Splitgate Arena Warfare
Splitgate Arena Warfare’s premise is simple and easily digestible — Halo plus Portal. And it really delivers on that idea with fluid gameplay, simple gun mechanics, and level designs that encourage the use of portals to outsmart your enemies. There’s special surfaces portals can adhere to, which makes movement on both offense and defense really interesting. If you’re trying to get at someone using a portal, you can open one up behind them and just shoot through it, pop through and take them down, or even shoot one across the map and use a high fall to launch you through the sky at your target since momentum is preserved. On defense , it’s easy to escape as long as you’re mindful of keeping your portals up at all times. The double edged sword of that is if you’re around portal-able surfaces, your enemies can also sneak up behind you. It’s fast paced, fun, and really does a great job in capturing the same feelings as Halo.
The developer’s targeting a PC release later this year.
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World of Horror
Ever read a Junji Ito comic and think “man I’d love to interact with that to be unsettled on a whole new level”? Well, want no more, World of Horror is a point-and-click adventure horror game based in a quiet Japanese town in which the old, eldritch gods are awakening. In the PAX South demo, we take control of a student investigating a friend’s claims about a tall woman carrying scissors with a big smile. You investigate the claims, explore the school and come across even more horrors. Your actions throughout the investigation determine what kind of ending you get, meaning multiple playthroughs may be required to get the ending you want. The interface is just like retro adventure games like Clock Tower and the art style is extremely stark — only having 2-4 colors of fidelity. The soundtrack is also killer, providing great ambiance to the game. If you liked Clock Tower, cosmic horror, or just being unsettled, World of Horror is for you.
World of Horror is coming to PS4, Switch, and PC later this year.
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JackQuest
JackQuest is a Metroidvania dungeon crawler about a young couple separated by the villainous orc Korg. As you plumb the depths of the underground caves, you’ll find upgrades for your gear that unlock new areas and help you build your arsenal before fighting your antagonist. The game feels similar to other platforms, but one of the best things is the ability to jump off walls. Not unlike Megaman X, you can jump up the side of one wall to gain height and the game take advantage of this by placing both vertical and horizontal enemies in your path, so you’ve got to be careful or moving too fast may cost you your life.
The game is coming out on Steam this month.
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Disjunction
Disjunction describes itself as a cyberpunk stealth-action RPG and that’s quite apt. Top-down cyberpunk Metal Gear Solid meets Hotline Miami is also pretty apt IMO. You play as three different characters with intertwining stories in 2048 New York City. In the demo, you’re sneaking into a building in order to steal a datapad. The tutorial level does a great job showing off your abilities and how to use them effectively. You can either stun baton or shoot enemies with a gun in order to eliminate them as a problem. Guns are loud and draw attention, but enemies can get up after some time with the stun baton. The devs say the game can be completed entirely nonlethally and some can even be completed without stunning a single enemy, which adds interesting complexity if you’re looking to squeeze more difficulty out of the game. Keep this game on your radar especially if you’re a fan of the cyberpunk genre or stealth games like MGS.
You can give the demo a whirl yourself by visiting their site at http://www.disjunction-game.com/. The game is slotted for release on Steam this year.
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Check out more of our coverage from PAX South 2019 or find additional convention coverage! Let us know what you think on Facebook or Twitter @SubCultured, and join in the conversation on our Discord channel!
Devil May Cry 5, Young Souls, Magequit
Jump Force, Skellboy, A Fold Apart
Daku Con 2018 Photo Gallery
Daku Con 2018 Convention Recap!
PAX South 2019: Jump Force, Skellboy, A Fold Apart
PAX South 2019: Devil May Cry 5, Young Souls, Magequit
Nan Desu Kan 2018 Photo Gallery
Jump Force
Hey man, who DOESN’T wanna see Naruto get his lil’ whiskers kicked in by my boy Goku? Or see Luffy try to Gum Gum Pistol a shinigami? The premise of Jump Force is simple — let’s watch some of the most iconic characters in Shonen Jump do battle! Each player picks a roster of 3 characters and whoever has a character die first loses. The camera is interesting in that it picks a character to watch over the shoulder for the most part. It’s a really cinematic take on fighting games, but one that also has a bit of confusion, especially when 2 of the same character are on the field. The characters don’t have different outfits, so 2 Gokus are pretty easily confused. That being said, the combos your able to pull of are satisfying and switching characters trying to protect your health pool adds a dynamic to the fights that is really fun. There’s some issues with framerate consistency, though that may be ironed out by the time the full release comes. All in all, this is a really fun fighting game that doesn’t feel like a clone. Keep this game on your radar if you like Shonen Jump or just super want to watch Vegeta final flash the battousai himself.
