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Letters to the Team / Community Game Recommendations Request (Patreon)

Published:
2026-07-08 15:32:15
Edited:
2026-07-08 15:38:51
Imported:
2026-07

Content

As part of the super-secret project we're working on, we're looking for some additional community involvement!

We have two requests for you:

Letters to the Team

For the super-secret project we're working on we want to hear from you! Write-in to the team with questions, thoughts, stories, favorite community moments or anything that you wanna send us (within reason and safe for work obviously).

Post them right here in the comments or if you want to send anonymously you can DM to us here on Patreon!

We will select a few of our favorites to appear in this thing we're working on.

Community Game Recommendations

We want your game recommendations in a short 1 paragraph write-up. Tell us what game you've been playing and why you'd recommend the Second Wind community check it out!

You can recommend any game you want. Doesn’t have to be a new game.

We will select a few of our favorites to appear in this thing we're working on which you haven't guessed what it is yet.

Thanks for taking part if you do and stay tuned for updates soon on what we're working on!

Nick Calandra

Editor-in-Chief

Comments

Veela

Would love to share a story. How do I send it? Just as a comment?

Steven Thomas

Do you want new/recent games or any game were playing? Are you looking for them to be obscure or could it being the latest AAA everyone already knows about?

Second Wind

Updated the post to answer that question. Good shout!

Second Wind

Updated the post to answer this. Can be any game!

Lil' Cass (CJ)

Thank you for making an online digital space for us to escape to with which we can enjoy our favorite hobbies🧡

Adam C.

Hey, I just want to recommend a game and mod combo that I have been playing for years. Dawn of War 1 (Soulstorm)/Definitive Edition with the Ultimate Apocalypse - The Hunt Begins mod. Truly epic-scale 40K battles in an RTS. The newer Relic games shrink things down in terms of army sizes and types of units available, but UA-TTHB lets you go nuts with Titans among other things, and you can really feel the differences between the various armies. Total War is okay, I guess, but being able to adjust the wargear almost on the fly, the variety of vehicles and hero units, and the base building strats just make it so you get to decide how the battles will be fought.

Chainek

A fun story -- during my first week of game design college eight years ago, I was watching one of Yahtzee's streams and commented that he inspired me to go to college to become a game dev, as I'd been watching him for years and years. He read my comment out loud and laughed and said "good luck with that". I worked my ass off out of spite, and got a job in the industry right after college and have gotten two promotions since! :D TAKE THAT!

Melanie Ulen

Fun story! I have a friend that will set up Minecraft modded servers for our friend group once or twice a year. Every time we play a modded server, as we tend to stick to one or two mods, it never fails that I'll get a random villager in my house and sleep in my bed. Every time (it's been like four times now), they turn into a werewolf when I annoy them enough. I've run out of the house screaming for help every time because it always happens when the server is just starting and I have nothing to defend myself.

Jakob Hjorth Hansen

Recommendation: Crusader Kings (2 or 3, doesn't matter, both are good). The whole freeform of trying to boost your family's standing/ glory, while also tackling the unforseen events that claim your carefully raised heir's life, and leave your with a dimwitted bastard who enjoys hurting people, is strangely meditative as the story unfolds. No real plot, except for what you set out to do, but still enough purpose to keep it from being directionless.

Tyraa Rane

Amusing anecdote time: Windbreakers is my go-to podcast to listen to while I do my weekly grocery shopping. Thanks to that, and discussions of Donkey Kong Bananza, I am now completely incapable of buying bananas without hearing Marty say "oooh...banana!" in my head. Thanks, Marty.

Mopman43

Well, if you’re asking. Prodigal is my personal favorite as far as indie Zeldalikes go. It has an artstyle and music reminiscent of the Gameboy Color Zelda games and a bunch of characters you meet in the game that I’ve come to really love. It’s a shorter game, you can get through the majority of the content in ten hours or so, but it’s a fun time and a comfort game for me at this point. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1393820/Prodigal/

Moff Muppet

Recommendation: In Stars And Time. A JRPG about friendship, love, crippling insecurity, and what a soul-crushing nightmare it would be to actually be stuck in a time-loop.

Cameron Gore

Same! I also read Goodnight Gorilla" to my son before bed and have to really try and not randomly say "Ooh, banana" everytime my son points out the mouse stealing the banana.

Ulnarevern

Game recommendation: Stray Gods because a choose your own musical is something we'll probably never see again.

