Have we mentioned just how much we love PAX?
The massive, Washington State Convention Center spanning (and then some) expo simply feels like it isn’t about aisles and aisles of expensive merchandise (or hours-long lineups for exclusives that you probably won’t be able to buy), but is instead an incredible celebration of gaming as a whole, with an unprecedented amount of access to the developers that are actually creating the games themselves.
Most of the titles on display at PAX aren’t even out yet, and you couldn’t even buy them at this point if you wanted to. It’s an incredibly varied experience, from gigantic booths for things like Borderlands 3 or Google’s Stadia, to individual developers from tiny companies that genuinely grin from ear to ear when you tell them how cool their game looks.
We absolutely adored nearly every game that we had an opportunity to experience at PAX West 2019, from Final Fantasy VII, to Cardpocalypse, Gamedec to Telling Lies, Roller Champions to Sayanara Wild Hearts, and everything in between — naturally a few experiences stood out just a little more than the rest.
These were our favourite experiences from PAX West 2019, but we played a lot more than what we talk about here. If you’d like to hear more about our PAX West 2019 experiences as a whole, Derek and Mikaela covered their journey in two very special episodes of the Xbox Game Passengers podcast (episode one here, episode two here).
Derek Kraneveldt
In the two years that I’ve been attending PAX West, it has quickly become my absolute favourite convention. It may not have all of the same flash, the bafflingly large crowds, or the comradery of seeing all of my Geekscape buds as SDCC (though it still has some of all of these things), but the simple celebration of gaming culture, and the incredible access that you have to some of these games and developers simply feels like nothing else.
Driving down to Seattle from Vancouver, Canada, I was beyond excited to play Final Fantasy VII Remake, and absolutely expected it to be at the top of this list. My playtime with the game was a wonderful experience (I get in detail in our first PAX West special episode of Xbox Game Passengers) — any fears that I had about the quality of the title, or how unfamiliar it may feel with its new combat system disappeared almost immediately. The only thing that’s disappointing about my FFVIII experience is that it had to end. I seriously cannot wait to lose hours and hours (and hours) in Gaia when Final Fantasy VII Remake releases on March 3rd, 2020.
That said, here are the three best experiences that I had at PAX West this past weekend.
3. Wave Break
The press release for Wave Break basically said that if you were a fan of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater or Twisted Metal, you’d feel right at home with Wave Break.
There really couldn’t be a more accurate description for Wave Break, which Carlos Lopez (yep, from the old Geekscape Games podcast) of Funktronics Labs harkened as a Skateboating game, and as someone that misses the THPS series (which also just celebrated its 20th anniversary this past weekend), there was no way that I was missing out on this experience. From its menus to its already-tight controls, Wave Break is an unapologetic homage to the revered Tony Hawk‘s series, to the point where the QA team for the original THPS showed up at Funktronic’s PAX booth and told the team how much they were loving the game.
Wave Break is still under development, but already feels like it has an absolute ton of content. The game features a classic THPS-styled career mode, where you’ll have a list of objectives and are trying to complete as many as you can in a two-minute run. Completing objectives will earn you cash which you can use to customize the appearance of your character (in this case a cute animal vs. a professional skateboarder), to change the look of their gear, or to increase their statistics to make the later, tougher challenges easier (sound familiar?). There are also free play and score attack modes, and even more modes are being planned out.
Then there’s the multiplayer. Wave Break features four-player split screen along with online multiplayer, and even four-player split screen online multiplayer. Yep. Naturally, you’ll find modes like Trick Attack, but there’s also a freaking deathmatch mode. Here, your successful tricks and combos will generate cash, which you’ll use to ‘buy’ better guns that are strewn around each map. Generally, the more expensive the gun, the better, and you use these guns to, naturally, shoot all of the other cute, boat-driving animals that inhabit the level. It absolutely feels like a mix of classic Twisted Metal, and THPS, with the cutesy violence of Mario Kart‘s battle mode, and I instantly fell in love and cannot wait to swear and yell at my friends while playing.
