What I love most about conventions, especially PAX East is the diversity of games and where they come from. Germany, Poland, France, the United Kingdom, you can find games from everyone at PAX. Galaktus Publishing commanded a solid space on the show floor and I had the chance to try several of their games.
Achilles: Legends Untold
The famous hero of the Trojan War, and the one who died by an arrow to the heel, has his own game. Achilles: Legends Untold mixes historical facts and a bit of fiction to create an experience that is wonderful to play and great on the senses. My demo was brief but it left quite the impression on me.
Achilles can use a variety of weapons and skills to fight enemies big and small. One ability turned his shield into a throwable item very much like Captain America. The action so crunchy, with a great sensation of heft and impact Fighting does feel grand and epic. The demo teased something incredible and I couldn't help but want more.
Achilles: Legends Untold was excellent during my short time, but you don't have to wait to try it out as the game is available now on PC and console.
Memory Lost
The Netflix show Altered Carbon, introduced the idea that consciousness can be calculated, stored, and sent. The short-lived series showed humans swapping out human bodies, seemingly at will. These bodies allowed humans to swap regardless of gender, skin color, and capabilities. Some bodies had cybernetic implants or military-grade hardware installed. This is the foundation of Memory Lost.
Memory Lost features incredibly fast action gameplay that features shooting and melee combat. By swapping between bodies, players gain combat advantages at the push of a button. Swap into a muscle-bound fighter and swing a hammer down on enemies.
Swap into a slender woman and have unparalleled martial arts. There is a catch: not everybody lasts forever and if one doesn't swap promptly, they can be destroyed. Memory Lost is shaping to be a strong game, from the story to the gameplay.
Tarnished Blood
Sometimes, games can be like a movie, and the player is the director. Sometimes, you can call the shots on what happens next. Like the movies, you never know what's going to happen next. This is the setup for Tarnished Blood, a hardcore action game that puts the 'h' in hardcore. Between the grotesque monsters, the turn-based combat, and rolling the dice, I haven't played anything like this before.
Fighting monsters in Tarnished Blood involves using scrolling timelines ok the bottom of the screen to select actions, predict their effects, and act accordingly. One bad move and a character dies permanently. Knowing each character, their weapons, and traits, is the key to victory. The same goes for managing their home base. It's a brutal game where the tutorial boss will have players reeling. It's survival of the fittest as players roll the dice on certain situations, reproduce, and fight to survive. This includes removing limbs to create weapons. Tarnished Blood is a game to keep an eye on.
Hollow Home
One of the best things about video games is the ability to tell a story from the real world. Happy. Sad. Poignant. A story told well, especially in video games, can make a difference. Hollow Home is one such game as it tells the tale of living in a time of war. However, this is not just any war, but a war actively happening right now in Ukraine.
Hollow Home is similar in principle to This War of Mine in that the game takes place from the perspective of a teenager in Mariupol. The game features soft visuals and a point-and-click focus as players witness moments of hope in a bleak situation. The team needs more time to make Hollow Home as good as it can be but it is shaping up to be an emotional journey that can make a difference.
In order to fight enemies in Tarnished Blood, you'll need to use the scrolling timelines at the bottom of the screen to choose your actions, figure out what they'll do, and then act accordingly. slope game