The weather has cooled today. I walk with Andrew to the convention with my duffel bag in tow. I’ll be heading to my train straight from the con this afternoon. Andrew’s bus departs earlier than my traim.
Our first stop is to check out TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge, which already has a line forming for it. It’s a very faithful successor to the TMNT arcade games of the NES and SNES. The art style is phenomenal. It looks great and controls well too.
Also, the shelf in front of us completely collapses as we start playing, spilling hand sanitizer and a bottled water onto the floor. Yeah… no idea.
While at the booth I realize this is also the same place that I played War Stride Challenges on Friday. Each level is a short, timed challenge where you need to slide and bunny hop through the level while killing enemies. The course times are pretty challenging but it felt incredibly satisfying beating them after several rounds of practice.
Andrew wants me to check out a game he saw at the Tiny Build booth yesterday: Justice Sucks. It’s advertised as “Tactical Vacuum Action”.
You play a rumba that needs to neutralize intruders breaking into your home by hacking smart devices and turning them into deadly weapons, and then clean up the copious blood spills. You hide by going under couches and beds. Very clever, I gotta say.
At this point I break away from Andrew to go find some place to sit – three days walking across hard concrete and my feet are killing me now.
But my journey is interrupted when I stumble across a magical sight: There’s a Limited Run Games booth here at the convention! RIP my wallet.
I text Chris, Alfred, and Randall for requests. Randall has been waiting on Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties, which they say is still on its way. His other requests are met with an emphatic “no”, however.
Alfred requests After Party and VA-11 Hall-A (“Vallhalla”) for Switch, and I pick up some games for myself as well.
So tired. I head upstairs for lunch and a nap. While eating, I notice a game trailer for The Courier being played on a television. That was another game I played on Friday too. The game consistently froze every time I accepted the first quest (forcing me to kill the process and restart the demo executable), so eventually I ignored the quest and went exploring. It seemed okay. I got bored, to be honest.
After a nap I’m not quite ready for the floor again, so I go kill more time in the Console Free Play room. This time I try out two of my unplayed games: No Man’s Sky and Superliminal.
Much has already been said about No Man’s Sky‘s botched release and subsequent redemption. I don’t know, I’m finding my time with it strained and frankly boring. The camera feels clunky, the main quest simply points me where to go next, and the environments are surprisingly ugly. Maybe an issue with the Series X version I’m playing?
Superliminal is not much better, sadly. This is the optical illusion game where you can make objects larger or smaller using perspective tricks.
I didn’t know this game got a release, actually. I remember seeing it revived as a demo a few PAX’s ago. I get bored kind of quickly again. I’m starting to suspect it’s my mood and not these games’ actual fault.
With a little bit of time left to explore, I go check out some vendors for some last minute deals. I’m sorely tempted to snag some more retro titles being hawked here. There is a boxed copy of Earthbound going for $3500.
Sigh. Some day, perhaps?
Andrew shoots me a text that he’s on his bus home, so I decide to make trails as well. Thank heavens I took the train this year – I am in no shape to drive right now.
Come to think of it, we probably could have been doing this years ago. Carpooling from South Jersey is for the birds. The angus burgers from their dining car are also surprisingly wonderful. The Orient Express, it is not, but this ticket was worth every penny.
I’m just now crossing the Hudson River back into Jersey. I’m looking forward to taking a day off tomorrow. My friend Grace texted me while I was at the con – I need to spend some time with her and Chris next time I’m up there. I miss both of them.
As Andrew mentioned in his final text, it’s been a weird year, but it’s always an adventure. It’s weird being here and feeling as though I’ve seen all of this before. Not just conceptually, but like I’ve actually played these games before. The spectre of COVID still haunts the gaming industry.
That’s all for PAX East 2022! I’ll talk to you all next year. Now goodbye forever!