Dr Davis

So this is more a meta-recommendation, but i would love it if we could somehow tabulate all of the mentions of different games across the podcasts. Elden Ring: 423; FTL: 5,432; Obra Dinn: 4,201,130, etc. Maybe even turn the data into a graphic. Obviously a job for an AI summary, one that would probably have to be trained on all of the Second Wind voices. But i always feel like when i'm listening to the podcasts, the name-dropping of games is sometimes lost on me, though i wish i knew more!

Kale Perrien

This is exactly what I came here to say. I know you guys did a little snippet on bytesized but it has an amazing story. Genuinely one of the best narrative games I’ve played in a decade.

Joshroom

Game recommendation - Vampire Crawlers. Been eating up a lot of time recently - really fascinating how they've managed to replicate the addictive appeal of Survivors but in a different format.

VanillaSpooks

I’ve been playing a lot of [redacted] 2 lately, it’s a major step up from the first game. I’ll definitely give it a full recommendation upon public release.

TooManySpreadsheets

Game reco! CrossCode (2018, developed by Radical Fish) is nearly perfect at what it sets out to do: a retro-inspired top-down pixel art adventure RPG with modern sensibilities. Phenomenal combat, tons of worthwhile exploration, brain-bending dungeons, genuinely charming characters, worthwhile side quests with a variety of unique gameplay ideas, and an intriguing central plot to pull you through it all. I learned about it by chance, and it's become one of my favorite games ever! Any gamer who is even a little bit interested in stuff like this should seriously check it out -- you won't regret it.

TooManySpreadsheets

Letter: I know it's a tough to strike a balance between covering major news stories and game releases, but what I love most about SW is that y'all still dedicate time to niche topics and games that I wouldn't otherwise hear about. I've learned so much from watching SW content about how games work as products of labor and technology, artistic expression, and player engagement (I could say similar stuff about film and TV thanks to Darren). It's relatively easy to find critics who have tastes like mine that I can trust to get good recommendations. It's rare to find critics who will actually teach me something and make me appreciate the entire medium more.

TorpedoBench

Game recommendation: Orb of Creation (can be found on Steam) Orb of Creation is a game in which you play a wizard who has (presumably) just destroyed all existence, and needs to recreate the world using the strange orb floating before them. Slowly, you (re-)learn how to do magic, and progress to more advanced and abstract concepts, (re-)discovering different aspects of existence. It's an incremental game, but it's also so much more than that. There's always something to do, there's always new things waiting to be discovered, and always limits that are waiting to be exceeded. The sound track is a banger, the interface is highly informative without being overwhelming, and it was made with a ton of love by a solo dev. I cannot recommend it enough.

Jeffrey

Dear Team, With Yahtzee and JM8 and KC maintaining their nicknames into professional life, what nicknames would you pick yourselves to be represented professionally?

Davsau

I have been playing through Demonschool, which came out late last year. Almost to the end of it. Fun little pixel art Persona like. Great writing. I believe Jenna streamed it on her channel.

Mopman43

Was very happy when it finally got a 1.0 release date.

Inverse Skies

So two things for stories. Firstly I haven’t watched any movies or tv shows in like 5 years. Like at all. I just don’t find them interesting. But despite this I still happily listen to every episode of the rewind podcast as the guys are just that fantastic to listen to. Next I really think it’s worthwhile pointing out how welcoming the discord community is. I’ve been in a few discords in my time but this is the first one that actually feels comforting and kinda like home. Where else could I post about random species of eucalyptus trees, my thoughts after reading a British Nintendo magazine from 1996, or my musings after playing the classic Nintendo 64 game body harvest and feel totally comfortable in doing so? That’s some impressive community allowing all that. Game wise, of course I have to recommend Terranigma. You know, that Terranigma. The 1996 snes action jrpg game that never got released in the us due to enix’s American offices closing but did inexplicably get a pal release. That Terranigma. No one is going to play it, but dammit I’m going to recommend it anyway.

QuesoKentu

Whinge: Yatzhee was discussing Cairn and paths being painted in yellow paint. Made me think why does every game have to treat the player like it's their first game ever? Slowly introducing new mechanics bit by bit so that you're only really full-power samus aran for like the last 20 minutes before the game ends? Metroidvanias are terrible for this. I'd love to start one with the speedboost, double jump, ice beam whatever and then see what they can really come up with to test you for the whole game. Example: the dlc in lost crown was testing, way better than how ridiculously easy the base game was. But it's a tiny dlc, give me that for a whole game! (I know it's for mass appeal to biggest possible target audience but still....)

