I almost got to watch the Future Games Show live, and I did catch the end live once I got my Internet to cooperate with me.
They started out with the upcoming horror game Quantum Error, which I was already interested in and actually interviewed the developers about over at another site I run.
I’m not completely sold on Dustborn, but it looks interesting enough for me to keep my eye on it. After that and Ghostrunner, they went to Call of the Sea, another adventure game I’m interested in playing.
The next game was Sherlock Holmes Chapter One, the next adventure game from Frogwares, and even though I’m not crazy about it being open world, I have to admit it the idea of a game starring a young Sherlock Holmes is intriguing. I’ll have to consider it, maybe after I play the Sherlock Holmes games I already have.
I’m not a big fan of shoot ’em ups, but Cygni does look pretty. I’m much more interested in the next game they showed, though, Morbid: The Seven Acolytes. Described as a “gothic RPG” and also “horrorpunk,” it definitely looks like my sort of thing.
As you can see, this show was off to a much better start for me, with so many games right in a row that I liked. The next few after that, I wasn’t quite as interested in. Hotshot Racing, another look at Cris Tales (which I’m interested in, but I just saw it at the PC Gaming Show), Liberated, Neon Abyss, Skater XL, the announcement that GTTOD: Get to the Orange Door is coming to the Xbox One…
Then Waking, which looks potentially cool, Space Crew, and then Maid of Sker. I remember Maid of Sker being announced, and it looks like one I’ll definitely need to check out.
This is where it started to slow down a bit for me.
We had a montage of games, another look at Remnant: From the Ashes – Subject 2923, a game called The Captain is Dead, a game called Main Assembly, another look at Blankos Block Party, a new map coming to Last Oasis, and then a discussion about “the future of gaming” in general.
When they got back to showing games, they featured Wasteland 3 and then Remothered: Broken Porcelain, which I’m curious about, although I haven’t played the first Remothered.
They teased Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Heart of the Forest, then switched to another conversation, this time about cross-play.
After that, they returned with Rogue Company, Outriders, Disintegration, another look at Paradise Lost, a game called Operation: Tango, another look at Kena: Bridge of Spirits from the PS5 showcase, and a sequel to Serial Cleaner called Serial Cleaners.
Of the three shows today, this was probably the one I liked the best, mainly due to horror games. Huh.
Anyway, that wraps up our Future Games Show coverage! We’ve got a bit of a break for the rest of the weekend, but my Not-E3 coverage will return next week! What did you think of today’s news?
I was all ready to watch the Guerrilla Collective show live, but my Internet connection had other ideas. Fortunately, I did catch it after the fact.
They started with System Shock, and then a game called Cardaclysm: Shards of the Four, which amuses me since I recently played a game called Cardpocalypse. Anyway, after that was Uragun, Exo One, Almighty: Kill Your Gods, and Roki.
The next game shown was called Genesis Noir, which combines a creation story with film noir, such a strange combination I’m intrigued by it.
Doors of Insanity sounded interesting until I learned it was a roguelike, and then we got another look at A Juggler’s Tales, followed by a game called Lake, Urban Trial Tricky, and Boyfriend Dungeons. It was another long string of games that didn’t catch my attention much, with Night Call, Colt Canyon, Slay the Spire for iOS, Rigid Force Redux, Outbuddies coming to consoles, and Scourge Bringer.
I was excited to see more of Baldur’s Gate III, and disappointed to hear it’s launching in Early Access in August, maybe.
Disco Elysium is coming to the Epic Game Store, West of Dead was shown next, and Dwarf Fortress is coming to Steam. After showing a game called Valheim, which looks like it could be entertaining, and a Switch version of Dusk, they shared updates for Children of Morta, a mobile version of Moonlighter, and an expansion and board game for Frostpunk.
Next up was Liberated, then a game that looks pretty intriguing called Gestalt: Steam & Cinder.
They showed a game called Swimsanity, No Place for Bravery, and Haven, and then gave another look at Metal: Hellsinger. After that, it was time for Gonner and a new game called Just Die Already: Old People Mayhem Sandbox (yes, that’s really the title).
After that, Paradox took over for Paradox Insider, which… I guess is technically a separate show? They provided looks at Crusader Kings III, Empire of Sin, Prison Architect: Island Bound, Surviving the Aftermath, and Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines 2. That last one, I’m potentially interested in, but I’ll need to play the first one.
So now, let’s talk about the PC Gaming Show!
PC Gaming Show
This year, I was mainly interested in the PC Gaming Show because of the rumors about a Persona 4 Golden PC port. Its Steam page actually popped up before the show even began, so the actual announcement lost some of its impact when we finally got there.
