This marks the second year we here at The Twin Geeks have sent out video game correspondents to PAX East. Murph has gone to West plenty of times, alongside the head honcho Calvin Kemph himself. Not to worry, the land where sun rises and tea is thrown overboard (Boston) has its own coverage. I covered the event last year in our Dead Space episode. I made an intentional effort to go in with a less packed schedule and this has led to some interesting developments. Primarily because PAX East has made some developments on their own.
The primary thing seems to be a shift in the scale of games. There’s less large publishers and even larger indie publishers. This can be chalked up to a lot of reasons (like Devolver going to GDC earlier in that same week) that we won’t get into today. What this means ultimately are a lot of games that seem to “run in the middle of the pack”. That is, they have moderate budgets and goals and marketing. One of the most impressive publisher showings was in the Apogee area for instance, who could’ve guessed? Whatever big budget giant marketing pushes that were there ultimately felt hollow. The Dune survival game’s promise of something really cool but no demo to show for it. It was a stage first and foremost, to remind people that someone IS making a Dune game. What will happen will be anyone’s guess, like sticking your hand in that weird box.
NIRVANA NOIR
Described as a “cosmic adventure across inner space”, the game is effectively a stylistic adventure game that goes between two different protagonists in different parallel worlds of color and shape. The game directly follows up with the events of the first game. The demo at the floor showed the fundamental differences between the worlds. One world was the same as the mostly black and white predecessor, Genesis Noir. The second world is one of psychedelia, it’s a powerful contrast that works well in game. The space of the world remains the same, where players walk the same street, but the puzzles and personality instead pop in creative ways. Trying to converse with a local butcher means having to make sense of grounded up letters to create key words to continue said conversation. It leads to interesting dialogue, both because of your curiosity and creativity. The game’s difficulty curve regarding the puzzles in the demo was also incredibly tasteful.
The one issue I kept running into were technical ones. I had played the game thursday and was told what I was able to do and what I couldn’t because of the issues. My curiosity kept me coming back to check in on the demo and wouldn’t you know it, when one glitch that stops the entire game goes away another takes its place. If these all get solved by release there is sure to be something really special.
The Transylvania Adventure of Simon Quest
A Retroware developed homage to classic 8-bit Castlevania? Be still my beating heart. The parody is incredibly thin, thin to the point of it feeling lacking in inspiration, but at the very least the gameplay is incredibly solid and consistent in that classic video game feel. The level design and combat are on point. The additions and influences from Castlevania 2: Simon’s Quest (are you seeing the resemblence yet?) in the adventure segments that tie into the nonlinear mission format create a fascinating experience. For me these additional flairs of progression and experience help create really memorable titles and at the very least the base gameplay is strong, so I will be eager to check out the full product. I just wish that homages and inspirations were less naked, and instead inspired things beyond basic parody.
Phantom Fury
So I played the original Ion Fury years back and I absolutely adored it. It was essentially a Duke Nukem 3D game (by this I mean it was made as a modern game on the build engine and had a lot of influences from Duke Nukem 3D) but you star as a badass lady cop (yes, it’s copaganda) fighting through a city. The biggest thing I enjoyed about the game was how it created interesting weapons that were consistent and simple on the surface but often offered a nice twist with their alt fire that created interesting gunplay.
Phantom Fury takes the Duke Nukem inspirations a bit literally. When Nukem left the Build engine he went through a bit of an identity crisis. Half-Life and Half-Life 2 became the future for single player shooters like this in their interactable environments and vehicles and other elements. Phantom Fury does not play like Half-Life (very little plays like Half-Life in 2024), but it plays like every iteration and growing pain Duke Nukem Forever took in Half-Life‘s shadow, long before Forever ever released. The interactable 3D spaces and minigames and environments take center stage. The plot is a bit more complex and rich, and the dimension and polish is felt in the gunplay too. This being said, the tech interiors feel a bit to similar to many other 3D sci-fi shooters with the low polygon look at this point. The demo had multiple levels but I was able to fall in love with the game at the desert level. The desert level showcased environments and unique interactable games (such as using a crane to move a junkyard around to solve a puzzle) in a way that felt like it showed me the promise and premise of the game. Seeing people play other levels I would see stumbling blocks such as where keycards were or what have you. Exhibitors would be backseat gaming to ensure the hard to find thing in an environment that looks like a mess would be found. The desert didn’t let that happen. Every interactable popped, and if there was a system puzzle (like say, throwing a grenade under an opening to break an electric circuit), the game clearly telegraphed the solutions to the player in a subtle and not insulting way.
I was a bit disappointed with the demo’s actual gunplay because of how limited the selection was, that was until the desert level ended with receiving Loverboy, the revolver from the first game that allows you to tag and autoshoot six enemies at a time in quick succession. Loverboy sold me on the first game, and it reminded me that even when I feel like this game can be solved I should never underestimate what Phantom Fury has in store.
Animal Well
Animal Well, the infamous Dunkey promoted and published game, is nearing release and I played the latest demo build. It’s good, great even. It reminds me of the Fez era of indie games, and that’s a compliment. The environments and physics feel organic to the world but remain visually striking and also consistent enough to never feel frustrating as a puzzle. This is an incredible achievement, as in most other games like this any of the same mechanics present would drive me up a wall because the game just WOULDN’T WORK. I feel like this is a sure bet for 2024 critically, everyone involved in the project seems to be incredibly talented and believes in their work. So I’m wondering why I’m hesitant to call this best in show? Probably, because we’ve already seen so much of it the only way I can be wowed by it is when I sit down and play the full game. The good news is it will release very, very soon.
