Plants, turnips and farming are a major theme here, with some added horror thrills
Liam and I played a lot of games atPAX East, likea lot. Most of them we managed to make videos for, but there were many more that we just didn’t have the time to cover, and that were also very good! So here’s a quick list of five more games I wanted to spotlight in written form while Liam’s busy in the editing mines working on all the community videos we filmed (the first of which is out right now, chronicling the PAX Facebook group that takes acommunity photo every single year). It’s very wholesome. We’ve got more community videos coming out this week,plusan article listing our absolute favourite games we played throughout the entire event, so keep your eyes peeled for those, too. For now, though, let’s dive into some more indie highlights.
World Of Horror
You’re cast as a high schooler solving a pinboard full of local mysteries in a Japanese seaside town gripped by dark forces. You need to defeat these evils by collecting objects, exploring different parts of town, and surviving encounters with horrible beings. I’m talking bloated corpses, masked cultists, ghost girls with curtains of long black hair, and other supernatural terrors. I had a great time in the new demo (when I wasn’t freaking out next to a very understanding PR person) and I can’t wait for the game’s full release -a date we’re still waiting on, but is currently slated for sometime this summer. If you want to delve in the action sooner, you can play it in early access £11 onSteam, and it’s in pretty great shape.
I had an absolute riot playingTurnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion, so I was desperate to check out Snoozy Kazoo’s newest game,Turnip Boy Robs A Bank. Looks like our little sprout friend has gone from life as a mischievous troublemaker to a full-blown criminal, and I’m here for it. Instead of exploring a cute Zelda-like adventure, you’ll be running around shooting other shrubberies in fast-paced roguelike action (it’s still very cute though).
In the demo I played, you take control of Turnip Boy as he runs around a bank, guns blazing, shaking down innocent veggies for their pocket change, raiding golden vaults, and dodging incoming security guard fire. It still has all the humour of the first game which I love, like how the owner of the ‘Botanical Bank’ is a moustachioed sleezy onion named Stinky, and how you can surf the dark web for weapon upgrades. TheSteam pagealso promises some deeper history of Turnup Boy’s world, which I am incredibly invested in, so I’m definitely looking forward to that.
Any game about growing plants and I leap at the opportunity to play it. InBotany Manor, you’re tasked with exploring the inside of a large English manor house and its surrounding gardens solving plant-related puzzles as you go. It’s likeThe WitnessmeetsStrange Horticulture.
Each plant puzzle involves getting a seed and figuring out how to make it grow, and with each flower being incredibly fussy about its habitat, you’ll often have to think outside the box. One of the puzzles I played in the demo, for example, had to be figured out through environmental clues - a seed I had favoured flashes of lightning in its natural habitat, so I found an old pinhole camera complete with accompanying flash bulb to simulate the same effect. After taking a photo of the pot, the seed was nestled in it bloomed into a beautiful flower. Very cool.
Roots Of Pachawas on the booth with the giant robotic dinosaur that Liam sat on in ourshowfloor tour, and it’s certainly one way to grab the attention of passers by. Another reason why it grabbed my attention was that it’s essentially aStardew Valley-likebut in the Stone Age, so of course I was going to play it.
I didn’t get a chance to properly root around in Pacha’s farming systems, but on the surface it’s exactly like other farming sims - growing crops, getting to know the locals, unlocking a technology tree, and so on. But one thing that really stuck out for me was the water irrigation system - and hell yeah, if you like farming sims you know how big a deal this is. In the 30 minutes I spent with the demo, I planned out the perfect layout for my water canals and crops. When everything was set, I started to pump water, and all my crops were thoroughly watered without me having to bumble about watering them all individually. Exciting, I know. I’d like to play more of Roots Of Pacha, and looks like I won’t have to wait long as the game is out on April 25th.
In this narco thriller, you’re tasked with rummaging through the digital innards of a PC in the 1980s. Playing as a cop, you need to go undercover as a computer operator working for a cartel group, attempting to implode their drug ring from the inside.
It’s similar to the likes ofHer StoryandHypnospace Outlaw, where the entire story takes place on the desktop of an old battered PC, and you’ll need to look through databases, email chains and personal records to sniff out clues. You’ll get contacted through text chats by detectives asking you for leadsandthe cartel demanding your help with their operations, so balancing your time between both is key to learning as much as you can to bring this whole empire down. I love desktop dramas, so I’m keen to play more whenVice NDRCVRreleases “soon.”
PAX may be over but we’ve got more videos and indie spotlights to come, and you can find all our PAX East coverage over on theRPS@PAX tag. If you’d like to see what other indies we covered (including interviews with the devs), you should check out chaotic roguelikePizza Possum,Resident Evil-likeAlone In The Dark, beautiful and unsettling MetroidvaniaAnimal Well, dino teen music adventureGoodbye Valcono High, fiendishly fast action-platformerHell Of An Office, and spooky Persona-likeDemonschool.
