#1 Pyre
Pyre was recently revealed the week before PAX East and as expected, it invoked a huge spike of interest in the gaming community. Could Supergiant Games pull off the hat-trick? By judging it from the 30-minute demo, I played, I would like to think that answer is a yes.
Pyre places the player deep in purgatory as you lead a band of three exiles through a series of combat trials, known as the Rites, through which the worthiest competitors will granted safe passage back home. The creature like beasts that you can see in the trailer are people who are damned to the Purgatory. Your role in the game is the reader, you know how to commence these rituals which will help the group of people who just saved your life.
The art style of Pyre combines SuperGiant last two games — Transistor and Bastion, and blends them in a way that it looks drop dead gorgeous on screen. The combat system also is kind of a mix between the two titular games as they mix strategic elements and actions.
Supergiant Games is an extraordinary group of developers. The unique gameplay, the impressive Pixar-like graphics, and the lovely choice of music –which they have been known for in the past, makes for an experience that will blow you away. Pyre is going to a special game when it releases next year, though I'm not sure if I will be able to wait that long.
#2 Outlast 2
If you’re an avid horror movie enthusiasts like myself, you typically know that sequels usually lead to nothing good. It's usually a cash crab from the studio looking to capitalize on a unique story element *cough* Sinister 2 *cough*. However, that is not the case for Outlast 2, which I am extremely excited about.
The story of Outlast 2 is about two investigative journalists who are following a suspicious and brutal death of a pregnant lady. The story takes place on the outskirts of Arizona so you are more opened to the outside world opposed to Outlasts' confined warden/hospital-like building.
However, it looks like Outlast 2 is taking a slightly different approach with their story. The mystical demons combined with the weirdos that haunt the Arizona outskirts are going to provide enough thrills and scares for the players. But getting a glimpse into the game, I could already tell that Outlast 2 will be much gorier, scarier, and downright more terrifying than its predecessors.
#3 Beat Cop
Beat Cop is about Jack Kelly, a former NYPD detective who has been framed for a murder and is degraded to the 'Beat Cop' position. This means you will be writing tickets, dealing with petty thieves and hitting the so-called beat.
The game does a good job on hooking its players to perform simplistic tasks. In my short time with the game, I was hooked on just finding who had not paid for their meter or for cars who were parked in a 'No Parking Zone' so that I could call a tow truck up on them.
Following 'This War of Mine', the game is played in a 2D landscape which has the player walking from one side to the other looking for parking violations, interacting with civilians, and keeping an eye out for baddies.
The whacky 80s style theme, retro pixel graphics, and super addictive gameplay has Beat Cop being one of the best indie games at PAX East 2016. It is expected for a Q4 2016 release on PC, Mac, and Linux for $14.99.
#4 Cuphead
The first time I saw Cuphead it literally blew me away. The graphics, atmosphere and music were truly one of a kind. Now a few years later I finally got some hands-on time with the title at PAX East 2016 and I was thoroughly impressed.
Seeing the game through a video on YouTube does not give this game justice. The experience of playing this game in person is 10x better in every category you could think of.
For those unfamiliar, Cuphead is a run and gun indie video game by the Canadian brothers Chad and Jared Moldenhauer, drawn in the style of 1930s cartoons. As Cuphead, the player fights a series of bosses to repay a debt to the devil.
If you're looking for an awesome indie title that has challenging gameplay, charming music, and a unique hand-drawn Disney-style animated like graphics, then Cuphead is for you. If none of that interests you, Cuphead will still be for you, that's how enjoyable this game is.
My 15-minute demo of Abzu began kind of rough, but ended off with me wanting more. The best game to accurately compare this too would be Journey. Abzu has this opened-ended, free to interpret vibe coming from it and that was only with 15 minutes of playing.
I could expect that this game at the core will be a deeper more meaningly full story then it is led on to be. The description of Abzu, as of now is that it is an epic descent into the depths of the sea, where players will explore beautifully rendered ocean environments with fluid swimming controls.
Abzu — a game I really never paid much attention to — is now one of my most interested games of 2016. Abzu feels like it is more than people peg it to be and for the people who do decide to stick with it, they will probably be happy they did.
There were so many amazing games at this year's PAX East, so many that most people probably didn’t try most of them, however, as I was in the trenches the whole weekend scouting out some of the best games to offer.
Walking into PAX the main attractions are the big triple AAA games like Overwatch, Battleborn, and the Sony and Microsoft booths , however, there might have been two times more indie games than triple AAA games at the convention.
These indie games might pass over someone's head and that unique and exhilarating experience might be completely missed. But don't worry, I compiled a couple of the best indie games at 2016.
These games are all varied providing different experience for a wide range of players. If you were at the event, you might have skipped over them as well, so let's start off with our first exciting new indie game — ABZU.
