As recently highlighted by our own James Cunningham, the landscape at Focus Entertainment has shifted over the years, with the publisher now dealing in an evenbigger variety of games to publish. Unsurprisingly, this was evident at PAX East, where they had quite the spread of games on display. While Deck13’s upcoming action-RPG gameAtlas Fallenwas clearly the biggest draw – and expect a more in-depth preview of that sometime soon as well – there were still other notable games as well that deserved just as much coverage as well, including a pair of action-packed sci-fi delights that we got to experience.
One of these delights, Dream Powered Games' Warstride Challenges, is an FPS that’s actually available in Early Access right now for all to check out, and has a major update right now that adds more levels and weapons. We only got an initial taste of it, but was enough to at least leave me wanting to check out more. There wasn’t much of a plot right now, just “here’s a ton of demons, here’s a ton of weapons, get to killing,” and a goal of killing them all and making it to the exit as fast as possible. I suppose there arguably isn’t much to say here, just that it’s another fast-aced shooter gem that has you sliding and jumping around as you find every time-saving shortcut possible.
I will say that the emphasis on more parkour-style moves doesn’t showcase its full potential in its early levels. It would be easy to compare Warstride Challenges toNeon White,with both being first-person action games where the goal is wiping out everything in order to earn different medals, even though Warstride Challenges' Early Access release came first. But where Neon White featured numerous wide, open levels to explore, Warstride’s initial levels featured more corridor-based levels, and even with a ghost of a previous player showing how jumping can speed things up, jumping in such a tight space never felt as natural to me. But again, these are just the opening levels, and even as is, the levels are still well-designed enough to be challenging, sometimes leaving you but a second to spare at the end, climaxing with moments where previous levels are sewn together for a greater test of skill. It’s terrific stuff, and it makes one what to check out the later levels even more.
Switching over to some more slower-paced action, we have Hutlihut Games with Void Crew, a co-op game where a crew of up to four spacefarers attempt to defend humanity against a force known as the Hollow. The hook is that each player has to manage different tasks while on the ship, from piloting to manning the guns and performing repairs. Teaming up with two other attendees and one of the developers, we started by getting a tour of the ship’s inner working, learning where each important area is, and setting up initial weapon modules and power sources. When it was time to finally head out on out first mission, we had to accurately set things up for warp speed, and the other crewmates had to actually buckle themselves in to avoid being splats on the wall.
The action first came in when having to clear out enemies around a space wreck before we set out to scavenge for supplies. Stepping into the pilot’s seat, it quickly became even more obvious that proper communication is the key to success here, especially as pilots and gunners have completely different views. With fancy shooting, we were able to wipe out the enemy ships, then strap on some jetpacks and carefully head out to grab some loot. Upon return, we punched it again and found ourselves with a bit of a boss, having to defeat a shielded alien being while it was firing lasers at us and more enemy ships and mines were on the scene as well. This time around, I stepped into the role of the gunner, with another crewmate having set up a minigun, and it was a blast to pick off enemies alongside friends. In the end, we were victorious, though I took one last lap and decided to fix damaged areas on the ship.
Any part of Void Crew would make for a great game on its own, arguably, but when blended together and combined with multiple players, it makes for a satisfying experience, especially with every bit of gameplay controlling perfectly. Between this and Warstride Challenges, Focus Entertainment showcased even further how they’re switching gears into delivering an even larger variety of games, and we can’t wait to see what else they help publish in the future.