Anyway, they started out with another look at Valheim, a look at Ooblets, and the announcement that Torchlight 3 is currently on Steam in Early Access. After details about Elite Dangerous, it was finally time for the big Persona 4 Golden announcement! I actually finished P4G a few days ago, so you can look forward to my Persona 4 Golden review coming soon if you’re interested in this.
Next was a horror game called In Sound Mind, which also looks pretty good.
After an exploration/city management game called Airborne Kingdom and an RTS called DwarfHeim, there was a lineup of titles from Newblood Games.
There were so many, it was a bit hard to keep track of them all, but the Newblood Games lineup did include Faith, which I played and enjoyed last October. The best part, though, was seeing the website URLs for these games and the company, because they have hilarious URLs.
devilmayquake.com
deaderspace.com
notfortnite.com
and similarly goofy URLs
Next came a strategy game called Humankind, a co-op survival game called Icarus, and then Evil Genius 2: World Domination, which looked entertaining enough.
Godfall looked more interesting than I thought when it was shown before, and Prodeus looks like a classic first-person shooter, but what really caught my attention next was Fae Tactics, a turn-based strategy RPG.
They showed a cute game called Carot, dogfighting game Project Wingman, a toy-themed online game called Blankos Block Party, Everspace 2, and a game called Inkluminati that could be interesting. After that, they showed Toy: A Total War Saga, and then a DLC for Remnant: From the Ashes called Subject 2923.
Then they provided some details about the upcoming Mafia remake, and from there showed a game called Rogue Lords that I’d be more interested in if I liked roguelikes. Similarly, Unexplored 2: The Wayfarer’s Legacy would look more interesting to me if not for that roguelike part.
The Call of the Void update for Dauntless was revealed, followed by a new look at the sandbox game Among Trees, but the next game that interested me is Potionomics, a potion shop sim that kinda reminds me of Recettear.
We got to see more of the very Souls-like Mortal Shell, although they decided to focus on a boss battle, which was… less than exciting and probably not the best look at the game.
Next they showed a trailer for the Shadow Man remaster, which I thought was a surprise, but it looks like it was actually announced earlier this year and I forgot about it.
After Blightbound came a detective game called Shadows of Doubt, and this one looks pretty cool.
The Forgotten City looks interesting, and Paradise Killer has potential as well. Then we got another look at the game Haven, the introduction of Cartel Tycoon, a game called Trash Sailors, and a new trailer for Cris Tales, which looks better than ever (even though I never actually did get around to playing the demo last year like I intended to).
Alaloth: Champions of the Four Kingdoms also looks pretty good.
I’m not especially interested in Weird West, Story of Seasons: Friends of Mienral Town, or New World, but then they actually showed a trailer for Dontnod’s Twin Mirror, which for a while I’d been afraid had been dropped. Next up was yet another look at Metal: Hellsinger.
The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet of Chaos looks potentially fun, but it loses points for making me try to spell that name (I’ll admit that I typed “dungeon of nahbuellek” into Google and let the results correct me).
I wasn’t particularly interested in much of the rest – Red Sails, Surgeon Simulator 2, The Last Campfire, Escape from Tarkov, and The Outlast Trials (although maybe I’ll look into that more if I play the single-player Outlast games) – but then they showed a trailer for Gloomwood (which might have also been in the rapid Newblood montage), and that looks like my sort of game.
And that was the end of the PC Gaming Show. Next up, we’ll be taking a look at the Future Games Show, so stay tuned!
Now it’s time for a break from our Not-E3 coverage for news that isn’t from an E3 replacement… although if Nintendo had its usual Nintendo Direct this year, it very well could have been.
Today, Nintendo dropped an almost 6-minute overview trailer for Paper Mario: The Origami King.
After the initial trailer left people cautiously optimistic, we were all waiting for a better look at the game to answer the numerous questions the reveal left us with.
I figured a solid look at the game would help me make up my mind, but instead I’m more conflicted than ever.
The main questions after the reveal trailer were:
Is Origami King an RPG?
Are partners really back and will they fight in combat?
Are attacks consumable items?
Is “paper” still a major focus of the game?
Will it have a good story?
So let’s take a look at the trailer and see which of these questions we can answer now.
It begins with a summary of the game’s premise, then gets into more specific details. Seeing Mario patch a hole with confetti right ahead of the narrator saying this game takes place in “the paper-crafted universe of the Paper Mario series” is a good sign that yep, they’re still obsessed with paper.
The environments look interesting, although I hope you can interact with NPCs in that oasis town.