Jump Force releases February 15th for PS4 and Xbox One.
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Skellboy
Ah man, guys. Skellboy’s just s’dang cute. The art style, as described by one of the people behind it, is “sprites that we’ve… chunkified.”
It works to great effect, creating a visual style that’s a mix between Cube World and Paper Mario. The game takes place in/around a castle as an evil warlock who was just rejected by the princess has resurrected the dead to take revenge. The only problem is, he accidentally resurrected you too — an ancient hero. So with your new skeleton body, you’ll set off to right the wrongs of the kingdom and kick that warlock’s tuckus.
A really neat mechanic the game provides is the ability to swap out your body parts for the ones of your enemies, which can provide extra abilities or do more damage, depending on whose body parts you pick. Couple that with the art style, really fitting retro-style sound track, and simple but fun combat mechanics, and you’ve got a recipe for an awesome action adventure game.
Skellboy will be coming out for Switch this summer.
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A Fold Apart
A Fold Apart is a papercraft puzzle game centered around an architect and their partner. The couple are in a long distance relationship and when the architect goes to sleep, they imagine having to solve puzzles to get to their partner. You can choose from one of two character models for both the architect and the parter — a more feminine character or a more masculine one. The gameplay is pretty straightforward — you can flip paper over, make folds in 2 different ways, and the goal is to create platforms to walk on to get to your partner. The final game will have more ways to keep the gameplay interesting, but even as it is right now, it’s a deeply endearing, cute little romance puzzler. If you’ve ever been in a long distance relationship, this game sincerely hits home in such a wholesome way. The music provides a relaxed, sincere environment and the characters really convey how much they love each other, which is what ties the whole game together.
A Fold Apart will be available later this year.
Please enter the url to a YouTube video.Check out more of our coverage from PAX South 2019 below or find additional convention coverage! Let us know what you think on Facebook or Twitter @SubCultured, and join in the conversation on our Discord channel!
Devil May Cry 5, Young Souls, Magequit
Splitgate Arena Warfare, World of Horror, JackQuest, and Disjunction
Daku Con 2018 Photo Gallery
Daku Con 2018 Convention Recap!
PAX South 2019: Splitgate Arena Warfare, World of Horror, JackQuest, and Disjunction
PAX South 2019: Devil May Cry 5, Young Souls, Magequit
Nan Desu Kan 2018 Photo Gallery
Devil May Cry 5
Ready for more of the stylish hack-n-slash action game that continues to captivate? Dante’s back again trying to track down the source of a rash of attacks after being hired by the mysterious “V”. Nero is also back, working out of a mobile Devil May Cry agency housed in a dope van. The game brings back its kinetic gun/sword gameplay style with the added wrinkle of being able to use different Devil Breaker abilities with Nero’s robotic arm. These strong attacks are limited, but you can refill from items you find along the way. It’s an interesting addition since there’s a sort of economy for how desperate you are to use these strong attacks. And of course the huge boss fights are back. The demo of Devil May Cry 5 has you fighting a Goliath and has very Devil May Cry entry sequence. Fans of the series should look forward to the latest entry in the series.
You can catch Devil May Cry 5 this March 8th on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Please enter the url to a YouTube video.Young Souls
Young Souls is the story of two teenagers abandoned by their parents. Not only do they feel outcast by their parents, but the townsfolk in their new home aren’t exactly welcoming. As long as they have each other though, everything should be fine. That is, of course, until they find a portal to another world and are the only ones who can save Earth. The game is a classic sidescroller beat-em-up where you start at the beginning of an area and beat enough bad guys to get to the treasure at the end. You can upgrade your gear with loot you find in each dungeon. The most remarkable thing about the game are the graphics — hand drawn 2D graphics and animations in a simple, but strong art style. It’s an absolute treat to look at. The gameplay is simple, but engaging and the only issues so far are lag spikes when in hectic combat. It’s not the greatest experience to try and pull off an attack, have the screen freeze for half a second, then be on the ground afterward. That being said, there’s not a release date for the game yet, so there’s still plenty of time to iron out the bugs. If you liked the Scott Pilgrim game or any classic beat-em-up, you’ll definitely love Young Souls.
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Magequit
Magequit is an arena brawler in which you and up to 9 of your friends face off as wizards trying to grow their beards the longest by eliminating competing wizards. Each round, wizards gain a new spell to use against their foes until every button has a spell mapped. When gaining a new spell, the wizard with the smallest beard gets to choose first, which has a rubberbanding effect, not allowing any player to get too far behind and have no hopes of catching up. The movement of the wizards is also relatively slow, adding tension and anxiousness to each match.
