{"id":23668,"date":"2022-08-29T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-29T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vgu.tv\/?p=23668"},"modified":"2022-08-28T21:28:07","modified_gmt":"2022-08-29T01:28:07","slug":"back-2-pax-the-best-games-of-pax-east-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vgu.tv\/?p=23668","title":{"rendered":"Back 2 PAX! – The Best Games of PAX East 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Disclaimer: I wrote this over the course of many months.<\/em>
I know it’s late, but writing this annual feature is a tradition for me, and I couldn’t miss it.<\/em>
Thank you for understanding and reading nonetheless!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ahhh, the Penny Arcade Expo. Good old PAX. Where else can you get your hands on multiple unreleased games, eat some of the most delicious food truck fare in the world, and watch as a man runs behind a Mario cosplayer, shaking his hat at him and yelling \u201cMario! You dropped this!\u201d What a beautiful place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It was great to finally be back to PAX East! As you may know, this Bostonian convention was the last big event I laid eyes on before COVID reared its ugly head in 2020. After moving it online last year, PAX East felt ready to return this past April, and while the nostalgia feels were there in full force\u2026 I can\u2019t say the same about the games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, I was able to play exactly 10 games at PAX East this year, and today I\u2019m going to let you know all about them! Also, for your viewing pleasure, I shall scatter in some footage from my trip, previously exclusive to our VGU Snapchat (which you should go follow immediately for future reference). As always, this list will be in no specific order, just a hodgepodge of what I saw and what I felt about what I saw. Let\u2019s get to it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Credit: Steam<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cursed to Golf<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My feelings on Cursed to Golf<\/em> are not what were intended when I entered that line queue. I had seen this game in some digital showcase before and I had a pretty good idea of what to expect: the \u201ccritically-acclaimed\u201d Golf Blitz<\/a><\/em> mobile game turned into a fully-fledged console game, complete with a story and characters?? Sign me up! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, this still seems to be the case, however I did not get a taste of this pie for myself. Instead, I took a wrong turn after waiting nearly a half hour to play, and I ended up wasting my demo in the training room. So as I hit balls around a wide side-scrolling locale into holes that delivered no satisfaction (stop), I tried my best to take in the atmosphere of Cursed to Golf<\/em> and make myself fall in love with its premise. I did get to see how the game used a card-based system of upgrades for the golf balls, including rocket shots you can aim and multi-balls. I\u2019d be lying if I said the game wasn\u2019t fun to play and really enjoyable to look at. I just wish I\u2019d known what I was doing! Luckily, Cursed to Golf<\/em> is out now on all platforms, so I can give it another shot!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Credit: Steam<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Shredder’s Revenge<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next three games are also special because you can play them right now<\/em>! That\u2019s the perk of procrastinating on this list and releasing it so late! To be honest, these games coming out so fast surprised me a lot, but I think they were sufficiently ready to go gold, from what I saw! If you\u2019re not familiar with Shredder\u2019s Revenge<\/em>, the game was made by Tribute Games and is meant to harken back to the good old days of arcade beat \u2018em ups. I won\u2019t go into crazy detail, as you can literally see it for yourself now on game pass, but according to our very own Josh Miller – certified turtle superfan – the game is extremely faithful to the feeling of games like Turtles in Time<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The game supports local and online co-op for up to 6 players, and I can\u2019t express enough how fun it is. From the fluid combat to the comic book-style visuals to the incredible detail in both the settings and the background characters, Shredder\u2019s Revenge<\/em> is truly a labor of love, and it shows<\/em>. Don\u2019t miss out on this one!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Credit: The Day We Fought Space<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Day We Fought Space<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following my tried and true PAX formula of \u201clook for any open controller and go<\/em>,\u201d I found myself playing this little gem on an iPad in the middle of the convention floor! The Day We Fought Space<\/em> follows a crew of space travelers as they take on a hostile force from the stars. Players are tasked with building a ship and taking it out on side-shooting adventures (think the flying segments from Cuphead<\/em>) complete with intricate tap controls. Fly with one hand and shoot with the other, using various gestures like pinching to focus on targets, for example. Throughout the levels, you can start to really dive into ship customization, by which I mean not only the color and style, but also the perks that your vessel has on offer. From ammo and shield boosts to add-ons that attach passive melee weapons to your already well-equipped gun-toting bringer of death, the game is packed with enough content to keep the action feeling fresh for quite some time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I said before, The Day We Fought Space<\/em> is out now on mobile stores, and it only costs $5. Here I was thinking paid apps had gone the way of the dodo, but I’d happily pay this small fee for such a unique adventure to the stars. Did I mention the art style makes it look like a comic book? Simply gorgeous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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