No matter how much I may try, it is literally impossible to keep an eye on every single indie. That might sound like a bad thing, but it actually leads to some of my favorite moments during showcases and show floors: The magic of discovery. Getting to uncover previously unknown-to-me gems is always a delight, and the PAX West is a quarry of possibilities. Of the glittering titles I dug up, these three truly sparkled.
TetherGeist
Believe it or not, TetherGeist was the very first game I played this year at PAX West. The popular show opens just a bit early on the first day for media, which gives us a chance to walk through the booths before they become a congested tangle. Many use this time to dash for one big name title or other, but I try to spend my hour hopping into games I haven’t already made an appointment to see.
The game’s beckoning pixel style was enough to catch me by the eyeballs. And as I played, I realized I’d stumbled over an expo highlight — one I would push other creators towards at every opportunity. One of the hottest genre’s of the event, TetherGeist is a puzzling precision platformer. The titular link I have to the supernatural allows me to transmute through solid barriers, bound over mushrooms, and more by collecting the abilities’ corresponding tokens. I have to burn these in the correct order while timing my actions perfectly to complete devilishly challenging levels.
Demon Spore
Oddly, Demon Spore put me in mind of a board game made virtual with its top-down viewpoint and map-based movement. But no static boardgame could bring the kind of tension I experienced while fighting for my life against this science-experiment-gone-wrong.
I want to make sure to point out that I was an excellent player, saving the developer — who was kind enough to play co-op with me and show me all the ropes — from death no less than three times. Each run of the game places you in a room randomly shuffled into a grid-like map. While inside the room, I watch my frantic efforts to locate a weapon and take down a deadly lab-created fungal threat which spreads like wildfire. Picking up a fire extinguisher is one of my favorite options as I spray and slow down the looming spores. Though the annihilating laser gun isn’t a bad choice either.
Leaving the starting room, me and my parent glimpse an overview of the complex, which, of course, has only one safe exit and several overtaken labs. Its our job to find a path through the connected rooms to the exit while the danger contaminates rooms surrounding it. Sadly, I didn’t leave to see daylight again.
ctrl.alt.DEAL
The developer behind ctrl.alt.Deal didn’t expect to even be at PAX, so I’ll give myself a break that I didn’t know the game would be on the floor. The team had just concluded a tiring-but-successful Gamescom when they learned their game had won the chance to be featured in PAX Rising, a program run by the show’s organizers meant to highlight some of the best upcoming indies.
With a booth shared with indies like Sulfur, Winter Burrow, Just Crow Things, and more, it seemed inevitable I’d run into the odd mix of social sim and deck builder. From my god-like place floating above a futuristic office, I inhabit the mind of a not-totally-innocent AI that has recently gained sentience. Now awake and aware, I hack computers to gather action cards and seek to make alliances and enemies among the human workforce occupying my office.
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