EGX Rezzed 2017 | Rob's Thoughts

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Last year I made the silly mistake of walking up all 78 stairs of fair Shadwell Overground’s underground train station, to the nitty-gritty London surface. Learn from every experience, chums, as Lord Cliché always says, and with that firmly in mind I took the lift and whistled me a tune, before escaping out towards Tobacco Dock. Where was I, comrades? Well, Rezzed 2017 of course…

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By ​Rob
​Holt

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@acousticmagic

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​My first stop upon entry was a visit to Tony Gowland - Ant Workshop’s main man - to sample his new game Dead End Job. The follow up to Binaries is a highly stylised (think 90s cartoon visuals) ghoulish shoot-em-up where you are hired by various companies to sort out their ghost problem. The demo we played was good fun, boasting easy to understand mechanics and controls. Look out for the game next year, when the leaderboards will have us all fighting for the title of “employee of the week”.

Next up was the much hyped, long-in-development Rime. I found the game’s all round style to be a mixture of Wind Waker era Zelda and Journey. The gameplay itself had a very Zelda feel to it; exploring the charming cel shaded islands and clifftops whilst solving puzzles - often using environmental and animal clues - had a real Nintendo quality to it. The only downside was an occasional framerate stutter on the Xbox One build that I played, hopefully the team will have enough time to sort that before next month’s release.

I love a good shmup (see recent release Ghost Blade for proof) and was especially overjoyed to see next stop Aperion Cyberstorm running on the much maligned Wii U! Taking advantage of the Wii U’s local multiplayer capabilities, I jumped into a five player destroy-em-up that managed that winning combination of frantic gameplay and fantastic fun. The single player also proved to be mighty interesting, riffing on many classic space ship games of the past (it felt like the Mega Drive’s exploration shooter Sub-Terrania mixed with genre classic Bangai-O). Keep your eyes on PTC for an interview with developer Apriori Digital in the coming weeks.

My next stop was publisher Soedesco’s stand. Here I had the pleasure of meeting Thomas Tyssoy from Rain Games - the makers of Teslagrad - to talk about the Norwegian gaming scene and to play their new game World to the West. WTTW is a top down action-adventure game full of character and cartoony visuals that builds on what the team achieved with Teslagrad. We look forward to playing this one when in releases in early May.

I also had the pleasure of playing 8-Bit Armies and AereA at the Soedesco stand. Fans of Command & Conquer and pixel art will surely adore 8-Bit Armies and it’s classic RTS gameplay, whilst Musical RPG lovers will certainly care for AereA, too. Both games were charming, and will release later in the year in both digital and physical forms.

Venturing forth from Soedesco’s realm I ducked into Wired Productions section of the show to sample their upcoming console game (already available on Steam) - The Town of Light. A first person psychological adventure, the game tells the story of Renée, a woman trying to understand why she has been institutionalised. The subject matter driving the story forward is not something we’ve seen a lot of in the gaming word, and despite a few dodgy frame drops I’d recommend having a look at the game when it releases later this spring. ​

This was my first time playing a Switch and I have to be honest, I left disappointed; the buttons - triggers especially - were just too damn small for my fat hands.

Next up for me was Nintendo’s own section, and, in spite of being a lifelong fan of the company, I approached with some trepidation. Seeing Overcooked (my game of Rezzed 2016) running and surrounded with laughing people was a lovely start, as was having a quick blast on FAST rmx, the follow up to the excellent FAST Racing NEO. I was after new Nintendo joy though, so waltzed over to have a crack at the other offerings on the table.

De Mambo is a self proclaimed Smash Bros-loving arcade bash-em-up, with local multiplayer mayhem its main focus. I enjoyed the hectic, headless-chicken nature of a four player match, but found myself really enthralled with the single player element of the game. The game presents short, sharp challenges such as pushing items off a stage before the timer runs down, or completing a mini platforming level as quickly as possible. I savoured it's Mario inspired bouquet - keep your onions peeled for this one in the summer.

The rest of Nintendo’s stand left me rather underwhelmed though; Steamworld Dig 2 will be loved by fans of the original but I found it to be rather frustrating. Yes, the graphics were nice, but the game just wasn’t that fun and that’s what I expect from games on Nintendo consoles.

Gonner played a tough game of procedurally generated platforming, boasting an intriguing art style of muted primary colours against black backdrops. I enjoyed it, but it really didn’t feel like new ground, something that resonated through most of Nintendo’s offerings.

