Flow State

Matt Horton
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A show about the games we get lost in

  1. Persona 4 Golden's Heaviest Burden is Tradition

    6 DAYS AGO

    Persona 4 Golden's Heaviest Burden is Tradition

    (00:00) - - The eery quietness of Persona 4 Golden (03:10) - - The Heisei mergers (06:15) - - Persona 4 Golden is biased towards tradition (06:55) - - Yukiko gives in (08:55) - - Kanji's dyes his hair (10:56) - - Rise goes back to showbiz (12:35) - - These aren't real people (13:03) - - Conservatism (14:28) - - Tradition for tradition's sake To watch the member-exclusive video, you can go to my Patreon or Ko-Fi!https://www.patreon.com/c/flowstatecrithttps://ko-fi.com/matthortonThanks to  @FazPersona ,  @shinobuSMT , and  @SphericAlpha for game footage Watch  @LadyVirgilia 's video on the Heisei mergers and Inaba: https://youtu.be/gd2YrXqkchM Watch  @BiggeTwig 's "The Development of Persona 4": https://youtu.be/gd2YrXqkchM Thank you to my $5+ members:GJJenn CheungMike TurleyChase AllhartZenoMajesticOstrichKimSilellak Research Sources:Katsura Hashino blogs from the old Atlus website https://web.archive.org/web/20130831132713/http://www.atlusnet.jp/topic/detail/607https://web.archive.org/web/20140205015317/http://www.atlusnet.jp/topic/detail/650 Podcast interview with Persona 4 dev team https://web.archive.org/web/20100908090614/https://game.biglobe.ne.jp/colweb/shoku/2010/100902/100902.html SiliconEra translation and summary of the podcast interview https://www.siliconera.com/behind-the-design-of-persona-4/ “The Development of Municipal Mergers in Japan” by Kiyotaka Yokomichi https://clair.or.jp/j/forum/honyaku/hikaku/pdf/up-to-date_en1.pdf Interview on 1UP.com with Yu Namba and Nich Maragos https://web.archive.org/web/20130228183558/http://www.1up.com/news/anime-expo-atlus-talks-persona Interview on 1UP.com with Katsura Hashino https://megatengaku.wordpress.com/readings/interviews/1up-persona-4-afterthoughts/ Shmuplations translation of Persona Club P4 book https://shmuplations.com/persona4/ Highlights from the Persona Club P4 book by Tumblr user, adachimoe https://adachimoe.tumblr.com/post/731417840378347520/random-stuff-from-the-persona-club-p4-book Toru’s blog on their visit to Fuefuki https://p4toru.jugem.jp Toru’s blog visiting the same street as the P4G team did on their tour of towns to base their design of Inaba on https://p4toru.jugem.jp/?eid=17 Fuefuki on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuefuki

    17 min

  2. 27 FEB

    The woman who made Blippo+ weird

    0:00 - My boring question0:38 - What is Blippo+?1:17 - Why does JJ love 80s TV?5:26 - Her analog video work8:19 - JJ's genius made Blippo+ great11:59 - JJ's reverence for her collaborators 14:23 - Giving "weirdos" the Holly wood treatment15:07 - Following her dreams paid off17:51 - My hope for Blippo+ Before I talked to JJ Stratford, I had a really boring question.  Is Blippo+ a video game or a cable service? But she was far more interesting than that question. Full interview with JJ available on Patreon & Ko-Fi:https://www.patreon.com/flowstatecrithttps://ko-fi.com/matthorton Blippo+ is available on Playdate, Steam (PC & Mac), and Nintendo Switch

    20 min

  3. 18 FEB

    2025 was a weird year for games...

    It was a weird year for video games, but here's my favorite moments among the mess. (00:00) - - It was a weird year... (01:01) - - and Roger (01:48) - - Extra: Persona 4 Golden (03:00) - - Dispatch (05:15) - - The Séance of Blake Manor (06:11) - - Unfair Flips (07:20) - - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (08:54) - - Extra: Octopath Traveler 2 (09:56) - - Fretless (11:13) - - Fighting Games (13:36) - - Q-Up (14:45) - - Known Mysteries (16:47) - - Citizen Sleeper 2 (19:19) - - The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy Support my work at ko-fi.com/matthortondotzip's and Roger episode - https://share.transistor.fm/s/570f6f40Brendon on YouTube - ‪@itswavelengths‬ Stephen on YouTube - ‪@MemoryCardManuscript‬

    23 min

  4. 18 FEB

    It's time to admit it. Demonschool is disappointing.

    After 14.5 hours of Demonschool, it’s time to admit that I’m disappointed. (00:00) - - Demonschool is disappointing (01:14) - - Demonschool's original sin (02:45) - - A game that does it better (03:22) - - It's not just expectation Support my work at ko-fi.com/matthortonDemonschool on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/19...

    6 min

  5. 18 FEB

    THIS is how you make a detective game

    (00:00) - - The Séance of Blake Manor (01:26) - - Irish AF (02:14) - - Deduction in Blake Manor (03:09) - - The art Support my work at ko-fi.com/matthortonThe Séance of Blake Manor on Steam - https://store.steampowered.com/app/13... It's two days before Halloween, and Declan Ward has been invited to Blake Manor to investigate the disappearance of a woman named Evelyn Deane. She and a number of guests are at the manor ahead of the Grand Séance, an attempt to speak directly to a spirit rather than through a medium. As the player, we navigate Ward through Blake Manor to solve the mystery of Miss Deane's disappearance, yes, but also to discover smaller, personal mysteries.

    4 min

  6. 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
  7. Losing Control in Consume Me

    24/09/2025

    Losing Control in Consume Me

    Consume Me is an auto-biographical story of a young girl and the untenable pressures she feels to be a success, whatever that means. It is serious, but it is goofy. The game has sad moments, but it’s not somber. Far more often, it’s really funny, chronicling Jenny’s young adulthood through a series of WarioWare-style mini-games. They are chaotic and funny and messed up in all the ways that real life can often be. (00:00) - - A goofy game about real stuff (02:19) - - Consume Me's big mechanic (04:22) - - What even is this game? (06:03) - - It starts out fun... (08:42) - - The breaking point (12:46) - - The broken ways we seek control (16:08) - - Consume Me is extremely well-made Consume Me releases Sep 25, 2025: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2359120/Consume_Me/Music in the video is by Ken "coda" Snyder, including some music from Consume Me Support my work at https://ko-fi.com/matthortonRead more at https://matthorton.live

    17 min

  8. 26/08/2025

    It's A Miracle Fretless Got Made

    Subscribe to Flow State: https://youtube.com/@flowstatecrit (00:00) - - Fretless has a magic (01:41) - - What is Fretless? (02:42) - - Getting QTEs just right (09:15) - - The musical theme of Fretless (16:27) - - The game is great! And that's it. (19:32) - - Fretless almost didn't get made There’s a magic in the game feel of Fretless, and it’s immediately noticeable. Quick-time events in battle form the foundation of this game's incredible game feel. The wild thing, is that despite being a musical RPG from the very beginning of development about 8 years ago, these quick time events weren’t present until about a year before its release. This is a game that had so many chances to fail or be something much lesser. But the team at Ritual Studios were relentless, and they’ve made something special.Fretless on Steam - https://store.steampowered.com/app/2429050/Fretless__The_Wrath_of_Riffson/ Support my work at ko-fi.com/MattHorton Read more of my writing at https://MattHorton.live

    25 min
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About

A show about the games we get lost in

Information

  • Creator
    Matt Horton
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    40
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Matt Horton
  • Show Website
    Flow State