-My name's Elise Favis.
I work for Launcher.
I'm here with my friend KK Slider at PAX East.
Despite growing concerns of the coronavirus
and Sony backing out of the show just a week prior, PAX East
ended up drawing thousands to its annual convention in Boston,
and it had many great games.
Here are nine of the best we saw.
"Maquette" is a puzzle game and a love story.
You walk through a garden that occasionally
has text written across the walls,
and it tells the story of a broken relationship.
-I'm Kenzie. -I'm Michael.
-Through this garden, you'll find a diorama of a tiny garden.
Placing objects in the small diorama
will manipulate the bigger garden around you.
That might sound confusing, but it's actually pretty cool.
It's also a concept we've never quite seen before.
-"Animal Crossing: New Horizons" had a demo at PAX East,
and eager fans lined up not just to play,
but also for photo ops at a life-sized island
at Nintendo's booth.
We got a chance to play, too,
and our first impressions are strong.
Streamlined customization for your home,
terraforming, sleek island design,
and impressive improvements to buildings like the museum
makes the series look better than it ever has.
"DOOM" has long had frenetic action in its series,
but there's a very clever evolution to "DOOM Eternal,"
the new game.
It's mobility.
You can now climb walls while fighting,
double-jump to access better vantage points, and so on.
Everything just feels really great and smooth.
"Spiritfarer" is an indie darling
that absolutely stole my heart.
This is a beautiful, relaxing game
that tasks you with befriending spirits
as you journey from one island to the next.
Your boat needs improvements
to convince spirits to stay with you.
You spend your time collecting materials, solving quests,
and then adding buildings like tailors and homes
to your boat that topple over one another like towers.
"Outriders" is an RPG shooter in space
from the makers of "Bulletstorm."
It blends cover-based shooting with superpowers,
like being able to teleport behind an unknowing opponent
to take them out or burn them to a crisp with fire abilities.
Although the premise of the story feels all too familiar --
it's a sci-fi story about the world ending --
the breadth of powers
and their low cooldowns bolster the experience.
"Hardspace: Shipbreaker" is a sci-fi simulation game
that is also a commentary on blue-collar workers.
-We live in an age of rapid progression.
-You're basically at the mercy of your employer,
and they're sending you to salvage parts
from valuable ships in outer space.
It's very dangerous work,
but you have cutting-edge technology to help you out,
like laser tethers and cutters.
It's also a game that is centered around a menial task,
but that's definitely a trend we've been seeing in video games
for a while now, like in "Stardew Valley."
-Salvaging massive starships from every corner of the galaxy.
-Fall Guys" is an entertaining online-multiplayer game
where 60 players compete against one another in a giant arena
that looks more like a virtual obstacle course or jungle gym.
You play through absurd minigames,
like bashing your character into a series of doors,
in hopes to be the last one standing.
We didn't get a chance to play "Baldur's Gate 3,"
but we still saw it in action as Larian Studios founder
Sven Vincke played through a portion of the game.
-So, for comedial effect, I'll just throw my boost --
maybe I'll actually just kill him.
-Good work, good work.
-It's been 20 years
since the last installment of "Baldur's Gate."
This classic series from Bioware
has Dungeons & Dragons as part of its DNA.
-There's a lot of dice-rolling going on behind the scenes,
as you'll soon see.
We translate the dice rolls into percentages
so that you don't have to do all the mathematics yourself.
-And we're seeing this relationship
even deeper this time around,
along with influences from Larian Studios'
"Divinity: Original Sin 2."
-What's the matter with you?
Has that tadpole scrambled your brain already?
-Last, but not least, Harmonix is no stranger to music,
and they do an excellent job with their newest game, "Fuser."
"Fuser" puts you in the shoes of a festival deejay
where you blend together pieces of songs.
Impressive technology lets you fuse songs
that wouldn't normally go well together
into something entirely new.
♪ Now you only say that 'cause I'm not around ♪
♪ Not around ♪
♪ You know I never meant to let ♪
It's not challenging,
but it is extremely rewarding and entertaining to see
what kind of Frankenstein-like creation
you can make from these different pieces of songs.
-Nice.