I saw three games at the Dear Villagers booth at PAX East this year. These games covered all kinds of genres and adventures.
First up is the city building simulation game,Fabledom. This game takes place in a storybook world where anything can happen. Start out by creating your settlement and figuring our what direction you’re going to take your village. Your town starts out small but in time will grow to something cool. You will have to build all kinds of structures for your town and that in turn will amp up what actually gets done in town. For example, if you build houses before you need them, you have more of a chance for townsfolk to move in. If you create a farm, you will have the chance to harvest the crops and have food to survive.
If you build an inn, you have another place for people to sleep and decide if they want to stay in the town. One thing that was tough to tell during the demo was where you could actually build structures. I would put a house where I wanted it but I wasn’t sure how to start the building process. That being said, it will be key to have materials already on hand so you don’t get stuck building something that you need and be out of materials. You are able to build pretty much anything you want and in turn, that will build up the reputation of your town. The name of the game is getting people to want to live in your town and putting out houses outside all the buildings is a good start. (or at least in my ideal city it is)
Nocturnal was up next and this game looks pretty cool. The game combines adventure with platforming and makes that look pretty cool. There are all kinds of interesting puzzles to solve while exploring as well. During the demo, you were able to use fire spells/control to light torches and in turn, you would open the path forward. Ardeshir, a soldier of the Enduring Flame, returns to his home island of Nahran, which has plenty of mist/darkness that the player will have to get around.
One way to get around that is by using the fire/flame to light up the darkness. There are enemies that can only be hurt/attacked when in light. There are certain locations that can only be traversed when in light as well. You’ll be able to unlock skills that will help in exploration/combat via a skill tree. It felt like just about anything in locations was breakable and the more you explore, the more you’ll find. There are secrets strewn about Nocturnal and only the real explorers will find everything. Nocturnal reminds of Dark Souls if it was made on the NES/SNES.
If you have been looking to scratch that Paper Mario itch, then I have just the game for you. Born of Bread takes players on a fun ride when the Flour Golem named Loaf comes to life. The game is a role playing game and there will be plenty to discover on your adventure. Getting into battle is as easy as running into an enemy and you can get the upper hand by attacking the enemy beforehand. Characters have different attacks and special attacks in battle and the controls for these attacks are very similar to Paper Mario.
Timed button pressing will be key in Born to Bread as the more damage you do, the easier time in battle you’ll have. There was one mechanic that I had trouble mastering during the demo. If you time the enemy attacks or defend properly, you will regain some of your special attack power. You get a brief tutorial on how to do this properly but it was still tough to figure out the precise timing to defend. You’ll be able to find all kinds of things while exploring and you’ll need to power up your team for battle. Born to Bread looks like a fun, charming adventure that will hopefully rise to the top. I swear that will be my only bread pun!