PAX East Picks ‘23: Part 1
With PAX East behind us, we’re finally able to take a beat, sleep for a few minutes, and reflect on all the amazing experiences over the past few days. And of course, what would PAX be without a slew of awesome indie games bursting onto the scene. In this series, we’ll check out some rad games that not only captured our excitement but ones that should be put on your radar for the future.
Wrestle Story
Tic Toc Games
In the newly announced Wrestle Story, you create your wrestler, build a tag-team entourage, and bulldoze through various sectors to bring order back from the Heels terrorizing everyone. During our demo, I was able to customize my character, explore through some of the first area, and experiment with the turn-based RPG mechanics. At first, I was a little thrown off by the dynamic turn-based actions (essentially quick time events to either land your attack, maximize damage, or minimize damage from enemies). However, within two or three rounds, I was identifying type weaknesses, strategizing efficiently, and already planning two moves ahead to powerdrive those enemies. Though I’m not an avid wrestling fan, I still had a great time and saw the potential for getting sucked into this comically goofy and hilarious world. Kyle, Content Manager for Six One Indie, is a big fan of wrestling and commented that there are tons of little Easter Eggs and nods that likely went over my head. Wrestle Story has no release date for its release on PC.
In Frank and Drake, you play as two characters who are both roommates and seemingly never meet. Frank, the superintendent of an apartment building is focused on keeping things afloat not only for himself, but for the people around him. Drake sleeps during the daytime and emerges from his room at night in comfort. The game itself plays like a modern point-and-click adventure game, but also has a plethora of branching options that can change the events that occur within your game. Additionally, I was really impressed by the rotoscoping visuals of the characters - playing a lot with the differences in the main characters moving compared to the static visual of the world around them. Though the demo was only 30 minutes, it immediately hooked my curiosity of who these characters are, how their relationship will develop over time, and what other subtle nods could occur with the paranormal undertone. Frank and Drake has no release date but is scheduled for PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox.
In the world of Capes, the supervillains won. Twenty years later, these supervillains have created a dystopian city where super powers are a crime. Capes is a turn-based strategy game where you build out a team to fight the evil and take back the city. In the demo, I saw some cut scenes that were still a bit in development, but despite this, I was hooked on the lore and character conversations. It was especially refreshing to get some new takes on the superhero genre without it being directly related to an existing IP. The turn-based combat, though simple on the surface, offered plenty of depth and certainly did not hold back any punches. I was on the edge of losing for a lot of it, but it only encouraged me to hone in on a strategy, implement character abilities mindfully, and within a few rounds, I was on the winning side. Capes is set to release on Steam in 2023.
Blade Assault is a 2D Action rogue-lite platformer with fantastic pixel art style within a cyberpunk/ desolate world. In this demo, I was able to play as the new character, Jett. This beastly brute with giant mechanical arms was definitely a powerful to control and crush foes. Each round through a level offered a variety of enemies to defeat. Along with the standard brute force attacks of punching and…more punching, I was able to further customize various secondary effects with the attacks (freezing, electrifying, burning, etc.). As a big fan of rogue-lites, I easily spent 45 minutes on this game, losing time while absolutely having a blast. Blade Assault is currently available on Steam and will release on on March 31st across Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PS4, and PS5.
For more of PAX East impressions, listen to our PAX East ‘23 Breakdown episodes of the Six One Indiecast. And of course, check back here for highlights from the rest of the weekend!
Written by Harry Loizides