The RPS team has once again made the trip to London for EGX 2022. There’s a lot to see at this year’s show and as always, we run some of our own booths. The first is the Steam Deck Zone filled with thirty Valve handhelds full of games so anyone can pull up a chair and play. Monday is where weird and wonderful controllers are displayed includes a hugely inconvenient pool table, a digital tree that can grow by controlling the light, and a game where you use the keyboard as a leash.
Besides, the RPS gang is exploring the show floor and here you’ll find highlights of what we’ve seen, who we’ve chatted with, what we’ve been playing and just the best. monster in general. Interesting!
Rachel: I came across my favorite EGX – The Leftfield Collection! There are some games that have been released like great games Dorfromatik, Strange gardeningand Railbound but also lots of new game demos.
The first person I discovered was The Wings of the Sycamore because of its beautiful paper doll art style. It’s a flight simulator set in a fantasy archipelago inspired by Victorian England, and you’re tasked with missions in an airplane. Flying a plane feels great, and the exquisite world of pen and ink is fun to explore. Definitely a person to watch.
I also had a great time playing Unit, a miniature city builder is more of a digital toy than a game. Each level takes a few minutes, and you create adorable miniature dioramas. James also told me about Albedo Approaches Zero, a strange walking simulation game where you wander on an alien planet with strange monuments. Not much going on but its atmosphere is amazing, especially impressive is that it can overcome the noise and noise of the EGX.
The strangest is Telusfax, a game set inside the teletex system of an old television set. Using a giant TV remote as a controller, you’re tasked with browsing through the system’s various menus and lists to find the names of five different TV presenters. I was a bit distracted by being bombarded with various colored texts and menus that I couldn’t find a single one, but I had fun rummaging through the digital internals of an old TV. .
Rebecca: I especially want to recommend a couple of great indie demos that I have to try on Friday. Standee for Love Solution by Eros Xavier enough to make me drag my colleagues across the catwalk so I could take a closer look. I mean, just check that out An androgynous angel cuddled up in a crisp long coat. Totally a Rebecca game.
I was expecting a dating sim, but what I got was something akin to the Untitled Goose Game series, starring a sly little demon rather than a naughty waterfowl. Eros Xavier looks and talks like a detective noir, but the Love Solution agency specializes in solving cases on order. You basically sneak into couples’ homes and mess around with their stuff until they get so annoyed with each other that it’s called a date. It’s pretty silly, although the end of the demo takes a surprisingly dark turn – and offers some lore hints I need to see next. A chat with the developers revealed that they were looking for a publisher, so I’m hoping someone picks it up ASAP so I can find out what happens next!
Clever enough, I almost missed Small bookstore completely, hidden because it is next to Chucklefish which is extremely eye-catching East stand. Still, I’m glad I didn’t skip it, because it’s definitely the fun and charming management sim I need in my life. I was semi-seriously considering becoming a bookseller when I felt the call to write video games for a living, so this was like a glimpse of an alternate timeline to me. . Honestly, I can think of few things I’d rather daydream about than roam the beach in my pickup truck, and help old favorites find a new home.
Liam: I didn’t play much at EGX this year, hampered by my frequent presence of these by a lot of heavy camera gear, but I’m glad I found the time to check things out which was excellent. Wildfrost. I’ve resigned myself to never finding a card game as creative or strategic as my beloved (and sadly gone) Duelyst, but Wildfrost might just be the game I love. this type again.
Breaking away from traditional CCG mechanics, cards can be placed on the battlefield for free, with Wildfrost introducing challenge through the use of a countdown timer each time you select a creature or spell from your hand . Once these timers do not hit the target, the enemy warrior will attack your friend, your goal is to destroy the opponent leader before they can take you down. It’s a gripping twist on the classic Slay The Spire formula, and combined with beautiful animations, gorgeous character designs, and top-notch music, Wildfrost is definitely one to watch. . And I don’t just say it because PR gave me a little pin badge of a naked gnome after I finished my demo.
Oh, I played too Sonic Frontiers and thought it was perfectly fine. However, the six-year-old at the station next to me is having their time, so I guess that’s a really important opinion.