From the content, to the controls, to the varied modes, the expansive multiplayer, and the sick synth wave soundtrack, I’m already in love with Wave Break and cannot wait to jump back in. Wave Break is set to drop early next year on Steam, and with console releases to follow.
Check out the Wave Break official website here.
2. Windjammers 2
For a game that wasn’t even remotely on my radar, Windjammers 2 quickly made a massive impression on me.
I first discovered the Dotemu booth while Mikaela was in an appointment for another title. They had several stations for different games set up around the booth, and at this particular two-player only station, a convention-goer named Greg was looking for someone to play with.
I jumped in, and Greg and I played and played until eventually others around the booth look like they wanted a turn.
Windjammers 2 is a 2D competitive frisbee title, which immediately feels like a super expanded version of Pong or even a modified type of air hockey. The first (and only other) title in the series was a Neo Geo Arcade game that released in 1994. The franchise was purchased by Dotemu a few years back, which ported the original title to Playstation Vita, Nintendo Switch, and PS4 (complete with online multiplayer). The upcoming sequel features some unique, gorgeous, entirely hand-drawn art, new stages and players, as well as a number of new gameplay mechanics.
Each playable character has a special ‘charged’ move, and each character’s stats are a balance between speed and power — more powerful characters will move around the court more slowly, but can throw the disc much more quickly, and vice versa. Players need to win two ‘sets’ to win, with matches lasting typically just a few minutes each. Your goal is to have your opponent either miss catching the frisbee (certain shots will bounce the disc off of your opponent, and they’ll have to try to recover it) or to send it flying past them — sending the disc into the upper or lower portions of the screen is worth three points, while right down the middle is worth five, with 12 points winning the set.
Windjammers 2 was pure fun, and completely addicting. After Greg and I parted ways, I returned to the Dotemu booth with Mikaela as soon as I possibly could. For the rest of the weekend, legitimately every time we were on the sixth floor (which was a lot, this is sort of the ‘indie’ focused floor of the expo, and just had so many amazing titles on display), the first thing we did was play a match or two of Windjammers 2 — I probably played north of 20 matches over the weekend. Mikaela bought a hat, we keep talking about it, and we simply need more Windjammers in our lives.
Windjammers 2 is set to launch on PC and Switch later this year. You can learn a little more at the game’s official site right here.
1. Panic’s ‘Playdate’
Yeah… this isn’t so much one game, but a whole new experience that I simply can’t get out of my mind.
Panic has been around forever, and spends most of its time making pretty slick Mac applications, while also occasionally dipping their toes into gaming by publishing titles like 2016’s Firewatch (read my review here), and the hilarious-looking upcoming Untitled Goose Game.
Now they’re diving in headfirst, not only into more games, but into a beautiful, super niche piece of gaming hardware called the Playdate. It’s hard to believe that in 2019, with the titan that is smartphone gaming, and not to mention the incredible success of the Nintendo Switch, that a unit like this can even exist. It remains to be seen just how successful the Playdate can be, but I certainly hope it is because it’s so freaking cool.
The Playdate is a tiny (like it can hide in your shirt pocket and nobody would know until you take it out which definitely exactly happened when I was meeting with Panic’s Greg Maletic) strikingly yellow, super simple handheld console. Control wise, it’s just a d-pad, A and B buttons… and a crank that developers can use as an input if they so choose. The unit utilizes a black and white display with a surprising amount of contrast (seriously, I was skeptical about this display but it looks great), has a surprisingly loud mono speaker, charges via USB-C, and also features wifi and bluetooth so that new games can be downloaded to the unit. They’re not talking about battery life quite yet, as the thing is still in development and it changes depending on the firmware that it’s running, but I was told that it should be quite good. The Playdate looks and feels like this weird retro futuristic device, and once you lay your eyes on it… it’s pretty hard to stop staring.
When you buy it for $150, it includes the unit, and a ‘seasons’ worth of 12 games — every Monday for 12 weeks, a new game is automatically delivered to the Playdate. Panic is partnering with a number of celebrated game designers including Keita Takahashi (who created freaking Katamari Damacy), QWOP designer Bennet Foddy, SpellTower creator Zach Gage, The Last Rocket creator Shaun Inman, and even more that have yet to be revealed, and that’s just for its first season. Naturally, further seasons will depend on the success of the unit, so Panic isn’t promising anything further just yet.