About a minute and a half into the trailer, it gets into the question of Origami King’s partners. After Olivia, who appears to be the primary partner a la Tippi/Kersti/Huey, it introduces some others. The Bob-omb, who had everyone curious due to him appearing in multiple environments yet not having a name, is revealed to have amnesia. I suppose that’s why he introduces himself as Bob-omb. The trailer calls him Bobby.
Then there’s a Toad professor named, uh… Professor Toad. Really? They couldn’t give him a name?
And of course, Kamek, since Mario seems to be teaming up with some of Bowser’s allies.
So, will partners fight in combat? According to the trailer, “some of them” will.
The combat system itself looks like it could be okay. It’s not a traditional turn-based combat system, but instead has a puzzle component where you rotate rings to line enemies up. Unfortunately, we see the conclusion of a battle this time, and it shows Mario getting rewarded with coins, so I think there’s a very good chance Origami King does not have experience or leveling up.
Then… we have the bosses.
When I heard the words “Legion of Stationary,” I had a moment of excitement. Had they really introduced not only a new villain, but an entire cast of new villains? Then I saw that the colored pencils shown a moment ago were one of them, and my excitement plummeted into dismay.
Colored Pencils, Rubber Band, and Tape are our villains.
Yes, the bosses include a set of colored pencils and a tape dispenser.
I… I just don’t get it. They’re tripling down on the paper obsession! Remember when the paper aspect of Paper Mario was largely an aesthetic that only came into play from time to time? Now it’s like it’s the whole point! Why are we fighting tape?!
Ahem. Boss battles themselves sound interesting, since they seems to transform the battle into a mini board game puzzle where you have to get Mario close to the boss in order to fight.
Then the trailer shows how you’ll need to find lost, folded Toads and unfold them, because Toad-finding has become another obsession for some reason. Even the narrator lampshades it with the “This is a Toad” speech. Hopefully they’ll at least have funny personalities.
Some more gameplay elements are shown in a Japanese video, including Professor Toad using an ability in the environment and Olivia transforming into a giant turtle for a super attack.
The exploration, mini-games, and other gameplay elements seem like they could be fun, but there’s still so much about Origami King that has me shaking my head.
But wait, there’s more! In addition to the trailers, Nintendo UK’s website has been updated with more Origami King details.
It describes it as a “tear-able” comedic adventure, so I think we know what tone this game is going for.
Now, the story section introduces the main characters, with a paragraph devoted to Mario, Olivia, Olly, Peach, Bowser, Luigi, the Folded Soldiers, and the Toads. A second section talks about the partners, saying “they’ll join you for a time.” This probably means they aren’t permanent companions like in past Paper Mario games, although Bobby might be an exception to that since he’s been consistently shown in multiple areas.
The gameplay section introduces the confetti feature (which is basically a confetti version of painting stuff in Color Splash), mentions that Toad Town will gain new shops and features as you rescue more Toads (and that sounds cool; I like the idea of Toad Town as a hub area), the combat system and boss fights, and then… equipment.
So, are attacks consumable items or not? Judging by the website, it’s a mix.
Your basic Boots and Hammer sound like normal attacks you will always have. Special attacks such as Shiny Boots, however, are separate and must be equipped. They “break after a while,” so it doesn’t sound like they’re one-time consumable items so much as breakable weapons with durability.
You can also equip Accessories to “boost Mario’s skills both in battle and on the overworld.” Does this mean badges are back in Origami King?
That was my first thought when I saw them, but I’m not quite sure. It looks like accessories are split into multiple categories with different tiered accessories in each one, although the last group might be miscellaneous accessories. So I don’t think they’re badges, but a simpler version of that system.
Chances are good those health accessories are why Mario had different amounts of HP in different trailers, rather than any sort of leveling system.
And of course, there’s the “1000 Fold Arms” technique to interact with the paper world at special Magic Circles.
So to revisit our questions again…
Origami King does not appear to be an RPG. There is no sign of experience or leveling.
Partners are back, although most might be temporary, and at least some fight alongside you in battle.
Basic attacks are not consumables, and special attacks are breakable weapons.
The game is obsessed with paper and papercraft. The world is paper! Paper! Fight your nemesis, the mighty tape dispenser! (There’s gotta be a Scissors boss, right?)
I don’t know if the story will be good, but it looks like it’ll be focused on humor and possibly character-focused stories like Bobby’s amnesia. I expect it to be closest to Color Splash when it comes to story progression.
These are my thoughts on the latest Origami King trailers and details, but what about you? What do you think of Paper Mario: The Origami King?
