It’s the final day of PAX West 2022. Our legs are tired, energy nearing empty, but there are games to play so we persevere.
One Piece Odyssey
I’m a recent One Piece convert and have been enamored with the series in the short time I’ve been reading it, so I obviously had to go check out the latest game on display. My demo put me in a short slice of a level that was mostly just a tutorial, but it gave a decent idea of what to expect from the game and its Dragon Quest inspired gameplay. Luffy and crew end up on a mysterious new island and that’s the extent of the plot that my demo gave me. Turning One Piece into a turn-based RPG is an inspired choice and it works shockingly well here. Featuring a rock, paper, scissors system you’ll have to smartly use the right crewmember to maximize your damage against enemies. And in an interesting twist, during battles you’ll have party members separated at times. During my boss battle Sanji and Luffy were fighting a giant ape in one part of the arena, while the other crew members were off fighting some goons and had to clear those out before they could join the boss fight. Another moment saw Usopp getting ambushed by some enemies and the game giving bonus rewards if I got to him in time before he was defeated. It adds an interesting narrative and strategic wrinkle to battles that I wasn’t expecting. I wish the demo showed off a bit more of what to expect in the full game, but the core battle system has my attention despite a few clunky quirks here and there and it fueled my motivation to catch up on the manga before the game comes out.
Gunbrella
The latest game from doinksoft, creator of Gato Roboto, Gunbrella sees you playing as a gruff woodsman arriving in a town with revenge on the mind, and an umbrella that doubles as a gun in hand. The main hook of the game is the titular gunbrella, with it being your main tool for combat and platforming. Besides using it to shoot enemies with, you can also deflect incoming attacks and also use it to dash, glide or ride ziplines. The game’s controls felt pretty tight, as I quickly found myself easily dashing into the air around enemies to avoid their fire and blasting them overhead and then deflecting shots from another enemy. It all flows really well together into this seamless combat platforming experience. The demo had this town I assume will act as a hub of sorts, as it had villagers to talk with or buy items from and ended in this climactic fight against a fleshy beast summoned by the cult that’s been terrorizing the town. I wasn’t expecting the cult reveal either, so I’m curious how far down the occult rabbit hole the game goes but it definitely solidified its spot on my radar.
Anger Foot
Anger Foot is best described as a 3D, first person Hotline Miami and is easily the first game to get the closest to replicating Hotline’s best attributes. Your character’s primary weapon is their foot as they dramatically kick doors down, sending them flying into the room and smashing into enemies, and the game’s thumping soundtrack helps elevate the extreme absurdity of it all. There are guns to pick up as well, and each level is partly a puzzle as you try to figure out what weapon would be best for each part of the area you’re in. Sure you can try to just kick your way through it all, but certain weapons will help make certain parts easier so it’s smart to have that thought in the back of your head while you’re kicking faces in. Completing certain objectives will also allow you to unlock new sneakers that offer modifiers like having doors explode after they’re kicked. It’s all a lot of fun and I just want 2023 to arrive so I can kick in more doors.
The Walking Dead: All Stars
I’m always on the lookout for a new mobile game to kill time with and The Walking Dead: All Stars seems like a solid contender. Taking place in the comic universe, it’s an idle strategy game where you build up your team of survivors and can perform missions to get resources that involve placing your team in strategic positions on the screen so they maximize their damage against the opponent team. It’s nothing too complicated, simply putting the long range fighters in the back row while the beefier characters soak up the hits in front. Each day you can also enter a dungeon for big rewards, or attack other player’s camps in the PvP game mode. I always like playing idle games, but they lose my attention pretty quickly with how little there is to do in them, but All Stars seems to have a lot more to chew on than its peers. Most importantly to me however is how the game seems to respect your time a lot more than most mobile games. My biggest pet peeve is when a game limits what you can do in it through an energy meter, requiring you to either wait hours before you can play again or sneakily encouraging you to pay money to lower the time. All Stars has none of this, with the only time limit activity being the previously mentioned daily dungeon; once you’re done with that you can still do the PvP or main missions for as long as you want. Overall it seems like a neat little game to kill time on your phone with, which is the exact kind of game I look for when playing mobile.
Infernax
Infernax was a fun surprise to see on the floor. I’d been meaning to check it out for a while now, especially after Sean’s glowing review of it, and I finally got my chance. Described as a lovechild between Castlevania and Zelda 2, Infernax takes all the best elements of those two games without any of the bullshit they’re infamously known for. Our demo of the game was brief, but the game hooked us immediately what with its gorgeous art style (jumping between a retro style and hyper detailed) and tight controls. We were told the game also features a sort of morality system where choices you make in the game will impact the story, which the demo has a brief tease of allowing you to choose to either help or slay a crazed villager. We also got the chance to speak with one of the developers and it was fun getting to pick his brain on the game’s influences and some of the development process they went through making it. After finally getting to check out the game, it definitely cemented itself as something I need to play and I’m eager to dive into it more.
