haley?

Yeah.

OK.

So maybe that's not an issue on PC.

Maybe camera movement is just like like that, you know, I don't know, but at least on switch it, it can get kind of tedious to move from one end.

Yeah, I I would find myself kind of scrolling for a few seconds.

I don't know if that sensitivity can be cranked.

I I forgot to look into that.

You can use shift to scroll quick.

If you're using wazda to move.

You can.

I only discovered less than a year ago like within the last few months I think That's funny.

I I don't know that that's an option on switch though, so that's fair that that it would be very slow without that so.

And I was playing on PC, but I was just using my mouse, which people can laugh at me for that that, you know.

That's just, I would imagine that anyway, that's like, it seems a mouse would make more sense to me.

But anyways, we mentioned that this is kind of like a, it's a, it's a puzzle game.

You're supposed to try and be strategic about where you place tile.

For me, I would find myself in a spot where it was less about what is the best placement and more about what is the least bad placement.

So I was kind of in that that half empty glass kind of a a spot for a lot of.

It yeah, I get what you're talking about.

But as I alluded to at the start, I think prominently, this game just doesn't totally speak to me.

When you do well in the game, you get more tiles.

And like, that's the point, right?

You're supposed to play for as long as you can.

But for me, that eventually started to feel like a punishment.

Like I would be at 40 something tiles left, right.

And then I would keep playing for a while and I'd be like, OK, surely I must be near the end of my tiles and then I'll look at it.

And I had more than I had when I looked at it before.

You're doing really.

Well, I'm doing really well, but eventually it was just like I've played for a long time and the reward kind of starts to feel like a punishment.

So maybe that's a pretty good sign that the game just isn't for me, you know?

Sure.

And that's that I think just goes back to like, I don't love board games and I just don't like sitting on the the same thing for a long time.

Like I need, I need more mini goals and and stuff like that.

Again, a lot of this point here, you know, some of it is maybe objective, but some of this is also just, it's not anything inherently wrong the game is.

No, I think it's just.

A personality thing.

Yeah, I think the game is doing everything that it's set out to do to great success.

It's just not the kind of game that I can vibe with.

You know, it's a short attention span platformer guy.

So at the end of it, I love the chill forest vibe a lot and I love taking a final look at my map that I made and and how pretty all the forest and the villages look.

But unfortunately I only enjoy a small amount of the journey it takes for me to get to that landscape.

Train tracks or a drag.

Despite the fact that I actually like trains.

I I kind of liken this to a similar experience that I had with Towem.

Though I've been thinking about Towem lately and I kind of want to give that another shot.

But anyways, to play dwarf romantic is sort of like to experience a journey instead of a destination, and I usually need more than play as long as you can.

So for me and my mind this is This is still maybe higher than you might think.

A7 Point O out of 10.

OK, that's actually exactly what I expected to come out of your mouth.

That's great.

Sweet.

So I think it's pretty undeniable that this is a very relaxing, non stressful time.

And for me, what I really liked is that Dorf Romantic strikes a cozy balance of strategy and meditation.

So there are no timers, there's no pressure.

It feels very serene through the soundscape and the visuals.

But I still care about placing things optimally and I get a big dopamine hit when I connect perfect tiles.

And I love that feedback that you described.

That's exactly what I'm looking for.

I'm not the best at keeping track of what tiles are set up to potentially be perfect.

Tiles.

Most of my perfects were surprises to.

Me, I, I had one string of perfect tiles where I play something and it created like, I don't know, it created 5 perfect tiles as like this domino effects.

And I was like, whoa, I totally meant to do that guys.

I didn't.

But I, I care about placing things well and I love the idea of trying to get 250 plus houses in a row or 800 plus trees in a row, you know, so I'm still challenged, but it's this great balance of trying to manage that challenge while also feeling relaxed.

I it just not many games can tout that balance and it's virtually impossible to make something that looks bad.

You know?

I think you could randomly place tiles down and it still looks somewhat aesthetically pleasing even when tiles are mismatched on one side.

