PAX East 2022: Gori Splatters PAX Show Floor

My game dev professor once said to me, a game is only as good as it feels. I kickflipped my way into Gori on the PAX East 2022 expo hall floor while wandering the unsurprisingly post-bovid, spacious areas of the convention. The sign on the booth said Wired Productions, their game poster had a massive 3D rendered cat with a jacket and a hoverboard. Its art style seemed unique and cocky, which was right up my alley. Then I saw a console demo open. I was drawn to it as if I was stuck in an alien spaceship’s tractor beam.

When I picked up the controller, I knew I was in for something entertaining but I had no idea what was in store. The demo’s introductory cutscene was a wonderful greeting to the violent and ridiculous world of “Gori: Cuddly Carnage”. The ship it took place on talked, a robot spoke, and both were arguing, as if a claptrap bot got into a showdown with another of its kind. Soon I was thrust out of the Guardians of the Galaxy-esque humor shuttle, and into a cyberpunk themed planet filled with mutant unicorns, and a giant teddy bear jack-in-the-box ready to devour my soul with its enormous hellspawn teeth.

Like I said before, a game can only be as good as it feels. And controlling Gori in this hellscape dystopian nightmare of carnage, felt incredible! 

Controlling Gori felt natural. With only a few button presses he can spin blades out of his board to slay his ungodly grotesque enemies, and smash them to bits with blunt force trauma. Neon rainbow rails can be grinded as easily as a game from Tony Hawk, and the movement quality did not drop on or off it. 

I mean…

Seriously…

Gori fucking kicks ass.

I don’t know how they did it, but slaughtering unicorns and giant teddy bear jack-in-the-boxes feels amazing. And I mean uniquely amazing in which my memory cannot fathom another game that controlled this well. The graphics popped and the characters were unique and recognizable, charming, funny, hideous, and dare I say cute. 

I did not notice a single frame drop in this demo. When I asked if review codes went out, I was told some news I did not expect.

A game demo that felt this polished, was only an alpha and would not be ready for review until a few more months at the least. But when that day comes, you bet your sweet ass I’ll be ready for it. And you’ll only be able to read about it right here at the greatest gaming news site on the east coast.

I hope anyone reading this that was at PAX had an amazing time, and I can’t wait to tell you more about this game.