Flow State

Matt Horton

A show about the games we get lost in

  1. 18 FEB.

    The Hottest Game Mechanic of 2025 🪙

    The hottest game mechanic of 2025 is... coin flipping. (00:00) - - Flip a coin with me (02:19) - - Number goes up (12:11) - - The concept of 20% (14:41) - - The "ladder" (17:57) - - "Meme games" (19:27) - - Commenting on humanity with a coin (22:39) - - Committing to the eSports bit (26:21) - - Simultaneous invention To watch the developer interviews, subscribe monthly at https://ko-fi.com/matthortonUnfair Flips on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/39...Q-UP on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/37...Music from the original soundtracks of Q-UP and Cobalt Core At this point you’re probably aware of the game, Unfair Flips, where you flip a coin with the single goal of getting 10 heads in a row. Northernlion has played it. I’ve already made a Short about the game. The game has reached a meme status that often leads to financial success for these smaller, simpler games. And in the latest Steam Next Fest, a demo for another coin flipping game has come out. Q-UP is a completely different take on flipping a coin, as impossible as that sounds. Where Unfair Flips is stripped down to only the slightest amount of mechanic on top of the basic probability of a coin flip, Q-UP puts that simple game of chance into the context of eSports. This is a video game that straight up looks like Apex Legends or Overwatch or Marvel Rivals. You have seen a video game UI that looks like this. The design is Fortnite maximalist, including a shop, messages from the developers, a carousel of fake news hits about the game, and even daily challenges. You can actually, really queue up with your friends for coin flipping matches. It is a tongue-in-cheek take on eSports that actually does have an interesting game within it, even if the coin flips themselves are completely random. These games are wildly different takes on a goofy idea, and the distance between those takes leads to thematic differences that I find really interesting. Yes. The two games where you flip coins both have things they’re trying to say. I promise.

    28 min
  2. Finished Expedition 33? Play these next.

    2025-06-10

    Finished Expedition 33? Play these next.

    Expedition 33 is just one of many great turn-based RPGs released in the last 10 years. Here's a bunch of RPGs that you should play when you're finished with Clair Obscur. 0:00 - JRPGs never died2:12 - Turn-based RPGs are killing it4:25 - High-fidelity 3D graphics6:11 - Art Direction7:21 - World Maps8:23 - Combat11:02 - Characters & Social Sim13:11 - A Message14:56 - Turn-based RPGs aren't ancient history Find me elswhere:Support my work at ko-fi.com/MattHortonRead more of my writing at https://MattHorton.liveListen to my podcast at https://cantletitgo.gayMy video on the end of Expedition 33 https://youtu.be/J_gfIx5VIqY?si=bv2Uvhpjpp_uK5tC Lex's podcast!!! The Legend of Podcast: Trails Through Trails - https://trailspod.transistor.fm/ Credits----- https://youtu.be/p00EF6_b5pI?si=rl5eCMgy3MqMHQihttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i87Bk7OqAUkhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8azSzG-Flshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkm1I7ngQb0https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCuaejfDvR0https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-6Aa3_86Lohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVLEPdSX8DYhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6daXBKYT6N4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asf4DmuukZAhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mz0g9hxq7L8https://www.youtube.com/watch?index=2&v=j_-dPgRy4LIhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEo9rB4WmCMhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gV5rIW1Qumshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsdxLwqUH6ghttps://youtu.be/LUNL-Pey7BU?si=00AE5Gf1r6vtchsQhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raWYLdIqy5Ahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4Wj5bpID80https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgtBM23ltuwhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPcwMFWZksQhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=off7_MX4eZkhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-v6DRmerschttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgKMcrpvQNQhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-P7obXHM3EQhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxhzR5SzvRshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF96tpchinkhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB4WyHe-HRMhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T85-Obx9iE8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWWy7V9rCrAhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKpSpvFCZRwhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsMvSZeiKmwhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIIPXA2A6cMhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXi0yQD9F1Yhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tavPnYeFrV4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1T22wNvoNiUhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plwpzrXQoUwhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQPk4cVrU_whttps://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1s&v=f5IWiqGKcQghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd9j_NWZGG8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XTozylrz-Qhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJL0-lDuJn8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMtDNA_kiZ4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdkyi7Myg-chttps://youtu.be/ADaRsEhTB70?si=p_GKjqgqUDcswLwfhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dwFNq06bQkhttps://youtu.be/pKRvc2HADUw?si=lR_ymsDfzwlrup0Jhttps://youtu.be/lgmLN1NHXyE?si=Xlk-u4Gbyxlmn-C1https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fmi8KrntszIhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVbqM_O2kcIhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7trBUIkyO1Ahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhqbNaxO82ghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWXAxOKdQ6chttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTOAd2fq740https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeZ_Z1diuighttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-7zjsM5nQAhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Goj8hyy_L0Mhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KES40VdEtQghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVP_nCK0tXUhttps://youtu.be/jjiyzoII06I?si=8bS0E2shLrS7O9zfhttps://youtu.be/7lM8fVR_oZw?si=l45fTQsf7eXp78Tyhttps://youtu.be/srvV0riIgXU?si=Qe-DWMTlZRlsb3Qihttps://youtu.be/iNwMvTVPq2E?si=HlZ1fYaCdRzxmiF4https://youtu.be/Vofkw9-O18c?si=gzQ_ZGqawbwgIbcLhttps://youtu.be/iEGniXc7Xtc?si=eh_t4hodQFix3UtZhttps://youtu.be/-1LDIPBWjtU?si=pp_KiOifoEejX2VJhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORpKwkq5z-4https://youtu.be/qFs8-qGaoHU?si=Vj3TRiyLFQmkOFgYhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyprCbJwWsEhttps://youtu.be/Woz3mS9Ao5k?si=sJGQru1pFn8iMg7zhttps://youtu.be/yvSWRg_oPyw?si=nAKsR0Voifbny0JB

    16 min

Om

A show about the games we get lost in