The game will sort of adapt the look, especially with those water tiles.

As time goes on you will unlock alternate looks of the same terrain that add variety.

It looks like you're making a work of arts one tile at a time.

And throughout a run, I'm going to call it a run, you know, I feel like, you know, we're chasing a high score.

We only have so many tiles.

And eventually that run dies, it ends.

And throughout the run, I will stop focusing on an individual task and I'll just oom out and I'll look at this lovely picture I'm making.

So I'm not like hyper focused on trying to do the best I can.

Sometimes I just want to take in that beauty too.

I get a rush from unlocking boats and trains.

I think this game has very lovely music and sound effects too.

I love the birds and the the other wildlife.

It makes it feel like a living, breathing place.

I also have dislikes I I don't feel particularly attached enough to Dorfromantic to keep playing it many, many more times.

Now this is something that could change over time.

I'm still very recent in playing it, but it is a perfectly pleasant time for a few runs and then I feel full.

Which is actually compliment I can give the game to like it after I'm done playing it.

I feel full, which is great, but sometimes I do want something more.

Maybe this is where I could try to explore more of the game modes and we can talk about those in a bit.

I kind of wish, like you, I wish the weight between some of the collectibles was not as long.

They are kind of spread out sometimes.

I might like the ability to to decorate more.

That might keep me drawn in.

Then we're sort of getting into games like Guardian Galaxy, which is more about the customization and not really the the strategy as much.

But those kinds of things will keep me attached a little bit longer.

But this game also has me consistently in the few runs I've played, failing around the same time because the quests can get exponentially harder.

You'll start getting quest for closing off your paths, and when you do that, you might still get a quest for really long chains of houses or trees or things like that.

And now I'm not actually set up to do that quest really well because the game incentivized me to close off my longest stretch of houses.

There's a conflict there with what the game's asking me to do.

Not only are the quests asking us to make long chains of things or specific chains of things, sometimes it is encouraging us to make smaller areas of the same terrain.

But then when an opposite quest pops up of OK now give us 300 houses, I'm like uh oh, I probably don't have enough tiles in my stack to do that even if they all had houses.

So I do find myself kind of getting to the same point range in my runs because of this.

It could be because there's something about the game I don't understand though, and I just want to make the note that I am newer to do Romantic than someone like Haley.

So overall I think Dorf Romantic is a perfectly pleasant time.

I am very happy that I got to catch up on a very popular video game that was adapted into a board game, and board games are something that I'm becoming more and more interested in these days.

And it's both not challenging but also has me consistently getting to a pretty similar spot with how I play.

So I don't feel a huge drive to keep playing and playing, but I did enjoy my time a lot.

I'm going to land on a score directly in the middle of you 2.

I'm going to give this an 8 out of 10.

So I like our spread here with the with the with the scores.

And now Haley, you have played the board game.

This is an interesting part of the history.

You started playing the video game when it was in early access, I believe, before it had an undo button I think you mentioned to me.

That's wild.

I can't imagine that now that you have played both versions and you've especially absorbed the video game version over a few years, how do they compare?

I think one important distinction I'll say, because I know you mentioned earlier board games that get turned into video games and video games that turn into board games.

And I feel like what it frequently is is if it's a board game first, then normally the video game is just a straight digital adaptation.

Whereas when it's a video game first, like Dorf Romantic, like Slay the Spire for example, then they have to that that becomes an adaptation rather than an implementation.

If that makes sense.

Because like obviously for example the the infinite tiles wouldn't work in in a physical.

True, yes, the there the boundaries just by virtue of being a digital game.

When you start with the video game, the boundaries are much wider, aren't they in a lot of these?

Yeah, so I, I, I do think the tabletop version of Dwarf Romantic is a really good adaptation.

It pulls from the strengths and the overall vibe of the original while also bringing like its own features and being like functional as a physical version.

Like we said, I will also say there is, so there's Dorfman take the board game, which is the one you mentioned.

The awards came out in 2023.

The one I have.

There's also a dual version.