Let’s come: I want to chat about Wildfrost too, but I can see Liam has said some words. In that case, I would just say that Big Berry is the best card. He’s a big, berry guy with an innocent expression, and I like that. I want Big Berry merchandise. The rest of the designs are fun too, but the Big Berry is a personal favorite.
Also, my highlight is beating Liam, Ed and James technically in 6 . street fighter (I didn’t fight James directly, but he lost to Liam and I beat Liam, so he won’t stand a chance). This impromptu Street Fighter contest proved a few things. First, fighting is a kid’s game, and the team’s dinosaurs simply can’t compete. Second, Street Fighter 6 is extremely stylish. Still burly humans fighting and jumping through the air, but with splatters of paint or neon sparks that accompanies every punch, kick and block. Recent preview of Katharine and Ed’s thoughts on modern control schemes both have much better words than I can offer in this short excerpt, so read those and get excited about Street Fighter 6. That’s a good thing.
Ed: There’s a point where Liam, James and I have been looking at the support of a body pillow for a bit. Liam and I even leaned over to get a closer look at the body’s pillowcases (if that’s the technical term?) and flicked through the various anime characters in a ‘relaxed’ pose. We (me) are on the hunt for a Yakuza pillow, preferably Kiryu or Majima to take home and hug. Sadly, that didn’t happen, but I did recognize some of the people in the anime more than I care to admit.
Hayden and I also checked out the Steam Deck for the first time in EGX’s Steam Deck Zone. I think it’s a lot bigger than I expected, probably big enough for the riot police to use it as their next door-slamming ship. However, it is very comfortable to hold and the display is beautiful! Judgement runs smoothly, which is crazy in my books. Also – Judgment on handheld? The current It’s a a treatment.
James: I had fun – perhaps an inappropriate amount of sound – with Morse, a Battleship/Typing Of The Dead hybrid game played primarily by tapping Morse code. It’s also real Morse code, not a gambled estimate, and developer Alex Johansson even built a custom controller with an actual Japanese-made telegraph. This added a lovely, flickering, tactile dimension to the game, further enhanced with a devastatingly satisfying ‘Fire’ button to send the artillery I called in via the dot and dash. Honestly, not sure how competitive playing with a keyboard will be.
A few yards away in the Leftfield Collection, I also love making pottery about Albedo approaches zero. Walking sims don’t usually bother me but are definitely scenes of desolate sci-fi planets, and among the curious star trails and clumps of music dotted around whatever moons I visit. trapped, Albedo Approaches Zero has an empty atmosphere.
Besides, I was just on the side of my body pillow as Ed’s mental support, so I was there.
Katharine: Most of my time at EGX is dominated by demo appointments I’ve made in the previous few weeks, but the best I’ve played that I haven’t signed up to watch is Ninja Or Die, a stunning 2D platformer masquerading as the real thing in the stands of Marvelous Europe. It’s basically a two-button game where all you can do is jump – use the analog stick to draw your trajectory and A to do it – and it’s fast and flashy. Attacks happen automatically whenever you lunge at an enemy, but there are also plenty of environmental hazards to worry about, including lots of spikes, swinging axes and, at one point, a overhang of the chainsaw. It gets a little overwhelming at times, but you’ve finally become one with your jump, using instinct and intuition to analyze the flow of the battle. It won’t come out until next year, but you can give it a try free browser version yourself now if fancy give it a shot.
Otherwise, I had a great time with both Goat Simulator 3 and House Flipper 2. I haven’t played many of the first installments of the game, but these sequels have me hooked. Goat Sim 3 has added multiplayer to the massive sandbox this time, allowing you to share your fun antics with a mate. It also seems a lot more structured than the last, offering plenty of quest objectives for nearby activities as well as a whole bunch of collectibles to hunt down. Sometimes I also turn into a slightly obscene banana, that’s why. Meanwhile, House Flipper 2 has pretty much all featured a full-fledged first-person Sims simulator, allowing you to clean your house while also filling them up with stuff to make things look like that. The physical cleaning action has also been greatly improved, allowing you to drag the mouse around in all directions to paint walls and wipe dirty windows. It’s extremely cold, and I can see myself losing hours on this when it finally comes out next year.
