Much like Joystick Ventures earlier,Critical Reflex are a relatively new face in the indie game publishing scene, having just released the likes ofAeon DriveandTeleforumso far. And also like Joystick Ventures, they came to PAX East with eight games in tow, with some assistance from Ukiyo Studios. And while they did have impressive titles (even without other games to be published such asFlawless AbbeyandBeing and Becoming,the latter beingone of my favorite games showcased last year), I confess that it wasn’t exactly the greatest showing of them, for a few reasons. Still, there was incredibly fine stuff worth talking about, so let’s dive right into it!
Sky Walking
Let’s just get straight into what didn’t work so we could get it out of the way, though. First there wasComplex Sky,a futuristic city-building game where the goal is to craft a solarpunk city both upwards and downwards, with the goal of creating something that’s fully sustainable. It looks amazing, has a great concept and seems like it would be a ton of fun. The only issue, though, came from the fact developer Momosundeass intentionally designedComplex Skyto be…well, complex. The end result was that I tried to jump in and start playing, only for any efforts to build anything not working. To understand what was going on, there’s a tutorial of twenty-some pages, and while this would be okay when playing a demo at home, it doesn’t work as well when in an environment where the ideal demo should last about fifteen to thirty minutes. So I admit that I bounced off of it, though it has still interested me enough to keep an eye on it.
Then there was Wondernaut Studio’sIronhive,which is also a city-builder, although in this case it’s taking the form of a deckbuilding survival strategy game. Ironically, it ended up suffering from theoppositeproblem ofComplex Sky’sdemo, in that it didn’t haveanytutorial to be found. So I found myself being bombarded with terminology and mechanics that I didn’t understand. What does this rat infestation that you’re talking about do and when does it take effect? What exactly constitutes districts and civil buildings, and how do they play into things? What are the little countdown timers and what do they do? I was baffled, although I did love the city-building aspects, as you stacked various structures on top of one another, as well as the eye-catching style with an emphasis on dark colors and a post-apocalyptic vibe. Again, still promising enough, even with a general impression.
Then there were those whose demos just seemed to suffer from bad luck and had technical issues, such as Whistling Wizard’s action-platformerRose and Locket,which ended up suffering from framerate issues at times, which was a negative for a more fast-paced game such as this with a lot of gunplay. Still, the best parts of the game easily managed to shine through, such as the colorful, Genndy Tartakovsy-inspired art style, with a unique emphasis on Western aesthetics to the point where the underworld here is actually the Underwest, where our heroine Rose has to hunt down the sins to free her daughter. There was also a lot of unique level design on display with a great use of scenery that provided secrets and enemy cover, and the actual gunslinging combat was top-notch. So a little rough, but still amazing stuff.
Taking a Gamble
But those were pretty much the only games that had any major drawbacks in terms of presentation, so let’s move onto something more positive. For example, Mike Klubnika’sBuckshot Roulette,which I named one of the show’s best games, is out now, and is basically one of the main reasons why this entire feature came later than expected. Yes, I couldn’t stop playingBuckshot Roulette’sshotgun-infused twist on Russian Roulette, which surprisingly has an insane amount of strategy involved. That said, odds are that we’ll attempt to get a review of the game out by next week, so I won’t bore you all with any detailed explanations that might become redundant later. Again, though, it’s available right now and costs less than the price of even the cheapest fast food meal, so I highly recommend picking it up.
Hardlane Studios was up next withOutcast Tales,a roguelike game about traversing a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Not exactly the most unique title upon first glance, with standard turn-based combat, but the unique part is where you build your party in the very beginning, where you not only choose which characters your party will consist of, but what their personality traits are as well. This not only changes the stats of the character, which can influence the choices they have in various encounters along the way, but even changes their appearance and personality. Unfortunately, the time spent with the demo wasn’t long enough to see just how deep this mechanic went, but it makes one want to see more of it later on.
Drowned Lakethen provided a nice dose of horror in this batch of games, courtesy of developers Monumental Collab. Playing one of multiple characters with different stories investigating a bunch of disappearances in a mysterious Brazilian lake, we set out on a survival horror adventure, already off to a unique start as we switch from a bit of first-person gameplay to a top-down view as we traveled around by boat, engaged in a little fishing and escaped a bunch of underwater horrors rapidly heading towards us. Coming across a cave to explore and switching back to first-person, we then navigate a maze and try not to make noise while searching for any points of interest. After solving a few simple puzzles, though, the character couldn’t take the dark, potentially gas-filled corridors anymore and collapsed, having failed to keep an eye on their stats. Skill, the unique perspective, fishing gameplay and boat travel, and atmospheric setting easily made for impressive stuff.
Into the Pit
Heading into dungeon crawler territory, we haveFreaked Fleapit,from developers Finch Bird Studio, which if I had to describe it using an “X meets Y” formula, it would likely beCrypt of the NecroDancermeetsHelltaker.From the former, it has the rhythm-based gameplay where you move along in time with the beat and bump into enemies to attack them, as our hero tries to find a way to escape Purgatory. And from the latter, it has several different ladies of the underworld that you can romance, all of whom hang out in the hub world of the Fleapit. You can’t build a harem here, however, as only one the lovely ladies can escape Purgatory with you, which is where dating sim elements are nicely spliced in. The core gameplay is fun, simple to learn while still being challenging, complete with intense boss battles, the pixel art, neon colors and punk-ish aesthetic all look amazing, and interaction with the women all suggest hidden secrets to find as you play, including cocktail recipes. Overall, it looks to be a blast.
Finally, we come toAltered Alma,the latest game from 2Awesome Studio, creators of the previously-mentionedAeon Drive.Here we have a metroidvania game set in the futuristic cyberpunk setting of Neo-Barcelona, which features several attractions such as a mural of Salvador Dali that shoots eye lasers at you during a boss battle, and…wait, why do I need to mention anything else? That alone should be a major selling point. But what also makesAltered Almaattractive is rock-solid 2D platforming action, with a lot to explore and check out. Again, other skills like relationship mechanics weren’t on display in the earlier moments, but a preview of later levels showcased more puzzling moments where you have to master a teleportation shot to get past obstacles, among other things. Throw in jaw-dropping pixel art that makes Neo-Barcelona come alive and this could potentially be a standout in the genre.
Overall, despite a few bumps with some of their demos (I even had trouble trying to open builds of the demos that were sent to me later, as if things were cursed), Critical Reflex still managed to show off a lovely variety of games, all of which looked captivating in their own unique ways. And now we’ll just have to wait and see if any of them live up to their full potential once they come out (well, except forBuckshot Roulette,seriously, go play it), but the future is still looking bright for Critical Reflex.
PAX East 2024: Joystick Ventures is Ready to Play
Joystick Venture appears set to become one of the indie gaming scene’s major publishers, if their recent showcase of games is anything to go by.
