Play NYC is back baby! It was big, energetic, and full of games, games, games! In case you’ve never heard of Play NYC, you can find out more on their website, but it’s a mini PAX- like event produced by the wonderful PlayCrafting company. It get better every year, so lets take a look at some of the games we liked this time around.
Godwalker
This game caught our eye from across the room, which is no easy feat at a gaming convention. We instantly got Unreal Tournament and old school Quake vibes. Godwalker is fast and and fluid with bright popping colors. Don’t let the FPS label fool you, this game takes the gameplay and flips it on its head. In Godwalker you kill enemies to build up your god meter which in turn enables you to run and move faster while also dealing more damage. You can easily tell when you’re in god mode because the color palette becomes significantly more vibrant. Overall the meter can be upgraded up to five times with each one having a fun name like Godwalker, Godjogger, etc.
There’s a twist though—unlike traditional shooters (and games in general) there’s no healing items or health regeneration. The only way you can regain health is by dishing out damage while in god mode which will, in turn, replenish your HP. We liked this mechanic as it kept us constantly moving with no downtime, all while our game got faster and more chaotic. If this sounds right up your alley, you can check it out here on Steam and take a look at the Josh Hirshfield’s site to see what else he’s up to.
Trellis
Trellis is a game that reminded us of a few games combined. For Daney, it invoked memories of The Witness meets Monument Valley and for me it made me think of Monument Valley meets Hob. I’d say both of those comparisons are good things, although the gameplay isn’t like either combination as we’re referring to the art direction here. Trellis is an iOS game that has you guiding a little robotic planter via a spotlight through various puzzles. Double tapping the spotlight changes it to a black light with which you can pan around the environment to reveal hidden items like switches and other secrets to help you clear each level.
This game is very early in development, although our hands-on time made us think it was nearing completion. That’s a testament to how well polished the demo we played was from the fluidity of the gameplay to the animation and art. As is the case any time we give devs at these events that feedback, we got a chuckle from the team. With no timer or chaotic gameplay (at least that we saw) Trellis seems like it’s growing to be one of those games you can play to unwind after a long day. You can follow them here on Twitter or here on Instagram.
Neon Inferno
On the complete opposite end of the gaming spectrum is Neon Inferno which switches gears from chill to quarter-pounding arcade action. This is a title that reminded us of the side scrolling action games of yore with its loud and proud retro pixel aesthetic coupled with over the top action. This throwback has you shoot, melee, and deflect projectiles from and at various enemies all while keeping things briskly moving to the right. A neat gameplay trick we discovered is when Neon Inferno toys with the traditional 2D plane by having enemies attack you from the background while you’re in the foreground.
When this happens the focus shifts from a standard 2D scroller to something more akin to Gears of War when it comes to ducking behind cover to dodge incoming bullets while dishing out damage from the foreground to the back. According to the developer, Neon Inferno is still in development. You can follow them on Twitter. Their first game, Steel Assault, is already out on Xbox, PS5, Switch, and PC. It looks great, but we didn’t get to try it out yet.
Signal Creek
I’m going to switch to my personal perspective for this one. Signal Creek was my personal favorite game at the expo. The first thing I fell in love with was the zoomed in camera in this pixel art gem. This was one of a few games we went hands-on with which started as a senior project (Godwalker was another for example) and ended up ballooning to something more. The devs and artists were clearly passionate about Signal Creek. They plan on launching it on Steam with a runtime of 3-4 hours and you know what? That sounds fine to me!
The time I spent had me chuckling at the witty writing while adoring the chicken hat the main character’s little brother was wearing. I’m excited for this game to drop so I can enjoy this bite-sized narrative adventure and—there may be the possibility for other stories in the future. Maybe. See what you think by grabbing the demo for macOS or Windows over on itch.io or following them on Twitter (have you noticed we refuse to call it X).
The Spirits of Whisper Moon
Another game very early in development, The Spirits of Whisper Moon feels like if you took Zelda and forced it to be multiplayer. What we mean by that is before Breath of the Wild shook things up, the classic formula for a Zelda game had you obtain a new weapon with a special ability in order to clear a dungeon. That was the only way to progress. That weapon also had uses throughout the world to solve puzzles or reach places that were previously inaccessible.
The Spirits of Whisper Moon takes that concept but instead ties a single specific ability to each player’s sword, therefore necessitating a party in order to solve dungeons and get through areas. It’s worth noting what we played was extremely early and there were no dungeons or bosses to speak of just yet, but the core idea had us intrigued. You can check out some of the game’s art and gameplay over on their Instagram page.
These were a handful of the games that really caught our eye this time around and we can’t wait for Play NYC 2024. This year’s was the biggest, most diverse, and most energetic expo yet!