Magequit is a wonderful party game to add to any library, so much so that you should consider picking it up even if it’s just in early access right now.
Please enter the url to a YouTube video.Check out more of our coverage from PAX South 2019 or find additional convention coverage! Let us know what you think on Facebook or Twitter @SubCultured, and join in the conversation on our Discord channel!
Jump Force, Skellboy, A Fold Apart
Splitgate Arena Warfare, World of Horror, JackQuest, and Disjunction
Daku Con 2018 Photo Gallery
Daku Con 2018 Convention Recap!
PAX South 2019: Splitgate Arena Warfare, World of Horror, JackQuest, and Disjunction
PAX South 2019: Jump Force, Skellboy, A Fold Apart
Nan Desu Kan 2018 Photo Gallery
Sub Cultured stopped by PAX South 2018 to check out all the delightful titles this convention had to offer!
Party Hard 2
Party Hard 2 is the sequel to Party Hard, the 2015 stealth strategy game also showing you being the party pooperest murderer that there ever was. In the sequel, you want your Christmas bonus, don’t get it, and decide it’s time to rage. On everything. Like Hitman, you’ll be trying to kill targets and not raise suspicion on yourself. You can also blow a bunch of stuff up which is always rad. The immediate difference between this game and Party Hard is the 3D environment blended with the pixel graphics of its predecessor which creates a great style and is much easier to read what’s happening on the screen. The baller soundtrack and aforementioned visual style are the icing on this satisfying if grimdark game.
You can expect Party Hard 2 to hit at least PC in 2018.
Due Process
Strategic followed by chaotic 4v4 FPS gameplay is the best way to describe Due Process. A team tries to infiltrate a building and kill another team, and the other team is trying to kill their aggressors. There’s a number of tools each team can use, but none more important than the planning phase. Both teams get time before the match starts to plan out their attack — what walls to blow, doors to kick down, areas to block off, grenades to use. Our experience, however, is that the second something goes wrong with that plan, the team panics and then it’s anyone’s game. The game is incredibly fun to play with strangers, but even more so with friends that way you can say “I TOLD YOU TO COUNT TO 5 BEFORE INGRESS DAVE, WHO TAUGHT YOU TO COUNT?”
There’s no word on when this will be coming out, but definitely keep an eye on it for the future. You can sign up for their mailing list now and maybe get in to the alpha!
The Swords of Ditto
The Swords of Ditto is a cartoony action adventure game in which you’ll take control of the Hero of Legend in a fight against the evil Mormo. Oh, you died? That’s cool, there’s always another Hero of Legend just around the corner with a while new adventure. In fact your successes each life affect the next Hero of Legend The combat is fairly standard 2D action game, but the game’s bread and butter are the environments, art style, and characters you’ll meet along your way. The best part is the game features 2 player couch co-op, perfect for friends or loved ones to start a new adventure together. There’s frisbees, golf clubs, and big ol’ feet as weapons, awesome. Secret quests and dungeons to explore together, rad. Wanna speedrun it and defeat Mormo from the beginning? Go for it, have a blasty blast.
The Swords of Ditto is coming early 2018 to PS4 and PC.
Check out more of our coverage from PAX South 2018!
Aftercharge, Pato Box, Phantom Doctrine
Moonlighter, Tunic, Donut County
Daku Con 2018 Photo Gallery
Daku Con 2018 Convention Recap!
PAX South 2019: Splitgate Arena Warfare, World of Horror, JackQuest, and Disjunction
PAX South 2019: Jump Force, Skellboy, A Fold Apart
PAX South 2019: Devil May Cry 5, Young Souls, Magequit
Nan Desu Kan 2018 Photo Gallery
Sub Cultured stopped by PAX South 2018 to check out all the delightful titles this convention had to offer!
Aftercharge
Aftercharge is a 3v3 asymmetrical FPS game. 3 players play as a group of robots trying to destroy a number of energy extractors on the map. They’re completely invisible unless they’ve just been damaged or are directly in front of an enemy. They have the ability to resurrect their allies and also a number of abilities to help them sneak around the map. The enemy team is invincible and has abilities to either impede the invisible enemies or buff themselves. The resulting combat are a stressful mix of sneaking/seeking and frantically trying to kill/run away before invisibility comes back. It’s a great deal of fun, especially playing with friends.
You can look for Aftercharge coming to Windows, Mac, and Linux in Spring of 2018.
Pato Box
Pato Box sees you take control of a duck boxer doing what he does best — box. Even in situation in which it may not be applicable like opening doors, this guy’s a punching machine. He was betrayed on his way to the top of his boxing career and is ready to punch his way to the truth. The art style is stark black and white, which is a visual treat and so much fun to watch. The combat responds as well as you’d expect of something that looks like a Sin City Punch Out. It’s a unique experience and definitely one worth checking out.