Space_Pope_253

Just a thank you to everyone. Second Wind videos and podcasts are the fun, warm (well usually... lot's of bad industry new these days) motes of light that keep my spirits up during the work week. I appreciate how thoughtful and kindhearted the staff are. Proud to be a supporter.

Mad Dog

Recommendation - MENACE, a turn based-tactics game well out on early access, inspired by XCOM. In fact, if I were to describe it in a sentence it’s simply XCOM but better. It’s got plenty of content to begin with, and has a great game feel to it. I think this is due to the combination of effectively setting the theme and aesthetics of the game, and sticking to it really well. It’s fun, has a wide range of approaches, weapons, vehicles, equipment etc. I believe it should get more attention, as it feels as though the devs are making it with as much love and passion as they’re legally allowed to use.

Angelnickl

I feel like I will need to post multiple comments, so might reply to my own to keep things tidy. First, A Game Recommendation: "Lisa the Painful" and "Lisa the Joyful" I think they work best as a complete experience but "the Painful" ends in a satisfying way as it's own story. "The Joyful" adds context and more characterzation for important characters. My actual pitch, this game has a moment in it that was the first time I really felt disconnected from the character I was playing. I often played JRPGs or games with "moral choices" as a self insert, but this game gives you choices that are both terrible and often will make the game harder for "playing nice." That being said, you reach a point where you are torturing someone to get info out of them...and it isn't a choice. You can try to walk away, you can't proceed the game, you have to pick up a weapon and start it. I proceed with it, hoping I could stop when I get the info but your locked in. You only have a basic interact button to continue to beat them, eventually they beg you to stop and the character keeps going until you black out from exhaustion after without your input they continue to beat them. This broke my "self insert" part of me, and I was stunned saying "Wow, I guess you are your own character huh?" It haunts me a bit to this day, as most of the game does, but it became one of my favorite indie games of all time because of it. A better pitch, a goofy comedy JRPG that also saddles up with depressing and psychological themes that might leave you stuck in your thoughts by the end. It is both funny and disturbing, I enjoyed it and suffered from it. It's music is interesting and the pixel art does a great job setting the mood.

Angelnickl

My Second Game Recommendation: "Chroma Squad" is another favorite indie game of mine. Basic style and premise is, you are running an indie studio making a super sentai show with your 5 main actors that each have their own roles. Battles run on a grid and is turn based like Fire Emblem or Xcom, each battle acts like an episode of your show and how much money or audience you gain is based on how well you do. You start off making costumes out of cardboard and paper then eventually get to metal and high quality textiles. It is my favorite soundtrack of all time and I think the pixel art is incredibly charming. There is customization at the start for your 5 actors, like their colors and the roles they play. The story takes a fun turn and if you can forgive some dated memes, it is a fun experience.

NEPaycheck

Recommendations - AI: The Somnium Files To be clear, I was not the one playing this at the time. My friend was playing while I sat beside him, but it was the first time either of us had seen it. This closest thing to a fever dream that I have ever experienced. A core gameplay loop that boils down to stare at this scene and interact with the one thing in just the right way to progress. Characters start out looking like a fusion of Ghost in the Shell and Persona. Then transitions to overly designed concept art for a Pokémon trainer. Then we get a random Dragon Quest NPC! Lastly, android popstar built by people who have never seen sunlight! And have you ever thought: “Hey, you know those character portraits you see in conversations? What if instead of creating the illusion of talking with sprites why don’t we animate the lips so when characters talk it looks like an episode of Annoying Orange?” Yeah, this game does that on top of eye rolling dialogue that make the main character seem incompetent and perverted. Now, this was only the first three hours of this, and neither I nor my friend ever finished it. But I admit it wasn’t all negative. It does have this unique feature where you get different reactions from NPCs if you ask them the same question repeatedly, leading to a police officer refusing to speak to you out of annoyance or the main character’s boss threatening to report him to HR. And even with the immature dialogue and bizarre design choices it endeared itself to me enough that, at the time, I wanted to see more. Both due to curiosity and fear of what other ridiculousness awaited.

Sam Pottinger

Recommendation - Afterplace. I can’t believe this ludonarrative masterpiece isn’t wildly popular. Somewhere crossed between Zelda and Undertale, this deeply moving story unfolds across substantial potential for non-linearity. It has heart, deceptively interesting mechanics, and somehow plays like a homage to adventure games from growing up … without being exactly like any specific game. I can’t recommend it enough. I also use it in my classroom. :) Absolutely beautiful.