That's the competitive one.

I haven't played that one.

I've played the original which is cooperative and I think that's definitely its main strength over the video game is the cooperation so being able to work as a team compared to the original just being single player.

The video game unlocks are purely cosmetic for the for the most part.

You can unlock new tiles, but they are only new combinations of the same things essentially, whereas the campaign version of the board game lets you unlock like utility cards and tiles and stuff like that that help you in out in future games.

So it's got much more of a campaign aspect in that sense.

So those are the main strengths of the board game.

I will say one big point for the digital version is that it's not only much cheaper.

Since board games are a very expensive hobby, it's also quite easy to just pull out and play whenever you have some time.

Whereas the board game requires time and lots of table space to to set up.

And one key difference also like I said is that the tabletop version to not endless because that wouldn't where if they just come to your house and drop off more tiles.

That's your real thing.

Just like in my secret game.

Peek, peek.

I do think I prefer the video game just because it feels like a lot more relaxed.

But I do also enjoy playing the board game.

I play it cooperative with my partner, so different, they feel different niches I I think.

But yeah, those are sort of the key pros of both.

I like what you described there because if you're a fan of one, it's not like you're just getting the same experience with the other.

It's like they complement each other really well.

And then if you're into competitive stuff, you can try that.

That other version that did that come out last year 2024, I want to.

Say.

I'm not sure specifically.

OK, maybe a little bit more recent than the the 2023 board game.

So if like when you and your partner sit down to play the cooperative board game, what does the play look like?

I mean, is it like you make one move, the other person makes a a move?

Yeah, so it, it's, it's essentially the same as if it were single player.

You just go back and forth on whose turn it technically is.

But you, you know, yeah, you'll pull a tile from a stack, but you have a conversation with your team about where it's going to go.

Functionally it's it's a single player, but you're just all playing as the single player basically.

Yeah, I think of board games as, you know, gathering two to six people around a table usually and competing.

Maybe people are in teams, but this is, this feels like a a board activity what you're talking about.

Like it's a it's a way to bond with people and just like do something tactile, which I find is very interesting.

Yeah, yeah.

I guess I'm especially curious about this because I don't play a lot of this kind of stuff, but how does Dorf Romantic remind us of other strategy or or building games?

I know you mentioned Terra Nil, which is like one of the only other games kind of like this I've played.

So how does it remind you of those or other board games that you've played?

I definitely think one key element is a tile placement in general, being a very sort of popular mechanic in board games and board game adjacent video games.

For example, the the matching up edges reminds me of Carcassonne.

I'm not sure if either of you are familiar with that I.

Heard you talk about that and I'm always a little unsure of how to say it.

So it's good to hear you say it and that that just calling back that one.

The spiel de jars in 2001 or something.

I early aughts I think so there's another classic board game.

Yeah, yeah, Carcassonne's a a a really popular one there.

It's square tiles with different elements on them.

It's competitive.

So you'll place a tile, you have to match up at least one edge with the pre-existing tiles.

And then when you place a tile, you can claim something that's on it.

Yeah.

Carcassonne is a place in France, City Castle.

It's a place in France.

So it's based on that, the castle there.

Nice, but yeah, so the the the tile placement definitely, you know, is is similar to a lot of other sort of building games like I I've seen games that have similar mechanics to Dorfromantic bubble gum Galaxy is when it comes to mind.

I know that the amateur if either of you've played the demo for that, but that.

Is very trust, yeah.

That obviously there's the whole overarching story of that one, you know, which as we've said, Dorfromantic doesn't really have, but the the mechanics around building out the galaxies are very, very similar.

Hexagonal tiles, points for matching edges, stuff like that.

So that's definitely something similar to other games of that genre, as it were, that I've noticed.

I was noticing similarities to Cascadia, which is a more recent board game I've played.

I haven't played as many board games, but this one I got to play maybe like 2 years ago.

And Cascadia has hexagonal tiles, it has different kinds of landscapes and you're trying to sometimes match sides.

So immediately thought of that.

