EGX Rezzed is my absolute favourite gaming event to go to. It’s hosted in London across a weekend in April and is the little sibling of the much larger EGX gaming event that’s held up in Birmingham. Rezzed is all about the indie games and I love that it’s a lot less crowded than the Birmingham one. You don’t have all the hype and excitement that you get at the larger event but what you do get is the ability to sit down, play some really unique games and actually have a chat with the developers who built those games. There’s usually a #gameaudiodrinks event held after which is good fun to go to and the industry networking event in the evening is an absolute blast too. Just make sure you’re not too hungover for the next day of games.
Here’s the list of my favourite games from this year’s event.
Yooka-Laylee
I queued up for about 10 minutes to play Yooka-Laylee. It was the only game I had to wait in line for at the entire expo and was the very first game I tried. I got about 5 minutes of play time with it and was really impressed. Its visual style is bright, colourful and adorable. Even the monsters in the game are cute and make funny little noises when they spot you. It almost makes you feel bad for fighting them. The gameplay was like playing an old platformer with collectables, puzzles, treasure and unlockable areas. I also noticed that the frame rate was incredibly smooth with not a hint of stutter anywhere. There’s no voice acting in this game, just cute little noises from enemies and NPCs when you talk to them. My only criticism is it would have been nicer to have a wider variety of noises for each character. It got a little grating when talking to one NPC. I’m really excited to play the game when it comes out and can’t wait to hear Grant Kirkhope’s soundtrack.
Release date: 11th April 2017
Elex
Elex is a science/fantasy crossover RPG game set in a post-apocalyptic world after a meteor strike. You’re armed with guns and various swords to fight off dinosaur-like monsters and other humans that are out to kill you. The premise was fun but I think there needs to be a bit more polish before the game is released as the frame rate was a bit clunky when running through the environment, but when you stopped, the views were magnificent. Combat felt solid and was difficult enough that even the first enemy I encountered gave me a bit of trouble. I wasn’t too keen on the camera view and felt it was a bit far away from the character but hopefully this will be an option in the final game. The music really added to the atmosphere of exploration and ramped up nicely when you got into combat. I died very quickly because I shot a guard and fell off a bridge in my attempt at getting away.
Release date: Later this year
Scanner Sombre
Scanner Sombre was a game that really stood out for its sound design. It’s created by Introversion Software, the same people who made Prison Architect and is a game where you explore a cave with a scanner. I’m not sure of the premise behind why you have to explore the cave, but I enjoyed doing so. It’s pitch black and you find your way through the cave system by scanning the environment around you. This creates beautiful particles of light on your screen where the cave walls are. The light starts of red when you’re right next to an object and quickly fades to blue the further away you get, eventually created a stunning view of the cave system you’ve just walked through. Definitely, a game to play with headphones to really get the atmosphere of the damp cave you’ve found yourself in.
Release date: TBC
Aerea
Aerea was a fun music-themed action RPG that stood out for its bold colours and art style. I played as Jacques the Cello-Knight, fighting through a forest of monsters with my bow as my sword and cello as my shield. The boss at the end was a hilarious but still quite creepy giant bagpipe spider whos special attack was blowing me away with the pipes sticking out its body. It looks like local multiplayer is also available which is great to see on modern games.
Release date: TBC
Polyphonia
Polyphonia was more of a VR experience than a game. You’re able to manipulate the objects floating around in the virtual space by grabbing them and twisting either of your hands around. Doing this change the shape and colour of your object which also affected the game’s music. Filters would be applied and taken off, beats would get louder and other instruments would fade in and out depending on what combination of shape and colour you had. Occasionally a small array of drums would float in front of you that you could whack to play along with the music. It’s good to see a developer experiment with sound and music in a game.
Release date: TBC
Redeemer
This game was a good one. It’s a top-down action game that’s brutal, fun, and challenging, all in the right doses. Definitely an 18 rated game because of the insane violence and numerous ways to kill people. You play as Vasily, a monk who’s somehow got himself dragged back into his previous world of violence. The fighting is solid with enough weapons to switch between to make you want to plough your way through even more enemies. Guns have very limited ammo and I spent most of my time attacking guards with their own electrified batons. The environment served as a good backdrop to admire and to then slam enemies into.
Release date: Spring 2017
Bee Bee Q
This game was a ridiculous amount of fun. Player one plays in VR as a fat, bald, English man just trying to make his BBQ while the other players play as bees trying to land on his skin and sting him. Player one has to swat them away with various utensils before they manage to land on him. When the time’s up, you see who got more points. This would be great for parties. The VR player did seem to hit themselves on the head occasionally while trying to swat the bees away.
Release date: Later this year
Perfect
Perfect was the last game I tried at EGX. It was more an experience than a game though and gave me a stunning landscape to relax in for 5 minutes. I spent my time admiring the mountains in the distance, watching the fish in the lake and skimming stones across the water. I can definitely see this as a pleasant experience to come home to after a day at work. Now I just need to save up for an HTC Vive.
Release date: Out now
The day ended with meeting up with some great people at Game Audio Drinks. It was good to see some friendly faces and meet new people who also had a passion for music and audio in games. I left at a reasonable time and took in the sights around me on my half an hour walk back Waterloo.