Zhon Lord

"For Pig Mask!" During the Majora's Mask streams for design delve, JM8 found that he really enjoyed the look and actions of the Mask of Scents, and regularly equipped it in random places for the fun of it. When he got to the end, where you have to give up lesser masks to get the Fierce Deity Mask, J tried to hold on to the Mask of Scents until the very end. It was a very sad moment for everyone when he had to finally give it up. But when he got the Fierce Deity, a poll went up in the chat. To Fierce, or not to Fierce. He set up the poll options as "no way" and "for Pig Mask!" The chat exploded with support for avenging the pig, and after he won and the stream was over, we followed up with pics and memes paying homage to the "for pig mask" (search for images in the Design Delve discord channel if you want some visual references). It was one of the best coming together moments I've had since Second Wind started, and I'm proud to have been part of it.

linaloki

A question for the team: What do you think is the most underserved genre or style of game? I've had some interactions with JM8 about this (I hesitate to call them conversations, they're mostly me pestering him about it until he finally decided to play Myst), but the escape room genre is one that I think should be fairly bountiful and interesting to play in, perhaps even easy to pump out some microgames in, which some developers absolutely are... but for the most part it feels like they are few and far between. So I'm wondering if the team has feelings about any other genres of game they'd like to see more entries in.

linaloki

Oh, and community game recommendation: Valheim I haven't been playing it lately as I'm calmly waiting for the 1.0 release, and I know a lot of people on the team and in the community have said "pass" on it, but I think it would be great to try and get a Valheim server/shared world going once it does the full drop. It's the game I've put the most hours in, bouncing between sometimes grueling combat and cozy game mechanics with a wide range of creative build opportunities, and even though I have several solo worlds, playing with folks and combining creativity in builds (and getting help for the nastier combat areas) has always been more fun.

Denmark

It's incredibly niche, but my recommendation will always be Rain World. A survival game in a completely non-human ecosystem, a game that tells you nothing but hides immense depth. And the thing that initially drew me to it, creatures with animation generated by the game on the fly. It's the best nature simulator I've played, immersing me in a living world where I am but one part of the food chain, specifically near the bottom. Unfortunately it's not easy to get i to, being a pretty cruel game, you have to learn to roll with the punches, because there's no avoiding them. It's also not a game one should play if youre looking for a tightly woven narrative, there's just a bunch of interesting shit to find in there. If you are looking to get into it, try and find someone who's played it to offer gentle guidance

Mirith

I recently played Lil Gator Game and it turned out to be just what I needed in my life at that point. It has such a cute story about family, growing up, and embracing your inner child when countered against work-life balance. Having gone through this recently, this game touched my heart. The gameplay was straightforward and it was fun to explore and collect stuff and just be a kid for a bit and go on an adventure with your friends. It was such a nice time taking a break from being an adult.

Mirith

I remember when Nick threatened me with death during Fall Guys, yet was unable to take me out.

Mr Freddo Renton

In light of the news that Playstation is going to shut down the PS3 and PSP stores soon, I've downloaded Half Minute Hero. The problem with many RPGs is that they take too long to get to the good parts - defending your country, contacting deities and defeating the spirit of Darkness Itself can take 60-200 hours. I have adulting to do. So I appreciate that Half Minute Hero can give you that experience in 1 minute bursts - a new Bad Guy du jour keeps popping up - and the lighthearted satirical writing keeps things breezy.

DodoTigerAlliance

Recommendation: Pathfinder-Wrath of the Righteous. A CRPG from Owlcat games that is extremely well it is written with actually interesting choises and quests.It has extreme AA-jank in many aspects, but absolutely succeeded in everything it set out to do as a RPG. A real sicko game with many numbers and options, but a joy once the initial shock passes.

Antiphar

I'd like to see a metroidvania with a story about aging where they slowly take the powers away instead

Antiphar

There's a game that I've had on my wishlist for ages called An Airport For Aliens Currently Run By Dogs. I haven't played it and probably never will. But every time I go to remove it from the list I hear Marty in my head yelling "DOGS DOGS DOGS DOGS" so I would like him to try it and report back. I secretly hope it's the next Warm Monkey.

LeetleShinigami

My friendslop recommendation is Monk Took Book! Its only a demo right now but something about sorting books, then needing to remember where you put them while being attacked by skeletons scratches an itch in my particular brain I didn't know I had.