Littlelands
Apogee made a huge comeback this year, with a lot of publishing efforts but some of the PAX floor’s best stuff came from the Apogee section. Littlelands is an example of that. It has the visual style of Earthbound meets the Link’s Awakening remake. Everything looks like a plastic doll in a very beautiful elegant way. If this game was just another Zelda clone but with a contemporary child to star as the protagonist, it would be enough to get me interested. The truth is this game has far more in common with Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing than the initial look would have you believe. The Zelda elements provide a base, but the townsfolk and collecting elements evoke strong comfy vibes of cultivating a place and community around you. The game also clearly takes elements from other stuff like Pokemon, I’m shocked that very few games take the route labelling from Pokemon. Labelling routes may seem messy and complicated for no reason, but it allows people to identify narrow and more generic spaces in these kinds of games and enables them to be memorable for everything but the label. The label helps. The demo was only ten minutes long but I feel like all of what I loved about the game was affirmed in those ten minutes. Perhaps this was my best in show.
Wizordum
A fantasy game published by Apogee. It feels closer to a Doom or a Hexen than it does a Duke Nukem but I’m certain this was on the build engine (don’t fact check that). It was fun dungeon crawling, the structures honestly reminded me a lot of Wolfenstein 3D. You start the game with a mace but move onto new magic spells and new opportunities for riches and growth. A great example would be the big orange fireball projectiles which become your standard fire shots, vs the rapid fire ice elemental staff. What I enjoyed most was how easy this game was on the eyes and sense. The bright colors mixed well with the pixelated style and gave a visual distinction to every magic spell. I’m looking forward to the full release.
Unwound
Found at the PAX Rising booth, Unwound is a curious game where you play as a ball of yarn. The rolling around is what gets you to play, but you stay for the writing. It has adventure game elements in terms of having dialogue with creative NPCs and a curious inventory system with RPG elements. The RPG elements aren’t overbearing and make sense for your playtime. The ball of yarn also wears the inventory as you pick and choose. Having googly eyes and gooey arms lightens the platforming. Every minute or so the demo has you experience a new thing or cause a wrinkle in your smile, so in this the demo was a complete success and absolutely sold me on the full game.
Frogun Encore
So I never talked about this on the podcast, but I’m a fan of Frogun. A game developed by Molegato studios and published by Top Hat Studios, the original game had you go around in these little environments collecting little trinkets and avoiding obstacles while trying to make it to the end goal. The eponymous frogun would stick its tongue out and either bring you closer to your goal (like a wall across a gap) or bring an enemy to you. The game was insanely creative and had a beautiful art style.
Encore is a sequel that’s pretty smart about what it wants to do. It’s the same essential game, but it shifts some focuses. In the first game the camera was able to freely move. This led to more awkward stiff platforming because of the way the game played. It became reminiscent of Captain Toad Treasure Tracker, in that the camera was meant to go to certain angles to reveal prizes and puzzles.
Encore refines the platforming. Moving is snappier and more responsive and jumping feels like a breeze. The camera is also fixed and mostly way further from the action. This allows the platforming and other level elements to pop rather than having such design be reliant on camera perspective. It also allows co-operative play between multiple players. This simple change conveys the essence of the appeal of the game but also makes it feel completely different. I will certainly be playing this game on release.
Tarnished Blood
So this is a curious game. It’s essentially a turn based combat strategy game where actions are decided on a timeline. If you’ve ever done any video editing, the timelines at the bottom of the screen should start to make sense. Every unit has their own time during this “turn” and can take different actions. If you jump you can see the trajectory of the jump or perhaps the trajectory of the arrows before you fire. This is all to set up and attack different enemies or portions of a monster. The in between segments have you go to this fantastical village and world tree segment and you start to see the other influences. Primarily, Darkest Dungeon and the later fire emblem games. Essentially, after these adventures you will be pairing units together to sire children, which means future units. The units will inherit both great things and some major drawbacks, in the vein of Darkest Dungeon’s own system regarding party members. This game is absolutely worth checking out and I will be keeping my eye on it.
A Little bit of Everything Else
There were plenty of other titles, what particularly caught my eye was the Urban Myth Dissolution Center, or there were missed connections of games I heard rave reviews about, such as the asymmetrical horror game Killer Klowns From Outer Space. There was a big tank that had the Sandland demo. I played way too much Street Fighter 6 at a stand where winner stays. I didn’t win very much, but I wanted to. There were way more product placement booths this time around. Not just merch booths or some minor things, I’m talking a promotional Mountain Dew stand that took up a portion of the floor. I was able to sneak and get fifteen dollars of Dunkin’ Donuts gift cards at the Dunkin’ booth where people played a mediocre game. I watched people play Tekken 8. That was awesome. I was able to buy books and get signed copies of games I love, and I was also able to play some board games and card games with complete strangers and cherish every moment.
In general, PAX is still an absolute blast. I also got to see old friends and some new faces too. In the end, I left incredibly happy. Yet, there is a gnawing feeling in the back of my mind regarding the future of games, but maybe that’s just all the layoffs we see. Maybe the world is just rapidly changing and I was able to catch a glimpse. Either way, PAX East has been officially moved to May for next year, and in that I’m hoping the weather is better. Because, Jesus, Boston’s weather sucks.