Geeks & Grounds is an asynchronous, monthly game club where we play video games and brew good conversation, together! β Each week, receive a newsletter with a reflection question and curated materials meant to help you thoughtfully connect with the games we play.
Opening the Mystery Package πΉ Lost Records: Bloom & Rage [Geeks & Grounds #90]
this week's brew π§
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Hello from Boston! It's the eve of PAX East for me, and after having a lovely dinner and catch up with friends, I've settled in for an early evening (so I can write this newsletter and finish up my work before the event truly gets started). If you happen to be at the show, come see my panel on Friday at 10:30 am ET -- it's called from Fandom to Stardom, discussing the ways we can use our passions and fandoms to develop "real-world" skills. Would love to say hi! Now, back to our regularly schedule programing ~ ππ
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This past week, we concluded our time with Lost Records: Bloom & Rage...and what a time it was. While the game had incredible moments that illicited strong (positive) reactions from me, Joel, and many of the community, we'll discuss how the pacing and revelations in Tape 02 often undermine a lot of the work done in Tape 01 to set up these relationships and storylines. Have a listen and see if you agree: regardless, we'd love to hear what you think! Did you feel the mystery of the package was fulfilling? Did your endings feel satisfying? Feel free to email back with your thoughts, or hop in to our hangout to share your thoughts this Saturday at 3 pm PT / 6 pm ET in Discord!
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Starting today, we're playing our official May brew: Return of the Obra Dinn. It is a community selection, and one that I'm VERY excited to hop into, as it's been in my personal backlog for quite some time.
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There's been a murder (well, perhaps multiple murders...heck, the whole crew is missing!), and it's up to us to deduce what exactly happened on this ship. We'll be honing our powers of observation and discussing themes of fate and responsibility as we play Return of the Obra Dinn, and one suggestion I have is to be comfortable not knowing what's going on (particularly at the start). Take notes, pay attention, and trust your gut! We'll start with "The End", but as this game is non-linear, I recommend playing around 3-4 chapters of this game each week to stay on track to finish in time (estimate around 8-11 hours to finish the full game). Our first discussion episode comes out next Tuesday, May 13th!
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| Check out the Playthrough Guide |
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Reflection Question
Share your response by writing back to this message, submit a voice recording to be included in next week's episode, share in the community Discord, or simply ponder as you play!
- As you start Return of the Obra Dinn, how are you feeling about your role and what you must try to figure out? Do you have any predictions for what you'll discover?
Pour Over
Supplementary recs to expand on what we're playing ~
- East India Company? : Just for a bit of historical context, the East Indie Company accounted for approximately half of the world's trade during the mid-1700s and early 1800s (Wikipedia). Read the Wiki page to learn more!β
- GDC Live Q&A: While I'd recommend playing a bit before listening, if you'd like a bit more of the developer perspective on the making-of Obra Dinn, listen to this Q&A!
the pastry case π₯
βour grab-bag of topics related to the industry and other media we've engaged with.
βLudoNarraCon 2025: Did you hop in?
- Some demos I enjoyed: inKonbini, A Week in the Life of Asocial Giraffe, The Berlin Apartment, Scrabdackle
- LudoNarraWha?: We spent a bit of the Pastry Case segment talking about Ludonarrative Dissonance, and while I hadn't brushed up on the nuances, I wanted to shout out the amazing Valace from the Geeks & Grounds Discord who shared this video that dives into what it is and how it can be used as an effective tool when designing games.
1000xRESIST wins a Peabody!
βPolygon and Giant Bomb both dismantled on the same day (from Paste Magazine)
- Support Indie Game Media: Major shoutout to Mike Towndrow and the Six One Indie team for creating this list of incredible game outlets to support. Honored to also share that Geeks & Grounds is included! (Also, welcome to all the new subscribers who - I'm pretty sure - signed up from that list!)
Play/Watch/Listen/Read
Jenny -
- Play: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (if you'd like, I've got a Let's Play series started now!)
- Listen: I Lied to You (Miles Caton, Sinners OST)
Joel -
- Play: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Watch: Captain America: New World Orderβ
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This Weeks' Game Releases
Two titles that I'm keeping an eye on, and that may be worth picking up if you'd like something new to enjoy!
Stay in the loop -- listen to the weekly podcast on Spotify and Apple, hang with the community in Discord, and find us on Instagram!
βThanks for joining our digital cafΓ© this week -- talk soon!
Jenny
Jenny | Geeks & Grounds
Geeks & Grounds is an asynchronous, monthly game club where we play video games and brew good conversation, together! β Each week, receive a newsletter with a reflection question and curated materials meant to help you thoughtfully connect with the games we play.
this week's brew π§what we played this week + supplementary materials to help you dig deeper. In a Geeks & Grounds first, we immediately dove into the sequel for Butterfly Soup this week (one week after finishing the original). It felt like another breath of fresh air to play, and we discuss our enduring love for these characters, as well as the ways that Brianna Lei - the developer - broadens the world of Butterfly Soup by exploring not just the teens themselves, but their families as well....
this week's brew π§what we played this week + supplementary materials to help you dig deeper. My cheeks hurt from playing and then talking about this game! Butterfly Soup is our first game discussion for the month of June, and I can't think of a better way to kick off Pride. Yes, this game has representation on a variety of levels. Yes, this game deftly handles challenging relationship issues between friends and family. But also? This is one of the funniest and most joyful games that I've ever...
this week's brew π§what we played this week + supplementary materials to help you dig deeper. It is time to discover what's behind that locked Lazarette door, deduce the rest of these fates, and determine the tale of the Obra Dinn! This week is the final discussion of the game, and while we're encompassing the whoooole thing (including my attempt at summarizing the events in chronological order), our focus chapters include: Chapter II: A Bitter Cold Chapter V: Unholy Captives Chapter IV: The...