When it comes to covering all the wondrous sights and sounds of PAX East '14, there is simply too much to cover, too much to try and pack into tightly wound articles. However, before I get to the games with deep storyline and thought-provoking concepts... before I get to the games with raw, vibrant artistry, or a concept to play games in an entirely new and revolutionary way...
...can I just talk about the most fun I've had yelling at my friends in a long, long time?Knight Squad was one of those gems that you don't expect: you just either stumble across it or you don't. You know that game, the one that wasn't even on your radar, but you walk by one of your friends playing it at college in the dorm room, or you visit a friends house and see some others crowded about a television to play. However, once you play it, just that once... you need it. You crave it. You need to share it with others.
I was in in the middle of hopping through new games at PAX East in the Indie mega booth section. There were games that played with your perception of reality; there were games that were trying to bring back classic dungeon crawling with a gritty, modern touch. There were games that you could play with just your voice, and games you could play with your brainwaves as your power levels...
...and then suddenly I didn't care anymore. I was screaming at total strangers, 7 of them. How dare they, how DARE they touch that grail in the middle of the board? Why did everyone keep stabbing me when I should be the one doing the stabbing?
Why did one of those knights, the purple one, have a laser gun?
The best way to describe this game is Bomberman sped up and blended together with more immediate chaos and mayhem, with a touch of Pacman thrown in for good measure. It is simple, it is to the point, and in no way is this a bad thing. In matter of fact, its one of the games that stuck with me right away, and was often one of the games I told people they had to stop by and try on the show floor.
I came back the next day with two of my friends to try it out, and as they picked up controllers, asking what the premise was, I just shook my head. There isn't a need to explain this game, which is part of the beauty of it. It explains itself; its distilled into a very pure essence of what a game is supposed to be, something that you can just have fun with. The game's simple style and premise makes sense, when you determine its origins - there was a challenge put forth in 2013 to come up with a prototype game within 48 hours of its announcement. The good people at Chainsawesome Games came up with this, and they won the competition - for good reason, in my opinion.
This was not their PAX EAST 2014 booth, but you can still see the crowd.8 players at the same time on one screen is hilarious.
There is another reason why I find myself enamored to this game - its so rare I can enjoy myself while trash talking anymore. In college, we used to play Halo 1 and 2 through LAN hook ups - sixteen people in a room, or in nearby rooms, playing and shouting and cursing. We knew each other, or at least knew the call signs we played as, by name. We could insult someone for camping, again, or using the rocket launcher, game after game, because we knew them, we built up a report with them. Sure, there were winners and there were losers, but there wasn't this ranking system we now have for online games.
If there is one reason I'm happy to see this game as coming out soon, it would be because of this simple reason - in the half dozen games I got to play, I was trading insults and compliments with other players, laughing as I died, and got revenge. There was an immediate connection with the other people I was playing with, and, even though we were complete strangers, this wasn't seen as aggression, or rage quitting, it was just part of the game. Unlike insults through Xbox Live, or nasty, derogatory insults you can see in some MOBA games, this time it was all just taken in stride. A fun, simple, amazing game, created to let you shout and go all out. After all, capturing the grail is all that matters in life to a knight, right?
This...this won't end well. For anyone.
Fortunately for us, the game has already been Greenlit on Steam, and the developers are hoping to have a finished copy out by early Fall 2014. The developers also said that the version they had at Penny Arcade Expo was actually an early edition, as they are expecting to offer many modes in how to run for objectives and slaughter all before you: we only had access to a very free-for-all multiplayer, or a very bloody team set ups. They are adding mission modes that are co-operatives, and are even planning on putting bosses into the game.
Color me excited. I hope to get into a shouting match with some of you over this game in just a few months, for sure.
-Wyatt