Panic had a pretty massive booth on PAX West’s crowded sixth floor (chock full of other indie darlings), and it was exciting to see how psyched people were getting just to spend a few minutes with the Play date. The game that was on display was designed by Keita Takahashi, is called Crankin’s Time Travel Adventure. This game uses only the crank as an input. The direction that you turn it either progresses or rewinds time, and certain elements like butterflies or birds or pigs that are all intent on killing you, are not affected by your time travel, so you essentially rewind things forward and back to figure out how to avoid these hostile creatures and get to your date on time. Yep, our protagonist just wants to go on a date, and his lady friend keeps getting mad at him for being late (I feel like if he just explained to her the situation she’d probably be alright with his tardiness). I played through seven or eight levels, died a lot, and had a lot of fun with it. Turning the crank (at least for this game) feels completely natural (though not quite as lubricious as something like the Apple Watch crown — the company did note that the device is still a prototype and is expected to change a bit before its final release).
Honestly, as soon as the device was in my hand I fell in love with it. I’ll absolutely be ordering a unit when it goes up for pre-order later this year, and will be eagerly awaiting its 2020 launch.
To learn more, head to the gorgeously designed play.date for more info.
Honorable Mentions: The Suicide of Rachel Foster, Gamedec, obviously Final Fantasy VII Remake
Mikaela Maxwell
3: Windjammers 2
My third choice was a difficult one. The first two titles stood out to me from the moment I picked up the controller and I knew they would end up on my list (and later will end up in my home), but the final choice is so difficult because we legitimately were able to spend time with so many super fun games! If you want to hear about the other games, definitely take a listen to all 3 of our special PAX episodes of the Xbox Game Passengers podcast.
In the end, Windjammers 2 seemed like the most obvious choice because it’s the one game we went back to several times throughout the weekend just to get a few rounds in. Honestly I would have played it even more if other pesky PAXers weren’t waiting patiently behind us to get their hands on it as well!
I don’t know if this is an actual sport, but the basic set up is that two characters (like you and your friends on the same couch) face each other on a tennis-like court and are tasked with throwing a frisbee back and forth, trying to use force and angles to get past the other player and score on them by hitting the back wall or letting the frisbee drop on their side of the court. Sounds pretty simple right? Yeah, that’s cause it is… and so much FUN!
Each round probably lasted a couple minutes (maybe cause we weren’t super great at it?), and I lost probably 90% of the time, but oh my goodness was it ever a blast. Every time a match ended I immediately demanded that we try again in hopes that I would finally get my victory (which I think actually happened once or twice). If this isn’t a real life sport yet, it definitely should be!
The art is colourful, fun, and poppy (and hand drawn). It feels like a throwback to the 90’s in all the right ways. There was music I’m sure, but my competitiveness got in the way of me hearing it. The booth had great merchandise for sale, and I even picked up a sweet sweet Windjammers 2 hat.
Developer: Dotemu
Publisher: Dotemu
Launch: 2019
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows
2: Spiritfarer
It’s basically Stardew Valley on a boat!
But also there are spirits who need you to help them with their final wishes to journey into the beyond.
This game is made up of cartoonish 2D Art, with light bright colours, and still managed to feel so gentle. There are definitely some Studio Ghibli vibes (I say without ever having watched a Studio Ghibli film…). The rain was definitely a highlight for me in the animation department (as it so often is).
Another highlight was the characters; all of the characters are super cute and pretty. The toad inflates his pouch when you talk to him in the most endearing way. The deer is super beautiful and elegant. The cat, who is your constant companion throughout the game, is also totes adorbs, especially when it jump off the top of a building and its fur becomes wind blown so it looks like a giant puffball!
I played my half hour demo with Jo-Annie Gauthie, the art director at Thunder Lotus. She played as the cat and I as the main character Stella. One thing I really liked about this game is the way it is designed to flow easily between single player or couch co-op. You can play on your own and the cat will be your helpful sidekick without needing direction, or you can add another controller at any time to play with a buddy who takes over control of the cat!
