Earlier this year, I had stated that the lineup of games Raw Fury were showcasing at a virtual presentation made up what could potentially be theirstrongest lineup yet. It would appear, however, that someone high up at Raw Fury saw that and thought “No, no, we can make it even stronger,” as evidenced by their lineup at PAX West 2022. The publisher brought along half a dozen amazing games to the event and grabbed the title of the show’s best booth in the process (though not without some stiff competition). Through one booth tour, it became clear that Raw Fury came to play hard, to say the least.
As an appropriate starter, the booth tour began with a look at Tails: The Backbone Predules, a series of vignettes from Eggnut that serves as a prequel totheir 2021 adventure gameabout a post-noir dystopian Vancouver populated entirely by anthropomorphic animals. The demo game us a peak at the beginnings for all four playable characters, with varying degrees of depth. Future crime boss Clarissa’s portion just consisted of a conversation with their grandfather from when they were a cub. Future P.I. and protagonist Howard experienced their first day of university, getting settled in and talking with their new roommate. Still-married journalist Renee had something meatier, though, as they had to report on a fire and a shooting, referencing the articles they had available on their computer and discussing with their husband if they believe there was actually anything suspicious going on. Definitely some of the more detective-style stuff this series needs.
The most notable, though, was the portion of the demo revolving around a new character to the Backbone universe: Eli, a scientist currently on an expedition to uncover something beyond the walled city. Granted, I don’t think I can go into detail about what might have been uncovered without spoiling the first game, but let’s just say Eli may have the most important role this time around. His section consisted of the typical dialogue options, as seen in the last game, and some interactions with the dig site’s equipment. It might not sound like much, but it was still enjoyable, especially since Eli seemed like an interesting character that I’d like to see more of.
What makes Tails: The Backbone Preludes interesting, though, is that there seems to be an even larger emphasis on branching paths this time around, with a chart showing the paths you took at the end of each story and choices that allow you to select certain attitudes and personalities for each character that open up more options later on. It does make one scratch their head a little when you wonder how much impact these choices can have in a prequel (well, save for Eli), but regardless, the game should hopefully provide another round of engrossing stories within its stunning world when it comes out next year.
Next up was another trip into the past…even though it’s technically a trip into the future for the franchise in general. That would be Kingdom Eighties, the latest entry in Fury Studios' popular Kingdom franchise. If you haven’t played any of the games, they’re best described as two-dimensional strategy games where you set off on your horse with a bag of coins in order to build your kingdom, making sure to keep its defenses up so that your kingdom doesn’t fall when monsters attack at night, and making sure they don’t steal your crown as well. I admit that I’ve only dipped my toes into these games, but I was looking forward to see what this new angle brings.
Outside of some aesthetic details like your horse now being a bike, your first “kingdom” being a summer camp, the main characters now being a batch of kids and such, it didn’t seem like much had changed at first. Heck, even the recurring villain from the series, the Greed, were returning. But it was still a load of fun, zooming through the woods as quickly as possible, paying kids to join the camp and have them become archers or builders, and trying to manage everything in general. One notable event, though, involved a fellow teenager who had apparently lost their trophy, and seemed to not have the will to join and fight until it was found.
With the effort of some of the kids in our camp, we were able to retrieve the trophy, though, and return it. Our new party member was then able to help us move the nearby dumpster being used as a barricade, allowing archers to advance further as it moved and hopefully destroy a Greed portal in the process. Kingdom Eighties is described as having a narrative approach in mind this time around, and this early scenario hinted at some of the possible bits of story to come across. It’s a nice touch, and the 1980s aesthetics work perfectly with Kingdom’s pixel art and retro touches. So we may have to wait for a greater look at the game to see where the narrative can go to, but it should still make for another fun game overall when it comes out later this year.
The game following afterwards was apparently a last-minute addition to Raw Fury’s PAX West lineup: Dome Keeper, from developer Bippinbits. It’s sudden addition could possibly be chalked up to it being Raw Fury’s next big release, coming out later this month. Much like Kingdom Eighties, it can also be described as a two-dimensional strategy/management game with pixel art, except Dome Keeper sees you traveling vertically instead of horizontally, and instead of fending of attacking monsters with child archers, you do so here with a giant laser. Amazingly, though, a giant laser alone doesn’t cut it, so you need to travel beneath your dome into the alien planet below in order to mine for materials needed to upgrade the dome, the laser and yourself.
Dome Keeper is essentially divided into two sections: the part where you burrow underground, Dig Dug-style, hunting for materials and bringing them back to the dome, and the combat on top when the monsters come, which has you moving a laser back and forth in order to fend them off and stop them from destroying the dome. The gameplay loop quickly becomes apparent as survival requires a strengthened dome, so you have to upgrade it using materials gathered, but the more you mine downward, the farther you are from the base, ground becomes more difficult to drill through, and carrying up more resources at once slows you down. So you also need to invest in upgrades that allow you to move faster, drill harder, utilize a form of radar to detect where more materials are, etc.
Overall, it’s a gameplay loop that’s simple yet highly effective, making for some addictive stuff. Attempts to locate those precious minerals needed for repairs or a new upgrade before the next attack begins make for nicely tension-filled scenarios, the control is smooth and easy for anyone to get into, and different combinations of upgrades and types of domes to unlock allow for a lot of replayability. I look forward to getting addicted to a lot of Dome Keeper when it comes out on September 27.
The lone game returning from the aforementioned virtual lineup was Superfuse, which makes sense, given that it’s been billed as Raw Fury’s biggest game yet. That statement does sound odd to me, if only because while Superfuse does have all the makings of a top-quality action RPG, it’s also probably my seventh-most anticipated game from Raw Fury at this point. But that’s just me, and the Diablo-style take on a comic book dystopia where you mix up your own blend of superpowers no doubt appeals to a ton of other gamers as well. Developers Stitch Heads Entertainment have been hard at work crafting an engrossing world to play in.
