PAX East 2024: Day Two

After the euphoria of the first day of PAX East the second day is one of settling in and trying to really see what the conference has to offer. The layout has been explored, friends have been caught up with and now it is time for some serious exploration of the nooks and crannies to see what I may have missed on the first day.

The nice thing about this event is that there are so many different vendors and exhibitors, I actually found myself wandering to a lot of the smaller shops and game stations to see what they had on display. I ended up buying dice for my friends (an annual tradition), chatted with the Child’s Play folks and heard what Geek Therapuetics had to say about healing through gaming.

Eventually I came back to the games. I had a chance to check out a ton of different ones but a few stood out. Outward 2, Robots at Midnight and Heartworm were some of the more interesting ones I was lucky enough to try.

Outward 2

Developed by Nine Dots studio, Outward 2 was a very impressive experience that I had a blast with at the show. Set in a fantastical world called Aurai, the character is not the “fated one” or a hidden God, but instead a normal human who has to learn skills and magic to survive and thrive in the harsh world.

While I did not get much of the story from the demo, I did get a really good look at the systems in Outward 2 and they were amazing, frankly better than many ARPGs from much larger studios. There are a variety of weapons, spells and skills that you can acquire and learn, which is the main focus of the gameplay.

You can dual-wield weapons for brutal attacks, or use a weapon-and-shield combo for more effective defensive strategies. Regardless of loadout, the combat is varied and interesting with blocks, parries, charge attacks and even an attack out of the defensive roll.

I found the combat challenging but rewarding if I used proper tactics. There were also some spells available that added a fire aura which could be combined with attacks or ranged spells for extra effect.

While the game is very early, it still looked great, and the developer I was chatting with mentioned that there will be a very robust character creation system to add a ton of diversity to the game. This is one to keep on your roadmap, as the team has a lot of great ideas to build on the successful first game in the series.

Robots at Midnight

Another great-looking game I tried out at PAX East was the deceptively charming-looking Robots at Midnight. It’s meant to be a Soulslike experience, and I was warned the game is hard. It was, but also chock full of great moments and interesting battle mechanics.

On a planet that was built for luxury and now lies in ruins, occupied by aggressive robots, the young hero is trying to survive while desperate to learn what happened to his family. On this hostile planet the robots are either indifferent or want to end your life and keep the planet to themselves.

Featuring a truly terrific look and feel, the game is an action RPG that focuses on quick blocks and parries combined with skills and items to take out enemies. As you explore the world, you learn more combat and traversal skills, so the game continues to evolve.

On top of the standard enemies there are occasional boss fights that challenged me to really try to learn patterns to time my blocks and strikes for maximum effectiveness. There was something truly satisfying about getting a perfect block and then following up with a flurry of blows on the massive boss.

The game is still fairly early with no release date announced, but what I saw was very promising. Robots at Midnight will be available on Steam once it’s released, and I hope they show us some more before release as I enjoyed my time with this game.

Heartworm

Set in the style of ’90s action horror games like Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and Dino Crisis, Heartworm was something I wanted to get my hands on at PAX East 2024. Following a young woman who wants to learn what happened to someone she lost as she travels to a mysterious house, Heartworm had serious horror vibes.

The presentation is in true retro style, even including “tank” movement controls as the default schema. Shuddering as I remembered early Resident Evil games, I swiftly changed to modern controls.

Once in the game I was impressed with the devotion to the legacy-style look and feel and the cheesiness of the dialogue that enhanced that effect.

As in any other survival horror game, the goal is to explore, solve puzzles and progress through the house. Once you reach a certain point in the demo the action starts, with enemy figures you can stun and avoid with flashes from your camera.

There are no guns in Heartworm; instead the camera is the tool to avoid enemies and perhaps more as the game progresses. It’s a neat twist and I have to say the style of the game won me over despite the low-fi presentation.

Releasing in 2025 on Steam, Heartworm promises a psychologically-focused narrative that already came across strongly in the short demo. There was plenty to like in this demo and the game is one to look forward to.