PAX West 2017: Devolver Digital
At PAX West 2017, COGconnected was lucky enough to visit the Devolver Digital booth for a closer look at some highly anticipated and recently announced titles. Specifically, we saw High Hell, Reigns: Her Majesty, Pikuniku, and Swords of Ditto. For a closer look at Swords of Ditto, we have our latest feature regarding the anticipated title here. We also saw Devolver Digital offerings Gorn and Ruiner, which you can also read within our Impressive Indies and Top 5 VR Games You Should Know About features. For the other awesome Devolver Digital titles, let’s check a look.
High Hell – Beast Cartel – PC
High Hell is an arcade-action FPS with vibrant neon colors and a very bizarre yet awesome backstory. Specifically, High Hell pits the player character against demons, brainwashed chimps, and giant robots in an effort to overthrow an evil corporation. The game has bright neon colors with an emphasis on the color red and an overall minimalistic aesthetic. High Hell could be described as a fast-paced twitch oriented shooter with an emphasis on performance.
As I went hands on with High Hell, I struggled mightily due to my preference of playing shooters with a controller rather than the mouse and keyboard. Despite my carelessness, I soon found my groove with this fast-paced shooter and began to challenge myself by running into rooms and throwing caution to the wind. The game is fun, challenging, and very much relevant to modern day issues. With over 20 missions with hidden collectibles, High Hell is shaping up to be a fun arcade shooter. Lastly, I should mention that I definitely felt a Mr. Robot vibe from the game, though any hacking is replaced with shooter.
Reigns: Her Majesty – Nerial – PC, Mobile
The follow up title to the hit title Reigns, Reigns: Her Majesty puts you in the role of the Queen rather than the king. The world is in a cultural renaissance, and you must make crucial decisions by swiping left or right. Alongside your husband, your reign will be determined by four major aspects of your kingdom: the church, the people, the army, and your money. Keeping these four in balance will keep you and the king in power.
I played the original title quite heavily, and two things really stood out to me. First, I really enjoyed discovering new character cards, and secondly, I found the story to be a bit difficult to advance after a certain point unless playing very frequently. I was informed that there would be an abundance of characters, a more mainstreamed story, and improvements such as items and challenges. As I began to replay the original Reigns on mobile during my trip home from PAX West, I could not help but feel excitement toward this new title.
Pikuniku – Sectordub – PC, Switch
Easily one of the most charming titles I experienced at PAX West 2017, alongside Swords of Ditto, Pikuniku is a recently announced puzzle game with both a cooperative and a story element. Instantly, I was reminded of Snipperclips due to its charming nature and puzzle genre. However, I quickly backtracked on that thought and found that Pikuniku was more than what meets the eye. With interesting yet simple mechanics, Pikuniku fulfills a niche as a relaxing puzzle game.
Pikuniku, along with being charming, was perhaps the most relaxing experience I had during PAX West. The visuals were soft, and the music was absolutely blissful. For those curious, Pikuniku stands for “picnic”, which may be quite obvious, but also very fitting. The game’s puzzles were of moderate difficulty, and the cooperative levels consisted of more than just one puzzle on a single screen. Rather, puzzles were complete levels that required thinking outside the box. What stood out the most to me was the story mode portion of the game, where the first ten minutes had already captivated me. Overall, the puzzle mechanics as well as the style of Pikuniku should produce extravagant results.
Were you at PAX West? What did you think of the Devolver Digital games at the show? Let us know in the comments below!