PAX 2015 Trailers
As this year's Penny Arcade Expo, better known as PAX, comes to an official close, gaming fans worldwide are still reeling from all the announcements, reveals and upcoming titles unveiled this weekend.
Thankfully, those not able to attend weren't left in the dark, as several game trailers hit the web almost as soon as they were announced. We've gone through and picked out the best trailers to debut at PAX, singling out the ones we felt shouldn't be forgotten on the show floor.
Shovel Knight co-op mode and amiibo
Winning both the oddest and most comical video announcement of the show was a team-up between Yacht Club Games and YouTube stream celebrities Game Grumps to advertise an upcoming cooperative mode for Shovel Knight on the Wii U.
The icing on the cake? Yacht Club also teamed up with Nintendo to produce one of the first third-party amiibo featuring an adorable lil' Shovel Knight, which will be used to unlock the co-op mode as well as other features on the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS versions of the game.
Let's just hope amiibo scalpers don't get wind of this news.
YouTube : https://youtu.be/CBI9kvbaQVQ
Boss Key's LawBreakers
Boss Key Productions, aka "That Company Cliff Bleszinski Left Epic To Make," has finally unveiled its first major production in the form of LawBreakers, a free-to-play shooter set 90 years in the future.
After detailing how Earth's economy, infrastructure and even gravity wind up in shambles after a cataclysmic event known as "The Shattering," LawBreakers backed up its announcement trailer with a gameplay reveal showing off agile assassins, a brutish "Titan" class and, of course, lots and lots o' guns.
YouTube : https://youtu.be/RJ4S5G4nsUI
Necropolis revealed
Harebrained Schemes, the developers behind Shadowrun Returns, showed off their upcoming game Necropolis with a flashy trailer complete with stylish visuals, colorful dungeons and what is hopefully going to be a funky jazz-infused soundtrack. (It probably fits the trailer more than the game, but one can hope!)
Necropolis itself is a rouge-like action game featuring an evolving dungeon that changes and evolves with each playthrough. The trailer even made sure to point out its many perils such as spiked floors, beefy sea monsters and the classic crumbling bridge.
YouTube : https://youtu.be/mmc8jlpvsEw
Sword Coast Legends
Tabletop RPG fans may turn an eyebrow watching the trailer for Sword Coast Legends, an official Dungeons & Dragons role-playing experience that shows off both its single-player campaign and the much more novel "DM Mode." The trailer makes sure to show the ways DM Mode can be used to create original dungeons from scratch, including monsters, traps and story triggers. There's even a giant virtual 20-sided die to make the ensemble complete.
YouTube : https://youtu.be/BwhcROHN-3o
Headlander
Double Fine Productions - the guys behind Psychonauts and Brutal Legend - teaming up with Adult Swim Games is a partnership that just makes so much sense. It's like chocolate and peanut butter or french fries and milkshakes (try it before you knock it). As for the pair's upcoming project, Headlander, Double Fine's trailer shows off a dystopian retro-styled future complete with disembodied heads, lasers galore and lots of chrome. It reminds us of a mix of Flash Gordon and that old PSP game Dead Head Fred - if anyone out there gets the reference.
YouTube : https://youtu.be/01T8Yh9-whQ
Rainbow Mika revealed for Street Fighter V
Capcom revealed the latest addition to their roster for the ever-approaching Street Fighter V with a character from out of left field (read: Street Fighter Alpha 3). Complete with her own announcement trailer, Rainbow Mika joins the ranks of Ryu, Ken and Chun-Li once again, showing off her pro wrestling-influenced move set, complete with the flashy animation flair and outlandish character design that only Street Fighter can deliver on.
YouTube : https://youtu.be/nbDSvRMc9rQ
This War of Mine: The Little Ones
Bringing back both an under-appreciated game and song, the trailer for This War of Mine: The Little Ones features two children making the most of their youth amidst the carnage and debris of war. Juxtaposed by both the children's innocence and The Offspring's "The Kids Aren't Alright," the images of a war-torn suburb blend to solidify the upcoming game's statement that in war, kids are still kids.
YouTube : https://youtu.be/LTqgFFv33Pc
How to Survive 2
2013's How to Survive blend of roleplaying and zombie survival is getting an upgrade in the form of How to Survive 2. Featuring a new locale, four-player co-op, a greater crafting system and more zombies than ever to keep off your base camp, the sequel looks to keep our undead survival fantasies sated. Even better news is that the game is hitting early access in October, so the wait appears to be mercifully short.
YouTube : https://youtu.be/xEnTIRup3Cs
Mutant Football League
The cult classic Mutant League Football is back in 3D and with a slightly tweaked title. In spite of a few modern touches, Mutant Football League looks to still have that brutish charm we first found in our Sega Genesis. Explosions, lethal weather conditions and traps litter the field of this sci-fi football game, and that's before the mutants, monsters and other madmen even get their cleats on. It's not Madden, and that's a very good thing.
YouTube : https://youtu.be/dzbBlYG3J0U
Nintendo's Nindies presentation
On top of Shovel Knight receiving more modes and its own amiibo, Nintendo also highlighted a rather impressive list of indie game support coming to the Wii U and 3DS. Among some familiar faces, such as Kerbal Space Program, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth and Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty, there were some new trailers showing off projects we thought were forgotten about. Namely, we were stoked to see WayFoward's Shantae Half-Genie Hero and Shin'en's FAST Racing Neo, which could very well be the F-Zero spiritual successor we ... I mean, the Wii U, deserves.