The boat basically acts as a place for people to stay once they have become a spirit. While on the boat they ask for your assistance to complete their last wishes, allowing them to feel safe/secure/fulfilled so they have the confidence to take the next step into the afterlife. As you play through the game you end up with a bigger boat to accommodate your growing needs. The boat is basically a little village, everyone has their own accommodations, and there are spaces for gardening, cooking, fishing etc.
The overarching ‘quest’ is whatever the particular spirit you are working with at the time has asked for. For me the character I was assisting was a snake who wanted to have a specific type of house built for them (on the boat) and to return to an old home in order to retrieve a long lost necklace. To do these things you must ride the boat to whatever location has what you need. While waiting for the boat to arrive in that location you go about boat life cooking, fishing, daily living etc.. But you also get to play different fun mini games. For example we played a mini game where you ran around the boat chasing lightening during a storm, in hopes of acting as a lightening rod via your glowing belt thing. It sounds simple but is a surprising amount of fun!
Spiritfarer was different than I expected. I went in thinking it would be super mellow and mostly about the dying process, and it was both of those things… but it’s also a super engaging management game, that has you constantly working towards your next small (and big) goal. I can see myself playing ‘just one more day’ of Spiritfarer for a very long time!
Developer: Thunder Lotus Games
Publisher: Thunder Lotus Games
Launch: 2020
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, Linux, MacOS, Xbox One
1: Liberated
I looove this game!
It’s an interactive noir graphic novel which allows you to read/watch through it in a top down way, but every few panels you are pulled into the action and have to control the character to get to the train on time or hide from the cops etc.
Somehow you are made to feel like you are both experiencing a graphic novel and a video game at the same time. Mind blowing. I don’t know if this has been done before, but I know for sure this was my first time seeing anything like this!
I am totally into the art style, don’t know what it’s called, but it’s all black and grey and blocky. Again, the rain was a stand out for me; the rain was really neat — it was these broken up white streaks coming down the screen, if I remember correctly, it wasn’t confined to the comic panel either, but took up the whole screen. And the art style really compliments the story they are telling.
The controls are really straightforward, which I always appreciate, and the game walks you through how to use them really well. There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of complicated button sequences to remember, which I found very helpful, and it makes the game feel very accessible to everyone.
In the part of the game I played the character gets a notification that his ‘Citizen Credit System’ account is down too low so the police are coming for him, it’s basically a MeowMeow Beanz (nod to Community lovers everywhere) score keeper of people, and is similar to the idea of scoring people from that black mirror episode Nosedive. I thought it was a neat little detail that every time you walked by an advertisement billboard it would light up for you, I am assuming with an advertisement meant specifically for your character. However, once your Citizen Credit System account was too low it would turn to a screen about your citizen credit score and tell you to report to the police.
The storyline seems to feel all too real and conjures some scary imaginings of what could be in our real life near future. Which also makes it a really good starting point for a conversation about human rights and liberties.
From the small taste I got while at PAX it seems you begin playing Liberated as a character who is rebellious and wanting to change the system, whose CCS is low and is requiring him to outrun the law. In a neat twist it turns out as you play through the game you play as various characters, all on different sides of the same issues. You start out playing as this guy who is trying to buck the system, and in the next chapter switch over to a character who is part of law enforcement, trying to keep everything in line for the society he values to keep ticking along. I love this idea, letting go of the concept of right vs wrong and being forced to explore the same issues through the lens of people with vastly different values! What a great way for us to learn how to try and understand each other.
I’m so excited about this concept and I hope it takes off. Graphic novels as video games makes so much sense in this way and I want to see where this idea goes. And to top it off this Liberated is taking relevant subject matter and making it accessible. Can’t wait for this badboy to hit my console.
Developer: Atomic Wolf & L.inc
Publisher: Walkabout Games
Launch: When it’s ready, hopefully early 2020
Platforms: GOG, Steam, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Playstation 4.
We had a total blast this year at PAX! Again, be sure to check out our PAX West 2019 special episodes to learn even more about our amazing experiences!