I also thought of Garden Galaxy, which is a video game I've I've played and it's that's not a strategy game per SE, but there is the coziness that I find in both games.

And then there's the tile placement.

It is square tiles in that game, but Garden Galaxy has more collection going on.

That's definitely a focus.

Much, much bigger focus on decorating.

Decorating, collecting decorations, trying to fill out your index of just stuff that you've found.

And then another thing that I thought of was, now I have not played these games in full, but I've played the second games, demo, the Islanders games.

There's Islanders and Islanders New Shores.

Islanders New Shores might not be out yet, but it's demo was part of Nextfest, I want to say.

And this is very much the same thing where there's more verticality to the environments.

So you can choose where to place things depending on if it's a Cliff or if it's a beach or somewhere in the middle.

But you are placing down buildings and other features, trying to get points, I think for similarity or consistency with what you're placing down.

So if you already know you love Dorf Romantic, you might check out some of these games we're mentioning, or the other way around.

If you've played some of these other things, Dorf Romantic might be for you.

Then one thing that we've all sort of pointed out is that there's the tranquil feeling to the game.

I think that's something you can't ignore.

Like, I think most people would agree with that, but what parts of the game are artful?

What things do you point out as being soothing?

I think one key aspect of that is the, in my opinion at least, very laid back nature of the gameplay.

I think that dwarf takes a really dwarf we're on a nickname basis takes takes a really gentle approach to like strategy and building where unlike a lot of city builders builders, we were just comparing it.

But to contrast it, for example, in other city builders where you have lots of different resources to manage.

In this one, you just have your stack of tiles and any ongoing goals, and the main idea is just building out a lovely landscape until you're done basically.

I think the art style really helps as well.

It's very simple but effective.

And like we've mentioned, the the the sound design, both the little sound effects and the background music as well.

And I also, I think since the game is so forgiving in a sense where running out of tiles doesn't lead to game over.

It just says session completed which I think is is a very gentle parenting way of of saying it and you have your little undo button if needed.

It all just feels very laid back.

Yeah, it feels almost celebratory when you fail.

It's like, hey, we made something.

Yeah, it's very calm.

I I can know that I have less than 10 tiles left and I might really get focused on placing them, not even realizing that the last tile is a last tile.

And I place it and then it just kind of gently says, oh, yeah, that that was good.

That is nice.

Yes, yes, thank you game.

And it feels like you're improvising a painting, you know, like it feels like while I'm placing tiles, I have a big idea of what I want to do.

Like maybe I want the northwest corner to have all my trees.

Maybe I want the northeast corner to have all my houses and then it spills down South to my SE things like that.

But I'm also making impulsive decisions like I'm Bob Ross or something.

Like I'm going to put a happy little train track right there, you know, like I I feel like, you know what, let's just make some quick decisions as we're going to so and I don't usually like I don't gravitate toward that mindset, but something about dorf romantic makes me feel that way.

For me it's it's pretty much all in the visuals.

I find forests just soothing.

The concept of them thinking about all the cool little beetles that live in there.

It's just a pleasant feeling.

And something about cobblestone villages is just really attractive to me.

It just makes me feel quaint.

It's it's the same thing.

We don't have any cobblestone villages here, but we do have some like brick roads.

And I like coming across the brick roads here in town.

And I'm just like, this is a quaint little St.

to live.

On a simple thing.

And I also love those little details you mentioned, like trains and boats.

Those add life to a scene.

I love seeing those.

When I first unlocked a boat, I didn't know I was necessarily in the game.

I knew there were trains.

I for some reason didn't know there were boats and I was streaming at the time and there's.

Train tracks so they're.

Having train tracks, right, that there's water.

And it's like, I didn't think that there might be boats.

And I unlocked the boat and I'm like, Oh my gosh, I got a boat.

I think Haley was watching.

I was like, Haley, where's the boat?

How does it happen?

And she was just calmly explaining in chat, oh, it'll come up as a tile eventually.

Just wait, you'll get your boat.

I was like, I want a boat.

