It’s been a really tough past couple of years, hasn’t it? All of the pandemic scares and the societal upheavals that came with them really haven’t been good for anyone, have they? I don’t know about you all, but I’ve been dying for things to finally start getting back to normal, and I finally got a taste of it at Tokyo Game Show 2022 last weekend!
I was at TGS 2022 this weekend to get hands-on time with as many of the big, upcoming releases as I could. More than that though, I just wanted to experience a proper gaming convention again. My last full-scale convention was PAX West 2017, and it’s been so frustrating to not see even an opportunity to go to something like it for the past couple of years. There’ve been very small-scale shows like BitSummit 2021 and TGS 2021, but this is the first pre-‘rona style show since the whole ordeal began. It truly was a sight for sore eyes!
It’s amazing just how much stuff was here! Persona, Forspoken, Like a Dragon: Ishin, Sonic: Frontiers, Alone in the Dark, Crisis Core, the list goes on and on! There was a massive indie section, a student section that was just as big, all the merch you could ever want, and thee place was absolutely filled with fellow video game enthusiasts!
I tried all of the games listed above, and they were all at least interesting. I must say though, I wasn’t very impressed by either Sonic Frontiers or Forspoken. The former just felt awkward to play, while the latter is every generic fantasy game I’ve seen before. It’s technically sound and functional, but everything about it screamed “bland” to me. Like a Dragon: Ishin was pretty hype though, and Alone in the Dark has me hopeful that it’s story will be good at the very least.
Besides the indie section though, which had a lone fun, original games like River Tails and Summer Road, I think THQ Nordic kind of stole the show overall. It’s not so much that their games were great, but that they decided it was necessary to set up a full wrestling ring and host AEW exhibition matches each day of TGS. It didn’t make any sense, but it was awesome all the same!
With all of the digital events we’ve seen over the past couple of years, I was afraid that events like this were a thing of the past. Thankfully, it seems that that notion was wrong. The big gaming conventions are coming back, and it is glorious!
Are you psyched to see things going back to normal? Will you be attending a PAX or similar event within the next year or so?
photos by Hatmonster
VIRTUAL BASTION 