Sam Machell (he/him) is half of indie game studio Sand Gardeners, known for provocative and unconventional games like Dark Kitchen, Memphis, Bubbleland, and Brownie Cove Cancelled. We chat about the studio’s origins as a webcomic collaboration, designing hostile environments, and the tragedy and possibility of unarchivable games. Later, Sam gives a brief eulogy for the Wii U, sadly taken from us too soon.

You can play Sand Gardeners’s games on itch, and follow Sam on Instagram @sambehindglass.

Sam’s Inspiring Things to Share
- The tragically misunderstood Wii U

Things Discussed
- the Brownie Cove webcomic (partially archived on its facebook page)
- Kentucky Route Zero (Cardboard Computer, 2016-2020)
- Exhaustlands(Sand Gardeners, 2018)
- Brownie Cove Cancelled (2018)
- Kitchen For One (Sand Gardeners, 2019)
- Dark Kitchen (2020)
- Memphis, Bubbleland(2022)
- Unpaid Serenade for Future Solution Group [2026 eCon Grief/Heartbreak Singalong Nightmare/Archive](Sand Gardeners, 2021)
- Feast Work (Sand Gardeners, 2023)
- non-places (Marc Auge’s Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity)
- non-time (Mark Fisher’s Ghosts of my Life)
- non-endings (LeeRoy Lewin’s The Aleph Hustle)
- co-open(lowpolis, 2021)
- No shit, video games are political. They’re conservative. (Josh Tucker, 2019)

Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nathalie, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a loved one and supporting KRITIQAL on Ko-Fi.