Pato Box will be out this Spring for PC, Mac, Switch, and PS Vita.
Phantom Doctrine
If Donut County was the simplest game at PAX South 2018, Phantom Doctrine is definitely the most complicated, and not in a bad way. If you’ve ever played XCom and wanted it to be deeper on basically every level, this is exactly the game you’ve been looking for. Set during the Cold War, you lead an organization called The Cabal dedicated to fighting global conspiracy. The game takes major events from history that are all true, but where most of the game occurs is in “what if this happened”-type scenarios. Like in XCom, there are missions to go on that you can play through, and a home base to manage. As the base, you can look through evidence you’ve collected to try and piece together your enemies’ plans, recruit new operatives, brainwash captives, acquire more funds, and take the heat off your agents. While in the field, you can choose to operate with stealth or being aggressive, gather intel or rush to the objective. The game is really flexible to how you want to play it and how you want to spend your time. If you want to spend 20 hours in the base making sure everything’s perfect for the next mission, you can. If you want to speed run through the missions, you totally can. Missions also allow you to have special abilities like spotters, snipers, and grenade launchers, which come in handy when in a sticky situation.
If you’re ready to sink your teeth in to the deepest tactical game in quite some time, get hype for Phantom Doctrine coming in 2018 to at least PC.
Check out more of our coverage from PAX South 2018!
Party Hard 2, Due Process, The Swords of Ditto
Moonlighter, Tunic, Donut County
Daku Con 2018 Photo Gallery
Daku Con 2018 Convention Recap!
PAX South 2019: Splitgate Arena Warfare, World of Horror, JackQuest, and Disjunction
PAX South 2019: Jump Force, Skellboy, A Fold Apart
PAX South 2019: Devil May Cry 5, Young Souls, Magequit
Nan Desu Kan 2018 Photo Gallery
Sub Cultured stopped by PAX South 2018 to check out all the delightful titles this convention had to offer!
Moonlighter
Moonlighter is like if Recettear and a Roguelike had a baby. You play as a shopkeeper outside of an ever-changing dungeon. Your task is to sell goods to people. When you do, you earn money so you can get better equipment and craft better items to either sell or use yourself to go in to the dungeon. Clearing the dungeon will yield new items, which you can craft and sell in your shop, et cetera. It’s a big ol’ capitalism loop. The dungeon is different every time you enter, which makes it that much more fun. There’s 5 different entrances to the dungeon and characters to interact with so there’s presumably an end, but with the varying dungeons, bevy of characters to please, and loot to grab, you may not ever want to see it.
Moonlighter will be coming out in 2018 for Xbox One, PS4, PC, Switch, and Mac/Linux.
Tunic
Tunic has so much style that it hurts. Zelda is the easiest comparison — you’re a lone adventurer (in this case a lil’ fox) in a mysterious world who collects items that open up new paths. If Hat In Time is a cute-as-heck platformer, this is a cute-as-heck action/adventure game. The controls are tight and responsive and the combat feels fluid and satisfying. An extra layer of polish/intrigue to this game is the concept that it’s a game you’re just discovering that was made in a foreign country, so you’ll see parts of the manual in the game and all the text is in a made up language you don’t understand. Even the website has this language peppered about.
This game is one of the ones we were most excited by at PAX South, so be on the lookout for it coming out later this year to PC, Mac, Linux, and consoles in 2018.
Donut County
Once upon a time, @PeterMolydeux had a joke game description in which you play as a hole in the ground. From that, Ben Esposito created one of the most simple, but compelling games at PAX South, Donut County. The mechanics are simple — you play as a hole in the ground swallowing things up. The more you eat, the bigger your hole gets, which allows you to eat bigger things. Think reverse Katamari. Between levels, you’ll also get a glimpse into the lives of the citizens of Donut County which has been upended by this dumb hole. The art style is simple and effective, the humor isn’t overdone, and the gameplay, though simple, is satisfying.
Donut County is coming to PC, Mac, and iOS in 2018
Check out more of our coverage from PAX South 2018!
Aftercharge, Pato Box, Phantom Doctrine
Party Hard 2, Due Process, The Swords of Ditto
Daku Con 2018 Photo Gallery
Daku Con 2018 Convention Recap!
PAX South 2019: Splitgate Arena Warfare, World of Horror, JackQuest, and Disjunction
PAX South 2019: Jump Force, Skellboy, A Fold Apart
PAX South 2019: Devil May Cry 5, Young Souls, Magequit
