Day two: Foul weather has inched in. I walk to the con as the sky decides whether it wants to rain or not. I overhear some authentic Boston chatter (“I remember the first packa cigarettes I ever stole from the Easy-Maht”). It grows steadily colder. ‘Tis a good day to spend indoors.
I’ve got time to spare today as a lot of the group is out wandering Boston. This is a good time to check out the indie titles I missed. I’ve severely underestimated how things have picked up this year in terms of game coverage. The floor space dedicated to game exhibitors has probably doubled (or even tripled). Here’s a Lightning Round of first impressions:
The Flame In The Flood: Newest title by the Bioshock crowd. I know it’s already out but I liked it a lot so I’ll add it to the list anyway.
Dead Before Daylight: Takes the Evolve concept and applies it to a pulpy 80’s horror movie. Four players are survivors trying to outrun and outsmart a Jason-esque monster played by another human. Deliciously gruesome, but the line is way too slow. Next.
Ruiner: Ruined my day (game’s hard, yo).
Strafe: An homage to 90’s shoot-em-ups like “Hard Reset” (the first game I beat for this blog) but with a deliberate old-school look. Told the exhibitor it reminded me of System Shock 2 and he seemed pleased by my impression.
Miscreated: Self-described as a “post-apocolyptic multiplayer sandbox survival game.” Yea, no one has ever done that before.
ClusterTruck: A physics based platformer (“truckformer”) where the platforms are all speeding 18-wheelers and the drivers are all terrible.
Party Hard: Big “Hotline Miami” vibe from this one. You’re a psychopath who murders entire parties while evading detection. Super demented, highly entertaining.
Human Fall Flat: Literally “Gang Beasts” in single player mode, but the dev insists the two have nothing to do with each other. One of the exhibitors had never even heard of the game. Get with the times, guys.
We Happy Few: Back and in a bigger booth. Doing a good job with the unsettling mannequin prop thing they have going on. I predicted last year that it looked super polished and no doubt it’ll blow the hinges off Steam come it’s summertime release.
Below: Returned for another year. Devs say summertime release. Will probably give it a try when it comes out.
I also bumped into Grace and Kylie at the con, so thankfully things didn’t get too lonely. Note to self: Dress warmer tomorrow.