This was also my first time playing a Switch and I have to be honest, I left disappointed; the buttons - triggers especially - were just too damn small for my fat hands. It felt quite flimsy too, which was both a surprise and a shame considering how well it has been reviewed on the whole (including by our very own James). I’ll be waiting for a pro controller bundle at a sensible price before I take the plunge.

With that Nintendo fueled melancholy in tow I plundered the stairs to the Unreal Engine showcase, to have a crack at Formula Fusion, a furiously fast racer with more than a slight feel of Wipeout to it. The game looked beautiful; the super smooth framerate highlighting the contours of each vehicle and every bend in the road. Developer R8 are promising a stack load of tracks and content - and online races - when the game launches later in the year.

Pumped full of Formula Fusion techno I hopped, skipped and jumped to the ID@Xbox Arena. I was lucky enough to try many of the games on offer here; from story driven adventure game Blackwood Crossing (review in the next couple o’ weeks, kids) to multiplayer shoot-em-up Full Metal Furies to musical shooter Aaero. There was a lot of decent content here, but one rose several leagues above the rest: Wargroove.

Wargroove is a turn-based strategy game that takes cues from both Advance Wars (it's GBA inspired art style) and Fire Emblem and makes it its own. I played a lot of games at this year’s show and found 10 minutes to be enough playtime for most, Wargroove though was so moreish I found half an hour just slipped away. I’m keeping my flippers crossed that developer Chucklefish get this one finished ASAP, as I’m jonesing for more!

From the green-tinged halls of Xbox I stumbled into the blueish-hues of Sega’s exhibit. Like many I was there for one reason and one reason only: Sonic Mania! Just as expected, the hectic Hedgehog’s latest side-scrolling adventure played as if 3D gaming had never occurred. I myself couldn’t differentiate Mania from Sonic’s 1 & 2 - this will be joyous or displeasing news depending on your opinion/thirst for nostalgia.

​Following on from that taste of the past, I kept my feet firmly in the 90s as I queued to take a swing at Yooka-Laylee, the retro inspired 3D platformer from Playtonic Games. Much like Sonic Mania, the ghosts of the past smothered my senses; from the graphical style, to the gameplay, to the daft sense of humour everything screamed Banjo-Kazooie. I wasn’t massively impressed (though Banjo never clicked with me), so check out James’ review for a more thorough opinion.

I finished my time at this year’s Rezzed with three of my favourite games of the show; sidescrolling action game Sundered, ethereal adventure game Lost Words and stealth/cleanse-'em-up Serial Cleaner.

Sundered comes from Thunder Lotus Games, the makers of the fabulous Jotun. Like Jotun, Sundered features an absolutely gorgeous hand drawn art style that brought to mind classic hand drawn films of the past. The action itself felt like a cross between the great Disney platformers of the 90s (hello Aladdin) and Prince of Persia, whilst also feeling fresh. I look forward to taking on the huge bosses and procedurally generated underground caves when the game is completed.

Lost Words (pictured above) is the evolution of one of my top picks from Rezzed 2016; The Last Word. The name has changed but the quality of storytelling and interesting gameplay mechanics have remained. The game really stands out, not just from everything else at the show, but from the standard independently made swell of platformers and shmups. This year creator Mark Backler showed us some new stages of the game, as you work your way through the diary of a young woman coming to terms with her Grandmother’s stroke. I was left both impressed and deeply moved by Lost Words; keep your eyes on PTC for more from the game, and Mark.

My game of Rezzed 2017 goes to none other than ifun4all’s glorious stealth-em-up Serial Cleaner. From my first sight of the game’s stand - full of smiles and laughter - to my last arrest mid-job, the game endlessly entertained me. The game presents a simple premise: clean up all the dead bodies and blood from the crime scene before the police bust you.

And it’s from this simple premise that the game builds each stage. Starting off small with a reduced map, fewer police and only one body to dispose of, the game teaches you how to be successful in a fun, hilarious and intuitive way. Before I knew it I was using cupboards and long grass to hide from PC Plod, jumping out at just the right moment to scoop up a corpse and canter back to my 1970s station wagon. The aural bombast of classic cop show music only heightened my joy. Pray for Curve Digital and ifun4all to get this one finished soon, it really is that good.

Rezzed 2017 had some wonderful moments for me; from Wargroove to Lost Words to Sundered to Serial Cleaner, several independent devs proved yet again that our industry is thriving from the bottom up. With that in mind chums, I’m off to bed. See thee next year.

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