All kinds of games were shown at the Iterative Collective booth. It was the first time at PAX East for the Iterative Collective and I think they left a good first impression.
I want to start by mentioning a game called Knight Crawlers. You’ll have to take all kinds of enemies in this rogue-lite role-playing game. You will have to think on your feet to take down large numbers of monsters. Have the most powerful skill cards and equipment will be key to your survival as well as upgrading your crawler. Graphically, the game looks cute and sinister at the same time. What I mean by that is the game has creepy, dark elements like dungeon fighting and then it has a giant Duck/Chicken thing. That being said, don’t take him too lightly as he’ll kill you the first chance he gets. Like most dungeon crawlers, be on the lookout for all kinds of stuff you can find while exploring. You’ll be able to use those resources to build better equipment that will help you survive in combat. The Iterative Collective booth had a crane machine with monster duck stuffed animals inside. If that isn’t one way to leave a mark on convention goers, I don’t know what is?
This year at PAX, it felt like a lot of developers were trying to come up with that next big “trading card game” type game. Sigil of the Magi was another game that was shown off at the Iterative Collective booth. This game combines the card game aspect and spins it with roguelike elements. You will have to think on your toes when you have different cards and areas to explore every playthrough. During gameplay, you will be able to see the map, similar to a tactical RPG, as well as your hand of cards.
That being said, you should be able to think quite a few steps ahead and not fall into a sinister trap. Each type of character has their own way to play so it will be fun to pick different classes of characters and go nuts and master the play style. There are different paths to take during the adventure and like most roguelike games, there are benefits from each path you take such as staying away from battles because you have low HP. Fight the boss at the end of the path and secure victory for your party.
Last was a game that I didn’t know too much about, Homeseek. Water has become a scarce resource and every drop is treated like gold. That being said, you will be tasked with building up a new settlement/town during the post-apocalyptic times our society faces. There will be all kinds of challenges for your town to face like illnesses for example. There will be worse things for your town to face as well like invaders trying to steal your supplies/rations.
You will be able to send out exploration teams to find supplies to help build up your new city. You might have to send a team out to find wood so you can build a new generator or water treatment plant. Your party might find animals out in the wild to bring back to the settlement but they could be sick and throw a wrench in your plans. People who live in the city could become depressed and not want to work anymore and that could bring city development to a standstill.
On the plus side, you can save often and if something happens to your settlement, you can always reload the save and try again. You will have to think like an actual end of the world survivor in Homeseek. What I mean by that is you will have to think what is important to your people surviving? Supplies are limited and if you don’t have something, you can’t use it. The more you explore, the more story you will uncover. However, that means the more choices you will have to make. Homeseek is a fun combo of survival and simulation and was one of my top games of PAX East this year!