Let me say first off, that PAX Aus 2017 was my first PAX ever. For a gaming fan like myself, I can’t even begin to explain how this is the case, as stepping onto that show floor for the first time made me truly feel like was home. It was a glorious feeling, and one that I was kicking myself for not having experienced before. But nonetheless, it’s safe to say that my first experience was a truly memorable one, and rain hail or shine, I’ll most definitely be making an effort to get back to next year.
But as PAX is full of so many things to do, it seems immediately impossible that you can’t cover everything in one day. And to be quite honest, you can barely cover everything in THREE!
Without further ado, I present to you five of my favourite things this year’s PAX had to offer.
Far Cry 5
Firstly, simply having the chance to play Far Cry 5 was awesome as I’m a huge fan. Far Cry 3 is one of my favourite games. But lately, the Far Cry series has been a little flat in my opinion. Not bad, but flat. Far Cry 5 aims to fix all that. In the 15 minutes I had with it, Far Cry 5 managed to take me through a journey in which I liberated a town, met cool new allies and took to the skies in a plane. I appreciated the new setting and revitalised feel, and am very confident that this new Far Cry will be one to remember.
PAX Rising
A huge section of the show floor dedicated to indie developers and their projects? That is PAX Rising, and it’s awesome. While I tried too many games to remember or even count, just passing by a booth for a developer to pull you over and ask you to try their game was an awesome feeling, not only because I got to play awesome games, but because I could tell how passionate all these developers were. It made me realise the hard work that goes into games development, and made me appreciate the fact that a game even gets made in the first place.
God of War behind closed doors look
I was sad that photography was not allowed in the behind closed doors look at the new God of War. But that doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to talk to you about it. While most of what we saw has been scattered throughout previous trailers and gameplay footage, we got a deeper look at combat, which promises to be just as fast and chaotic as it ever was, despite the new up close camera angle. We also got to see how Kratos’ son Atreus affects combat, and it seems that we technically do have some control over his input in combat, choosing when to fire his arrows at specific enemies. But I walked out feeling super excited for God of War, and I cannot wait for what we see next.
Monster Hunter World
I am not a Monster Hunter fan. I’ve actually never played one. So I technically have not idea why I waited an hour in line to play it. But as a favour to a friend, we waited. As I sat down, I now regret the fact that I have never played a Monster Hunter game. The feeling of looking for clues and tracking your target was an awesome build up to meeting your targeted foe was an epic feeling. Every encounter felt so epic and the world felt huge. Walking away from my 15 minutes with it, I was left wanting to go back and play more, and that can only ever considered be a good thing.
Panels
First let me say that I loved every single panel. Panels covering topics of game journalism, having fun criticising games, and watching game journalists read mead comments was not only hilarious, but surprisingly informative. Being an aspiring game journalist myself, it was amazing to hear what I consider industry idols like Lucy O’Brien had to say about getting into the industry, but also dealing with the stresses and pressure the job can bring. And to top it all off, the fact that someone like Lucy O’Brien, who I see all the time on IGN was in front of me was just ridiculous and I was incredibly starstruck.
Overall, PAX Aus 2017 was a most memorable and informative experience which I will most definitely look to attend next year, and would recommend to any gaming fan.
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