It’s that time again! The Behemoth hype train has rolled into the station. In typical, but exciting fashion, I arrive and my appointment to play Game 4 is on an oversized arcade cabinet. Game 4 is the newest untitled game (Now titled Pit People) from The Behemoth and is a turn based strategy game on a hexagonal grid. The open world map uses a fog of war system(clouds) that moves around so that you can only see a small proximity around your character.
From the moment the demo began, the narrator had my full attention. The humor and wit were an amazing addition to the on-screen antics that fans have already come to love. Then in comes the main character, Horatio, a blueberry farmer who is getting attacked by a large group of enemies. During the battle the narrator makes it very clear that he is against all actions the player is taking. This presents the feeling of not just fighting enemies in the games, but the narrator itself and sets a brilliant tone for the story ahead.
As I continue to move along, the first new party member is introduced, a princess named Pipistrella who the narrator makes you share your blueberries with. Tough break Horatio. After this, the player finds out that there is a weapon and armor strength and weakness system. Swords are weak against helmets while maces are strong against them and so on. Finally it is time to head to the city which is the main hub of the demo and possibly the whole game. In the city a cyclops named Yosef shows up who becomes Horatio’s soul-mate, an arena is seen as an option, and an NPC appears to give the party a house.
At the end of the demo, since the next appointment had not arrived yet, I was given the opportunity to keep playing. I threw the headset back on and was ready to push further into the game to see what I could find out. At this point i went back out on the map and explored and tried to fight some more powerful enemies while using some of the newly equipped items I had looted during my main demo adventure. There are quests, an arena to fight in, and even new party members to recruit.
After playing and speaking to a few others that had just played, this is one of the games at PAX East 2015 that I am most excited for. While I am not sure if there will be the full replay value that a game like Castle Crashers had, it will definitely be something that I will recommend to all of my friends and colleagues upon release.
