Following on from a pretty epic first day, I was hyped to head back into The Truman Brewery to get playing more games. Join me as I talk through my WASD London 2023 Day Two experience!
WASD London 2023 Day Two
As previously mentioned, I’m breaking the full three-day experience down into three easily digestible written features, as well as three separate videos from each individual day.
Inkle interview
The day started out very strong. I was lucky enough to sit down with the co-founder of Inkle Studios to chat about their new game, A Highland Tale. I’m working on an interview feature all about this.
Joseph Humfrey was an absolute pleasure to interview, he had some pretty amazing stories to tell about what influenced him to make this next game. He also showed it playing on Steam Deck, a platform he very much seems to enjoy.
Starship Troopers: Terran Command
Ah, Starship Troopers. I have a very fond love for this franchise, mainly the book and the films. Well, the first film at least. When I saw that this game would be at the show, I was extremely excited to try it out.
As an RTS fan, it’s great that I can squash some bugs in that style of gameplay. I think there’s so much untapped potential in that universe and I’m always happy to see it being explored. I am less versed in the video game section of Starship Troopers but Terran Command is a great introduction for me. Would you like to know more?
Street Fighter 6 Tournament
Throughout each day, several Street Fighter 6 tournaments took place, with pretty sweet prizes up for grabs. I was around to capture some of the epic moments of one of them. There was plenty of head-to-head action, especially from some series veterans.
I got some cool shots of the presenter doing his thing and even filmed the winner answering some questions about his victory. It was very exciting to film something like this, as I’ve never done it before. There was definitely a buzz in the air from the crowd. The presenter was also really awesome for letting me film him too!
Sounds Like Rain
As I was about to start filming my experience with Sounds Like Rain, one of the developers popped over to say hello. They’d noticed that I was about to film, and wanted to see if I was interested in playing an updated version of the game than what was on the show floor. Obviously, I said yes! He did admit the changes were fairly minimal but it was nice for him to load it up.
For a first game, I was genuinely impressed. The gameplay is smooth and the mining gun used in the game packs a very satisfying punch. This item can be used for both exploration and combat. The main downside of Sounds Like Rain is the placement of the pillars and platforms. Unless I was doing something seriously wrong, the space between them made it very difficult to make the jumps.
Getting to hold a BAFTA award
This is probably the closest I’ll ever get to winning a BAFTA. The previous night, Poncle won two BAFTA awards, and they brought them to the show floor for people to admire. They were even kind enough to let people hold them, something I jumped at the chance to do.
It’s super amazing that Vampire Survivors beat out the likes of God Of War to win such an epic prize. A massive well done to the people at Poncle for doing so!
DC’s Justice League: Cosmic Chaos
Whilst not a big fan of DC or the Justice League in general, I do think they’ve produced a few interesting and fun games. And Cosmic Chaos seems to be one of those games! It features hyper-stylised versions of the most well-known DC heroes on a quest to bring the world back from the brink of chaos.
The stall was so popular today that whenever I tried to get a seat, there wasn’t one available. Now that’s an indication of a fairly enjoyable game right there. One couple even stayed fair for quite some time. That was kind of annoying but also good because they were having so much fun!
Quit Today
Hailing all the way from Taiwan, Quit Today is a side-scrolling beat-em-up. It is centred around office culture and features a great art style and a fluid combat system. Both things are good in a video game!
Seriously though, I’m very interested in experiencing as many games from around the world and I don’t think I’ve ever played one from Taiwan. Might have to look closer at this one.
Jurassic World Aftermath Collection VR
As I’m sure is obvious, this is another movie spin-off game. One that I was very much looking forward to trying. Mainly for two reasons. One is that it’s a Jurassic World property (which I love), and the other is because it’s a PSVR2 game.
This was my first time with a PSVR2 headset and I’m gonna be honest, I’m very impressed with the kit. Still not enough to buy one myself as it’s still way too expensive. But maybe something to buy in the future. Haha. Overall, another absolutely fantastic day. I feel like I did a bigger variety than what I did yesterday.
