All Articles: PAX East 2017

Here’s the first trailer for SteamWorld Dig 2… launching this Summer on the Nintendo Switch

Posted on February 28, 2017 by John Scalzo

Developer Image & Form has been talking up their Nintendo Switch debut and a new entry in the SteamWorld series for a few months now. But… surprise, surprise… the two games are actually one and the same.

SteamWorld Dig 2 will pick up right where the first game left off and launch for the Switch this Summer. According to an FAQ on their official website, Image & Form also plans to bring the game to other platforms later in the year:

Grab your pickaxe and dig into the sequel to the award-winning SteamWorld Dig! A platform mining adventure forged in MetroidVania flames. In search of her lost friend, a lone steambot and her unlikely companion must dig deep, gain riches, and explore an underworld riddled with danger. But time is running short…

In addition to viewing the debut trailer, fans will get a chance to go hands-on with SteamWorld Dig 2 at a number of conventions and conferences this Spring including the Game Developers Conference (which kicked off on Monday in San Francisco) and PAX East (which opens its doors in Boston on March 10).

Posted in News, Switch | Tagged , ,

Graveyard Keeper brings medieval cemetery management to PC, Xbox One in 2017

Posted on February 24, 2017 by Brittney Williams

Have you ever wanted to play a game about graveyards and capitalism with a medieval twist? Yeah, neither did I, but then I learned about Graveyard Keeper, a strange new game in production at Lazy Bear.

Graveyard Keeper is a unique take on the simulation genre, challenging players to take control of a medieval graveyard and transform it into a booming business. In doing so, players will be faced with making tough, ethically compromising decisions, all in the name of capitalism.

You, the caretaker, will have the option to explore beyond the graveyard, venturing into mysterious dungeons and the surrounding area, in search of resources that will help to make your business better. You will also be faced with choices, both dark and comedic, such as whether to team up with the local vampire and provide him with the blood of those buried in your graveyard. Players can even go the extra mile by crafting poisons with the resources they’ve found, in order to murder villagers and fill up those empty plots.

To expand your graveyard business, players can even host a Witch Burning Festival and feed the villagers the recycled meat of their dead loved ones, in order to cut operation costs. Or you can take the opposite path and scare the locals into attending church.

Graveyard Keeper will be available on the Xbox One and PC sometime in 2017. It’ll also be playable within the TinyBuild booth at the 2017 PAX East convention, which begins on March 10.

In the meantime, check out the first trailer above, as well as a handful of screenshots and a GIF of some rather unsanitary body dumping, after the break. (more…)

Posted in News, PC, Xbox One | Tagged ,

More than 80 games will be on display in the Indie Megabooth at PAX East 2017

Posted on February 24, 2017 by John Scalzo

PAX East 2017 will open its doors in exactly 336 hours, and the Indie Megabooth has finally announced which games it’ll have on display at the Boston-based convention this year.

Dozens upon dozens of indie titles will get a chance to shine in a couple of weeks, including some of our favorites from years past. We selected Vertex Pop’s Graceful Explosion Machine, Hypersect’s Inversus, and Pocketwatch’s Tooth & Tail for our Best of PAX East 2016 roundup and all of them will be on display in the Indie Megabooth this year. Refactor, an alumnus of our Best of PAX East 2014 roundup (when it was known as Tetropolis) has also earned a spot in the PAX East 2017 edition of the Indie Megabooth.

The Indie Megabooth continues to grow and change, and this year, in addition to the Minibooth area and the Tabletop area, it’ll also have a “Visual Novel Reading Room” within its carpeted confines for PAX East attendees.

You can find the full list of games set to be included in the Indie Megabooth at PAX East 2017 after the break. (more…)

Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One | Tagged , , , , ,

Get a quick glimpse at Tom Savini’s “Custom Jason” in Friday the 13th: The Game

Posted on February 20, 2017 by John Scalzo

Friday the 13th: The Game will feature several incarnations of Jason Voorhees (including “Burlap Sack Jason” from Part 2, “Original Hockey Mask Jason” from Part 3, and “Zombie Jason” from Jason Lives), but fans who pre-order the game will also receive access to a “Custom Jason” created by special effects wizard Tom Savini.

The trailer for Savini’s “Custom Jason” doesn’t reveal much about the character’s redesign, but the glowing eyes are fairly terrifying. As is the way his tattered costume seems to show a ridgeline of spikes across his shoulders and the claw-like design of his hands. The master at work, ladies and gentlemen.

