PAX West 2018: Bethesda Gameplay Days Was #AlmostHeaven

Yeah… the Copilot Music + Sound rendition of Take Me Home, Country Roads from the Fallout 76 trailer is still stuck in my head.

The song opens with the line ‘Almost heaven,’ which is exactly what Bethesda Gameplay Days just a few blocks away from PAX West 2018 felt like.

If you’ve been listening to Geekscape Games for any amount of time, I’m regularly gushing about one Bethesda release or another (Prey remains one of, if not my favourite games of 2017, and I truly believe it to be an overlooked gem), so putting a bunch of new Bethesda releases under one roof, giving attendees Vault-Tec party hats and noise makers, and offering up Bethesda game themed adult beverages (and bottles of Nuka Cola Quantum for the kiddies… and for me) made Bethesda Gameplay Days my #1 must attend event of PAX Weekend. The company was showing off a ton of stuff, including Rage 2, The Elder Scrolls Online: Murkmire, Quake Champions, Prey: Mooncrash, and The Elder Scrolls: Legends.

Apparently the event was must attend for a lot of people, as before long the lineup stretched all the way down an alleyway and around the next block. The Hard Rock Cafe that the event was hosted in was big, but not huge, so these fans must have been truly dedicated – I simply can’t imaging that the alley smelled very good, and I absolutely can’t imagine that the line went very quickly.

Jake, Courtney, Mikaela, and I were among the first people inside (a huge thanks to one of the community managers who put us on the VIP list), so I immediately grabbed a Fallout 76 themed Quantum Quocktail (a neon-blue, sweet as hell drink that was super freaking delicious), and then saw a giant Vault Boy approaching the tricentennial photo booth. Each of us were handed a cool (and creepy) Vault Boy mask, a Vault-Tec noisemaker, and a Vault-Tec party hat, and then we were able to pose with the Vault Boy in a cool GIF-oriented photo opportunity. It was super cool.

We collected our soft and subtle Gameplay Days t-shirts, and then Jake and Courtney decided to sit down for a bit (and then Jake immediately changed his mind when he saw an empty seat at the Rage 2 demo – listen to his thoughts on this episode of Geekscape Games), while Mikaela, who hadn’t eaten anything yet the entire day understandably wanted to check out the food situation… so I ditched them all and ran up to the rooftop bar to play The Elder Scrolls: Blades before there was much of a wait. Turns out that there was no wait, and I immediately sat down and jumped into the demo.

The demo (which was the same build offered at E3 where the game was announced) gives you an example of two ‘dungeon’ sections of the game, but of course the staff was quick to note that this was just a tiny snippet, and that you could expect to see so much more in the full game. I played through a forest section, and a traditional dungeon area, and regardless of the setting it’s clear that this game is freaking gorgeous. I’ve played some great-looking mobile games before, but the graphics in The Elder Scrolls: Blades felt like they were on another level. Amazing light streaming in through windows, particle effects in the air, detail on the weapons. It looked unreal. Hell, I wish that Skyrim (vanilla) could looks closer to Blades.

The controls were unreal. Bethesda noted that they built the game with gamers of all skill levels in mind, so to move you can either simply tap where you want your character to go, or you can use traditional first person two virtual analog stick controls. Both felt great, and you can switch back and forth between them at any point, without actually doing anything. Multiple points throughout the demo I went to take a sip of my drink, and naturally started just tapping on where I wanted my character to go instead of using the two analog sticks that I had just been using. Combat is just as fluid – you’ll hold either side of the screen, and let go at the appropriate time, to use your sword attack. Alternating between holding the left or the right side of the screen with build up combos for additional damage, and there are several magic options and a block button on the bottom. You can also, again at any point, switch orientation of the device to portrait. The controls will reorient automatically, and it’s just as freaking comfortable to play this way with one hand. This looked cool in Bethesda’s initial E3 demo for the game, but being able to actually try it solidified my need for this game to release as soon as possible. I’m naturally still very curious about the town mechanics, or the story for the game itself, but mechanic, gameplay, presentation, and control wise, it still feels crazy to me that this is playing on a freaking cell phone. You can hear me gush about the game even more on this episode of Geekscape Games.

Following the demo, I grabbed some food (super tasty buffet style, including salads, dips, vegetables, sliders, pulled pork sandwiches, chicken wings, the best strudels that I’ve ever tasted in my entire life, and much more), and then decided to head back downstairs to meet up with the others.

I had so much fun here. It was cool and casual – we were able to just sit in our booth to eat, drink, and chat, and would go off at random times to check out another game peek at one of the panels on the second floor. There were a ton of giveaways over the two days as well, including themed consoles, tables, a Blades themed iPhone X, and more.

A cool souvenir opportunity that I’d never actually seen anything like before was a custom penny press for Fallout 76. You put in three quarters and one penny, and could choose from four designs – after cranking a ton the penny was pressed into whatever design you chose (which apparently was harder to line up than anticipated, as more than one person in our group ended up doubling up). I, of course, needed a set of all four designs, and we also grabbed an extra set to give away on a future podcast, so keep your eyes peeled for that. Also, I thought that it was pretty cool that all of the proceeds from the penny press were donated to Habitat For Humanity.

We all had a blast at Bethesda Gameplay Days. It was unreal to jump into this cool, casual environment, be able to catch up with Jake and Courtney (I feel like this was the first real quality time I’d been able to spend with the group, as Friday I felt like death and we all instantly split up when we arrived at PAX), have a few drinks and some good food, and be surrounded by some fantastic games from my favourite publisher. My hype for The Elder Scrolls: Blades has skyrocketed even higher, I’ve now pre-ordered Rage 2, and I walked away with some neat, original feeling swag, and one of the ever elusive photos where I look genuinely happy.

A huge thanks to Bethesda for hosting the Geekscape team at Bethesda Gameplay Days – our experience was truly #AlmostHeaven.