PAX East 2016: Day 3 Recap
The final day of PAX East 2016 was still a jammed packed day with fans and events to fill in every last moment. We stopped by our last round of games before making the long trek home from Boston.
Klang: Created by Tinimation and music provided by bLiNd, Klang takes inspiration from Greek Mythos, God of War, Beatmania and Tron, and creates a techo action rhythm plaformer. You play as Klang, the tuneblade wielding rave warrior that breaks free from the control of Soundlord Sonus (Rave Zeus). Players have to time attacks, jumps and slides to the beat of the songs and beware of the every challenging surroundings. In the demo, the first few stages introduced the main mechanics of the game at a easy pace, while the last stage took all of our concentration to focus on attacking enemies, dodging laser beams and timing Klang’s jumps to set up the next attack pattern. The game is scheduled for release in 2016, and is targeted to PC (Steam).
https://youtu.be/pjCUGn5D-DQ
Ayo the Clown: Coming from Cloud M1, Ayo the Clown is a throwback to old school platformers where you play a clown who is trying to rescue his dog. There’s nothing too fancy or complicated about it but it’s a solid platformer and features a fun look and feel. Ayo can use a balloon after he jumps to reach higher platforms and there’s tons of gems and secrets to find in each level. The one strange thing was that in the demo, Ayo is not in a circus environment, it was an industrial factory that actually ended with Ayo jumping into a tank a la Metal Slug. It’s going to be hitting Kickstarter soon, so keep an eye out for it there.
Beat Cop: A throwback to the 80’s, Beat Cop is an adventure game with a retro look where you play a regular cop arriving in a new city and you patrol your neighborhood, talk to the locals and hand out tickets. What’s great about the game form what we played is that it’s up to you how you want to spend your patrol. You can just hand out tickets for parking violations or talk to the local shopkeepers to try and get info on a possible drug ring operating in the area and there’s random events that occur as well. There’s a fun sense of humor as well as it dives into the cliches of 80s cop movies and lots of pop culture easter eggs pop up as well. You can pre-order it now and it should be out this Fall.
Super Russian Roulette: Successfully on Kickstarter, Super Russian Roulette is coming to a NES near you from Andrew Reitano. Using the NES and it’s Zapper, you participate in a game of Russian Roulette with an ornery cowboy, with the Zapper filling in for the revolver. Up to four players can take turns pulling the trigger and drinking is highly encouraged while playing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc67_BrCdPc
We Happy Few: Created by Compulsion Games, We Happy Few is set in a dystopian 1960’s where human emotions are restricted and a drug called “Joy” fuels civilization. The Player controls a citizen looking to escape from the city of Wellington Wells, a installation city that is home to a community of Joy users and a quarantine zone of downers, outcast people who reject the use of Joy. The Player must use his or her wits to scavenger for food, materials, weapons and clothes to navigate the city and find a way out. The game has rogue-like survival horror elements, mixed in a world inspired from A Brave New World. Fans of the BioShock series will feel at home with the eerie environments and cult like hordes of opponents that roam about the areas. The game recently entered it’s late Alpha build, and is looking to launch on PC, Mac, and Xbox One.
Defragmented: I actually got to play Defragmented a few days before PAX started, because it’s out now on Steam and it’s sort of like a cyberpunk Hotline Miami. You play a new resident of a future city and start to unravel the mysteries hidden on it’s streets as you take jobs and infiltrate buildings to gain intel and take out enemies. You can play as three different classes and there’s an RPG style leveling up system which lets you gain new skills. The highlight for me though is definitely the soundtrack, featuring a ton of Retrowave/Synthwave artists like Power Glove and Mitch Murder.
The Mean Greens: A throwback back to the Army Men Sarge’s Hero, Virtual Basement is bringing back the fun times of simple action multiplayer. Up to 10 players can go plastic to plastic in toy playsets, kitchens, playrooms and bathrooms. This was a hidden gem online and was released for PC back in 2015, and is scheduled for release on the PS4 & Xbox One.
https://youtu.be/94QLI1my9VQ
Moving Hazard: Created by Psyop Games, Moving Hazard has a new spin on the typical military FPS, zombies roam in the area and can be used to trap and overwhelm opposing teams and change the tide of battle with tactic zombie pressure. The game is in early access right now and is looking to have a final release in 2016.
While we recover from the adventure out in Boston (And the soul sucking Mass. Traffic Experience), we will be playing a few games we got early access to and announcing updates from the developers as their games get closer to release.