And then we got a boat.

So that was really fun.

So we we've alluded to various game modes, which ones have we all tried?

What do you like to do in them?

Haley, if you, since I assume you've played them multiple times, what have we tried?

What have we done in them On which ones are our favorite?

So I haven't tried all of them.

Actually I've never tried custom mode since the original feels like a good balance to me so I have never tried that one.

But maybe one day if I'm feeling adventurous I can like set myself a custom little challenge or something.

I pretty much exclusively play the original mode.

I've done a couple of the monthly modes, which I think that's cute that they have that as a little like themed challenge.

I know at least in the past, I'm not sure if they still do, but they were giving little sort of background stories almost to the the theme of the monthly mode, which was which was cute, cute.

And then like I said, I pretty much just stick with the original.

I I have tried quick mode and hard mode, but they're not really for me personally, since for me Dwarf is like a casual pick it up and play for a short window kind of game.

So quick mode doesn't.

I'm already playing it.

Oh yeah, for for a short time anyway.

Yeah, it's not in the way a shorter mode.

Yeah, Yeah.

I think it's 75 tile.

You can up place up to 75 tiles and then it cuts you off.

But I do like that those options are in there for for people who would prefer those.

Quick Mode kind of seems like the mode you might throw on for a guest's just really quickly to introduce them to the game.

Or maybe me, who wants to get your landscape at the end of it and that's the satisfaction.

Yeah, there you go.

And I felt like in quick mode, I did play quick mode several times.

The formula for what kinds of tiles you get feels different.

Maybe it's just the luck of what I got, but in quick mode, I would put down a forest was my first tile and then it would immediately give me like a house quest and it would give me a field quest and it would give me a train track quest.

Just rapid fire.

It wants to get me just going on a bunch of quests immediately.

So it feels like maybe the classic mode condensed down into a just a really concentrated version.

But yeah, you're only placing down 75 tiles trying to get a high score.

Maybe that was an instance where I got a certain score.

It was, I don't know, 3060 points.

My next attempt I got 3040 points.

So I'm like really, really consistent.

I'm like, OK, I did about the same.

I don't know that I'll get better, but it was nice to just sort of dip your toe in.

And I've done mostly classic.

I don't think I want to try the hard mode.

I think that might be the antithesis of what I come to this game for.

For me, even though I don't necessarily know what's entailed, I would try the creative mode.

Is that where you just place down any tiles you want?

So you can also no, because it's still randomly generated, but you can change the rate at which certain terrains will show up.

And so I went in there and I turned well, first I turned everything off except for trees.

And I just placed a bunch of trees down.

But if you wanted to, you could go in there and turn off trains entirely or turn off fields entirely.

But it's it's endless as far as I could tell.

Like you don't gain tiles, there's no challenges, you just build.

OK, no, you're.

Right, your tiles are still randomly.

Generated but.

Yeah.

Cool.

Yeah, I would try that.

That sounds fun.

And then I guess that's probably how people get the the really cool looking, expansive big maps very easily.

Yeah, it's certainly much easier to do that in creative mode.

And then monthly modes I looked at, I didn't try one, but you have me interested in that as well.

And then finally, the topic we want to talk about is who would we recommend the game to?

I think we've already talked about similar things Dorf Romantic reminds us of, but if you had to suggest a certain person play Dorf Romantic, who comes to your mind?

Me.

If you're me.

I think, well, I think I think a key point is the sort of openness, particularly in the regular game mode.

So if you're someone who prefers like a lot of goals and structure in your gaming, then I'd maybe not recommend it or at least, you know, suggest going for one of the challenge modes.

But if you're someone who's looking for something very laid back, something to scratch and itch in your brain without being so complicated that it gives you a headache, something like that.

If you're, if you're, if you're into logic puzzles, that sort of thing, then I I definitely, I definitely recommend Dorfromantic to puzzle lovers or people who are looking for something very low key, I would say.

Nice, I agree with that.

What about you, Disco?

Yeah, I showed it to my wife.