Malajester

So my favourite game experience for last year has to go to a 2D cinematic action/puzzle platformer: Enemy: Tempest of Violence. Developed in Switzerland and originally released in 1997 for the Amiga, I think the most compelling paraphrase I would give it is: ‘What would a European John Carpenter action game look like?’ I didn’t play this game myself, but watched an LP/Stream of the entire game run. The pixel work holds up, the atmosphere is great, but I think where it excels is it’s a masterpiece in slow-burn — there are moments in the game that I genuinely think would be phenomenal even translated into film that I have yet to see. The game was also excruciatingly difficult (there’s a manual that was released with the game that gives crucial mechanic details.) It was re-released in 2022 to ease out some of the difficulty issues. It can be played as local co-op (this in no way makes the game easier.) The game is now entirely free: https://www.auralis.ch/cms-anachronia-en/18.php Kotaku dedicated an article about it a few years back (major spoilers though): https://kotaku.com/enemy-tempest-of-violence-is-pure-distilled-batshitter-1846753363

Juicy Jeff

Question: Can we make car combat games great again?

Kasey Schneider

I'd be curious to hear your team (especially Yahtzee) opine on humor in games - in particular why it works sometimes and why it fails so horribly other times. (Context: I recently started replaying Portal 2, and it is making me chuckle. I played through Borderlands 3 - I hope this is a safe space - and while I enjoyed the gameplay, I mostly found the humor cringy and/or actively unfunny.)

KingRaptor28

Is Fumes not scratching the itch? Haven't played it. It's in my Wishlist waiting for 1.0.

Juicy Jeff

I played the first demo before it even had full controller support. Definitely a good contender but I wasn't a fan of the 360 camera controls (didn't like it in Speedfreeks either) or the flat open maps. The Mad Max game probably had the closest thing in terms of feel and style. We really just need a new Twisted Metal or arcade-style spiritual successor.

Nathaniel Goff

Dear Second Wind team, I wanted to take the time to let you know how much I appreciate you. I have been a devoted fan and member of your entertainment outlet since the infancy of your creation. Not that those statements define me, but I feel it is more due to your hard work and determination than to my singular investment. Your efforts to entertain and inform, while expressing opinion conjoined by facts and historical observations, have been nothing but a positive step toward the celebration and improvement of the gaming industry. This is a difficult thing to accomplish, and I want you to know that I appreciate you. Thank you all. Separately, I have a small game franchise that I thought you could examine. Descent 1, 2, & 3. I know that it has been briefly noted in the past, but I thought it might make an interesting talking point for a few reasons. It is one of only a few games I can note that uses massive, multilateral maps in conjunction with 720° movement. In addition, it's also one of the few games that I have played that highlights the use of an old gimmick: the joystick. Perhaps, it might be worth checking out as a retro review? Or, as an example of one kind of gameplay that is difficult to find in modern gaming? Regardless, I continue to be an adamant admirer and support of your works and yourselves. Yours truly, Nathan Goff

Gershwin

Game Recommendation: I'm going to recommend something that I imagine is not your run-of-the-mill usual... a mod to a very old game! A total conversation to a game that is now open-source. Stay with me on this... please. "Apotheosis X" which is a total conversation to Marathon Infinity; but realistically, it's an Aleph One (the open source Marathon engine) mod. The why is fairly simple; the engine is free, the mod is free, the engine is "technically" very old, but what the mod pulls off is nothing short of amazing; it looks, feels and plays (mostly) like a modern, high-quality boomer-shooter. It has a proper, long and interesting campaign, with an interesting narrative and unique weapons. I honestly can't recommend it enough. Did I mention it's totally free? I think I did... On a wider note; I think projects like "Apotheosis X" in general don't get enough exposure in the gaming media as a whole, and I don't mean just for old engines like this, just... in general. There are many professional level projects that turn old and new games into totally different experiences, for free, and I'd love to see them covered in the same ways new game releases are covered. I DO understand the business reasons why you wouldn't do this too often, it's more niche, likely to draw in fewer views, covers a specific demographic (PC games largely, and only a subset at that), but I'd argue you could turn a lot more people towards amazing, freely available content that many people simple don't realise exists, and that's the kind of thing I imagine some at Second Wind might find interesting.

M Vidal

Story - English is not my first language and I struggled with UK accents. Yahtzee's fast paced delivery in his review videos were really helpful both to train my ear and build up my repertoire of English insults. So you can credit your Internet video reviews as educational now

LukeZaz

Probably silly of me to suggest this as late as I am, but it doesn't hurt to ask anyway: I wanted to put in a game recommendation for MotorStorm: Apocalypse, as I've just recently found out it's available to stream on PS5 despite being a PS3 game. Fantastic (and explosive) racing game from a now-defunct company who did *only* racing games, and got quite good at making them!