It’s day 2 at PAX West 2024 and the MonsterVine crew is out there pushing through the crowds and leg pain to play all the most interesting games we can find.
RetroRealms: Halloween and Ash vs Evil Dead
I’m a huge sucker for horror in general, and I’ve been really hoping for someone to do something with licensed characters that’s not a 4v1 multiplayer game; enter, RetroRealms: Halloween and Ash vs Evil Dead. A 2D beat ’em up, these are two separate games (Halloween and Ash vs Evil Dead) that are housed within a single hub game, RetroRealms. You start the game up in a 3D arcade environment, and you can walk up to either arcade machine to boot up one of the two horror games. Both games have their own individual campaign, but both share a central gimmick of being able to hop into a “nightmare realm” where you’ll solve puzzles or jump over for the fun of fighting more difficult enemies. Being a proper arcade, you’ll earn tickets you can use to unlock movie memorabilia that you can view, and there’s even a video room where you can pop VHS tapes in to see developer interviews. The nifty thing about all this however, is that you can bring characters from one game into the other, and I was told the goal is to expand the arcade with more games from other horror icons and have all of them able to crossover with each other. It was all a lot of fun and you can tell from all the little details that this was being made by big horror fans. Thankfully you don’t have to wait too long to get your hands on this, as it releases this October. Click here to read our full hands-on with the game.
Homura Hime
My time with Homura Hime was brief, but memorable, with my demo having a simple tutorial before tossing me straight into a boss battle. The game introduces us to our protagonist, Homura Hime, who’s the most powerful exorcist on the planet to hunt down five demons that are running amuck on the planet. I was immediately taken aback by the game’s gorgeous art style, almost distractingly so, as these impressively done effects littered my screen during my battle with the demo’s boss. Part stylish action game, part bullet hell, my single instance of combat was with an imposing skeletal creature that really put me through my paces, even with my experience with the genre. A bit into the fight I started getting flashbacks to my time playing Furi, as the boss began firing patterns of energy balls that I then had to dodge all while dealing with the boss who was still actively attacking me. It turned into a thrilling exchange of defense and offense as I bounced between the two whenever I had a chance until I was finally able to best the creature. I only wish I had gotten to see more of the game besides this one boss fight, as I’m all too eager to fully dive into it when it releases next year.
Nitro Express
Listen, you give me a 2D action game with 360° shooting movement and my butt is in that seat. In a near-future society, drones have become part of our normal lives but when their programming causes them to go rogue and harm civilians, the Atypical Vehicle Disposal Squad is sent in to dispose of them. Playing as one of these officers, my demo tossed me into a mission where a swarm of rogue machines were wreaking havoc on the city, and after a quick stop in the armory to customize my loadout, I went to scrapping some metal. I immediately got Metal Slug vibes, helped in part by Nitro Express’ gorgeously rendered pixel art, but more as if Metal Slug’s speed was cranked to eleven. Robots are flying at you fast and you’ve got to move quickly to not get hit, which unfortunately from my demo was a bit more difficult due to the framerate stuttering quite a bit; the game isn’t due till next year however so I’m hoping it’ll be touched up by then. But when the game was hitting, it really was a blast to shoot apart robots and the brief story segments between missions were humorously cute as you and your partner bantered with each other. There’s no hard release date on it yet but you’ll be able to dive into the game sometime next year.
Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind
I’m a huge sucker for a good beat ‘em up, more so if you tell me the goddamn Power Rangers are involved with it. Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind is the dream Power Rangers game I’ve been praying for years for (besides a Musou game) and my (unfortunately) short demo had me hungry to play more. We were able to get a full team of four during our time (we were told you can get five total for a full ranger team) and we just went to town beating up on putties before eventually ending our demo facing off with Goldar. The game is rendered in this gorgeous pixel art, with an appropriate scanline filter applied to the whole thing, that all just perfectly captures the energy of that original show. I have a lot of gripes with games in this genre that refuse to modernize, and thankfully Rita’s Rewind is helping push the genre forward by giving it some snappy as hell combat and just enough genre forwardness to not have it feel like a clunky throwback. Our demo unfortunately ended right before we could try the Megazord gameplay, but thankfully we won’t have to wait too long with it releasing sometime this year. Click here to read our full hands-on with the game.
Olliefrog Toad Skater
I’m a sucker for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, and also cute frogs; combine the two and you’ve got me hooked. Olliefrog Toad Skater is exactly what it seems, an arcade-inspired skateboarding game where you and your friends can play as cute frogs that you’re able to dress up in costumes. While there’s a career mode, I only got to play in the free-play and the game was satisfyingly snappy, as I quickly was able to get my little dude to be hitting 900s and nailing grinds. Altogether, it was a really cute demo, and can’t wait to see more of it.
Mr. Sleepy Man
This right here man, this is my kind of shit. I took one glance at this booth and had to park my ass down to play it and I’m glad I did because Mr. Sleepy Man might genuinely be my favorite thing from the show. The gist is simple, you play as a sleepy little dude who’s up way past his bedtime and ends up in Bedtime Town with the only goal of being an absolute nuisance. My demo popped me out on a portion of the town, and being a 3D platformer where interactivity and discovery are key, I was encouraged to poke my head everywhere I could and grab anything I wanted. I immediately started making myself as much of a nuisance as possible, as I stole donuts from cops or annoyingly smacked people around. I was eventually tossed into jail for being a pain to the town citizens, which is where my demo prematurely ended, but I had a blast the entire time laughing at every little hidden joke I could find. I was also able to play a sort of interactive music video stage, that was just delightfully absurd in the best way possible. Unfortunately, while there was no solid release date, I was told 2025 is very likely which is good because I genuinely can’t wait to play more of this silly game.
Bad Cheese
I walked by this booth a couple of times during the show. It’s a legally distinct Steamboat Willie knockoff that was daring me to come to play it, so play it I did. What I got was a royalty-free fever dream as I played as not-Steamboat Willie, and had to explore a decrepit mansion to find pills for “daddy” who was this horrifying, The Thing-inspired blob of flesh that was a mixture of Goofy and Pluto. It was all very funny, and only slightly uncomfortable as the not-Goofy/Pluto whispered in my ear to get “daddy’s pills”. I wish I could give a release date, or literally any other info but there’s absolutely no evidence of this game existing on the internet and I’m beginning to wonder if I just had a fever dream about this game.