She doesn't play a lot of video games, so I showed it to her.

I was like, I know that you'll think this is pretty to look at and it'll be similar to some of the like app games that you've played because you play a lot of those like jigsaw puzzle or puzzle like ones.

So I was like, I I showed it to her.

She didn't pick it up.

I also shoulder Wilmot works it out and she hasn't picked that up either.

But I think she would like either one of them.

But anyways, people who who maybe played, you know, just like puzzle app games that don't really explore a lot of video games or you know who who might be attracted to this new take or just like the visual style.

Yeah, like people who want to have an interactive experience that's just more relaxing.

I would, I would recommend this to almost anyone.

Multiple people came through the Twitch chat while I was streaming this to say oh I love this game and I had no idea they had played it before.

So people that I don't usually associate with playing games like this had played it.

Yeah, my buddy Jacob, who I've mentioned on the podcast before, never would have thought, but he he specifically mentioned it in a text to me before he even knew we were playing it for the season.

Yeah, like a streamer friend who plays lots of Souls likes and hard games.

Yeah.

And like narrative heavy, depressing games, they came through and they're like, oh, I love Dorf romantic.

It's like, oh, OK.

Or I had other people saying this looks so beautiful, I have to try this.

And so it's just immediately attractive to people.

And then I would say people who love both games and beautiful art.

Maybe it's you like to make art.

Maybe you just love looking at art.

And I would I would argue that lots of people love both of those things.

So that's why I say almost anyone.

I would recommend this too.

Yeah.

I will just chime in also just because Disco mentioned like apps and stuff, I do think there are there are talks of a mobile version of Dorfromantic coming out, which is which is cool.

I don't know if they have any specific dates for that, but I think there are talks of it coming to the remaining consoles because it's already on the Switch like you said and and mobile which is cool.

Yeah, just makes sense.

Yeah, it's supposed to.

It's on PC and Switch now.

It's supposed to come to PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X&S, and mobile sometime soon, hopefully, but no release date yet.

You're right that there's no release date.

So yeah, it's it's accessible too.

Who doesn't have one of those things, right?

Haley?

Is there anything else you wanted to say about Dorf Romantic wrapping things up?

I think I think we've covered it all.

If the Dorf Romantic team is listening to this and you ever want to collab, hit me up.

That would be amazing shooting the shot.

They've moved on to other projects, but I, I love Dorf Romantic, so yeah, I, I think we've covered everything I wanted to say about it.

Sweet, cool.

Well, Haley, thanks again for being our guest in picking this game.

It's been an absolutely lovely time.

Anna, thank you for having me.

Yes, one more time.

Could you remind folks where to find you and your content online?

Absolutely over on twitch.tv you can find me at Hey under score.

It's Haley for streams Monday Tuesday, Thursday, Friday that's Co working streams, video games, arts and crafts, all sorts of stuff.

And you can find links to my other socials there as well.

Perfect.

Well, Haley, thanks again.

Good luck with everything.

In the future, we look forward to more of your contents and that.

Thank you both.

Absolutely.

That will do for our review of Dorf Romantic.

You can play it on PC and Switch.

And again, it's coming soon to PS4, PS 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series and mobile.

Haley rated it a nine.

Disco Cola rated it A7.

I rated it an 8.

That's the end of this episode of Underplayed.

You can find more of our episodes at KZUM dot org slash Underplayed and on common podcast platforms like Spotify or Ale Podcasts.

Our music was composed by Jack Rodenberg.

Our art comes from Oni Mochi.

Check out our show notes where you can find and follow us across social media.

We'll also have links down there for Haley's stuff.

Underplayed is on Blue Sky Instagram and Threads.

You can also find my links down below, and I stream a variety of indie games on Twitch.

My links are also down below, usually as Disco Cola or Disco Cola three O 4.

And hey, we have a little thing on our blue sky.

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Next time we will have two more secret games to review, and our featured game will be Rogue Legacy, a roguelike developed by Cellar Door Games.

Until then, everyone keep on playing.