Savini is best known as the make-up artist behind the original Friday the 13th, as well as Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. As one of the most in-demand names in the business in the 70s and 80s, he also contributed gory make-up effects to Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Creepshow, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, and many others.

If you’re interested in playing as Savini’s “Custom Jason” in Friday the 13th: The Game, you’ll need to pre-order it now from the game’s official website.

Friday the 13th: The Game will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One sometime in the Winter/Spring portion of the 2017 calendar. But if you can’t wait that long, developers from Gun Media and Illfonic will host a panel at this year’s PAX East convention that’ll contain “brutal kills, massive reveals, and an in-depth Q/A session.”

Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One | Tagged ,

Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment is finished; Coming to Switch in March and other platforms in April

Posted on February 19, 2017 by John Scalzo

Yacht Club Games has announced (via Twitter) that they’ve completed development on Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment, the latest expansion to their NES-inspired platformer, Shovel Knight. The developer expects to launch Specter of Torment first for the Nintendo Switch in March. It’ll later be available as a free update on all other platforms (3DS, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox One) in April.

The Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove compilation (as well as the Shovel of Hope and Plague of Shadows standalone campaigns) should also be available for the Switch in March, with additional platforms to follow a month later.

Specter Knight’s campaign will actually take place before the events of Shovel Knight, and will depict how The Enchantress was able to recruit the evil Order of No Quarter. If you’re interested in learning how it all went down, Yacht Club Games will be attending this year’s PAX East expo to give fans a taste of Specter of Torment before it launches. The Boston-based convention kicks off on March 10.

Posted in 3DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Vita, Wii U, Xbox One | Tagged , ,

Bethesda will bring Quake Champions, Prey, Elder Scrolls Legends, and ESO Morrowind to PAX East 2017

Posted on February 17, 2017 by John Scalzo

This year’s PAX East expo is just three weeks away, and Bethesda has announced they’ll have four games available on the show floor for attendees to try out including The Elder Scrolls: Legends, The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind, Prey, and Quake Champions:

The Elder Scrolls: Legends
PAX-goers will be able to test their mettle on the go in The Elder Scrolls: Legends, offered for hands-on play on iPad. The free-to-play strategy card game based on the award-winning Elder Scrolls series launches onto Apple’s tablet later this Spring.

The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind
The recently announced new Chapter in The Elder Scrolls Online will be available for the first time for hands-on play, showcasing the game’s new 4v4v4, small-scale PvP mode, Battlegrounds. Attendees will be among the first in the world to try their hands at The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind fast-paced new mode, and will even get a first crack at flexing the powers of the new Warden class.

Prey
Join the team from Arkane Studios for an inside peak at Prey’s exciting sci-fi action gameplay live from the Bethesda Booth stage each day of PAX. Plus, be sure to check the other interactive experiences featured in the booth to prepare for the alien invasion when Prey launches worldwide on May 5, 2017.

Quake Champions
This wait is over – PAX East will be the first opportunity for fans to play Quake Champions, id Software’s latest entry in the Quake franchise, the granddaddy of all eSports shooters. Attendees will test their reflexes – and rocket jumping skills – in fast and frantic 5v5 Team Deathmatch battles. PAX-goers will also be able to sign-up for the game’s exclusive Closed Beta test, coming soon in 2017.

The 2017 PAX East expo will kick off March 10 and take over the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center all weekend.

Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One | Tagged , , ,

Image & Form will release SteamWorld 3 in 2017

Posted on December 24, 2016 by John Scalzo

After the huge success of SteamWorld Dig and SteamWorld Heist, developer Image & Form has fans all over the world. To close out 2016, they gave those same fans something to look forward in 2017. During the most-recent episode of their web series, “The Engine Room,” CEO Brjann Sigurgeirsson and Community Manager Julius Guldbog revealed that SteamWorld 3 (officially known as SteamWorld Project 2017) will be released in 2017.

The third SteamWorld will make its public debut this March at PAX East, as Image & Form also announced they’ll travel to the Boston-based convention for the first time with a playable demo of their next game.

Back in October, Image & Form announced that they’re working on a game for the Nintendo Switch. As of right now, we don’t know if SteamWorld 3 and their Switch project are the same game… though it seems likely. I guess we’ll have to wait until March to find out for sure.

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