That said, not much about the core gameplay in Superfuse has changed between when we last previewed the game last and this latest demo, so there isn’t much new to report. Well, save for the new class on display, the Elementalist. As the name might suggest, this is a class dealing in element-based moves, like summoning ice walls for defense or lobbing fireballs at enemies. Like before, though, the fun comes in modifying existing attacks. One upgrade later, and suddenly the Elementalist could spawn entire waves of flames heading in different directions, which made taking out hordes of aliens a breeze. So this is shaping up to be one for fans of the genre to check out or for fans of gleefully insane attacks that wreck everything in one’s path.
Brainwash Gang’s deathmatch-focused deckbuilding FPS Friends vs Friends was fifth on the list, and it was one of my most anticipated games heading into PAX West, having made more than a memorable introduction at Gamescom. And now having played the game, I think there’s a chance it may have emerged as my favorite game of PAX West 2022 overall. Which i odd, since one could say it had one of the shortest demos of any game at the show. Of course, that’s only if you played one match. And I kept coming back for another match. And another. And another. Every match was a quick burst of insane joy that I just wanted more of.
The setup in Friends vs Friends is simple: you have a deck of cards, so does your friend. At the beginning of each best-three-of-five round, you’re dealt a hand of cards from your deck. These cards determine what weapons you’re able to summon for this round, what buffs you can give yourself, and what debuffs you can dish out. Now you have to use these cards and use them in whatever way you feel is best when it comes to taking out your opponents. So being sent into the rooftops against my rival, I began checking out what cards were in this demo’s particular decks and what we could have fun with. And there’s a lot to have fun with.
What to transform into a giant? You got it. Want to give your opponent a ’90s-style big head to make for an easier target? Sure. Want to use a card that briefly has your opponent’s brains levitate above their head, allowing for a chance at a killshot? Heck yes. Or just give yourself a katana, a shotgun, vampire bullets, reduced damage and more. Hell, at one point the whole arena got nuked, suddenly transporting us to a wasteland for the rest of the match. Not sure if that was a card the other player used or not, but it was amazing. There are just so many fun cards to toy with here and trying to collect the ones needed for a deck perfectly suited to your tastes seems like it’ll be an enjoyable task leading to a ton of strategy.
But while Friends vs Friends has room for a lot of strategy, it’s a the quickness of each match, both in fast-paced action and brevity, that can contribute a lot to its addictiveness, allowing for a good chunk of matches to be be played out over a short amount of time. And with ten unique characters to try, each with their own abilities (like being able to double jump or start with certain weapons), a ton of cards to collect, a 2v2 mode to try as well, and more, the replay value is strong here. The only flaw in only have four stages at launch, but more are set to arrive with later updates. Top it all off with a colorful style, a dash of ’90s aesthetics and buttery smooth movement, and Friends vs Friends easily became on of my most anticipated upcoming games.
Last of the tour of Raw Fury’s booth, but certainly not least, it Mr. Sun’s Hatbox, from Kenny Sun. The setup for this stealth platformer is nicely comical, as you go to extremes to get back a single stolen hatbox that the main character tried to deliver to the titular Mr. Sun, even though he clearly doesn’t have much of a problem with the events. What occurs next is a gleefully absurd romp filled with kidnapping, brainwashing, a ton of hats, epic heists and more as you navigate a series of side-scrolling fortresses with roguelike elements.
To address that whole kidnapping and brainwashing part back there, your main takedown attack in Mr. Sun’s Hatbox comes from jumping on an unsuspecting goon’s head, knocking them out and using a Fulton-style balloon to take them back to your base, where you can spend time brainwashing them to join your cause (or you can just kill them or sneak by them if possible, whatever works for you). Alternatively, you can earn new recruits by completing missions, but the kidnapping thing feels more satisfying. Either way, though, you get new characters to play as, with their own sets of positive traits (like being more silent) and negative traits (like having a change to have weapons slip out of one’s hands). But with each successful mission, one of your squad members can level up, negating the negative traits and gaining more positive ones. Should they die, though? Gone forever.
Yes, like any good roguelike, you have to carefully judge the risk/reward factor here, though you also have to manage your base, adding various to it and upgrading, allowing your squad to recuperate in between missions. So sometimes this might mean having to send out an operative that’s more green, but hopefully you’ve also banked a good combo of hats and weapons to give them. You can Fulton out other gear as well, including different guns, and swap hats as you come across them, which come in a nicely wide variety. There’s spiked hats to damage enemies, whore mirror hats to deflect shots and more. And indeed, don’t be fooled by the simplistic style, as the stealth here involves you having to deal with security cameras and enemies with a greater range of sight, all of which put up a nice challenge.
After completing a few successful infiltrations and securing some map pieces, the demo led to one big heist where we had to steal a crown from the enemy base. Things weren’t pretty for the longest time, as more than a few operatives were lost due to inexperience, but in the end, I was able to successfully grab the crown and beat a path for the exit. It was some exiting stuff that required a good amount of thinking and sharp reflexes, and I can’t wait to hopefully uncover the mystery behind the importance of Mr. Sun’s Hatbox when it comes out next year (five bucks says the secret is that it has a nice hat in it).
And so that was Raw Fury’s showing at PAX West 2022, which was a cornucopia of gaming delights, even without some of their other notable game in the pipeline, but I suppose there was only room for so much (heck, they were still cramming in pamphlets and pins for their upcoming monster-catching RPG Cassette Beasts). There’s not much else to say here, especially given how long this has all been, but now I wonder if the publisher is still saving their greatest-est fury for a future event…
