There was so much going on at EGX this year, whether I saw more games than previous years or not, I’m none too sure. What I do know is that I saw truckloads of great indies! I’ve already talked about a bunch of games as part of my EGX 2018 Report, and while this is a roundup, there will still be more in-depth pieces to come! I didn’t want to let some of the cracking titles I saw not get a moment of my time though. Hit the jump to get a taste of what else was on offer at the show.

Everyone loves a drunken game of pool don’t they? The drunk element is important, as it allows you to hide behind your intoxication when your friends notice how utterly terrible you are at what should, in theory, be such a simple game. What’s better than drunk pool? Virtual pool! Coming early 2019 to all platforms (yes, including Switch), This Is Pool looks set to provide me with the perfect opportunity to hone my skills, before taking them out to the real world and getting mighty drunk.

In all seriousness though, VooFoo Studios (of Mantis Burn Racing fame) are returning with their third pool game, and one that looks like another perfect fit for the Switch. Yes, some elitists might claim that the PC version will have better ball shine, but if the real pool table is busy down your local, why not save you assorted loose change and get cracking with This Is Pool? I had a quick couple of rounds of traditional British pub-pool, you know, with the red and yellow balls, not those stripey monstrosities that the Americans use.

It’s safe to say, if This Is Pool was out right now, I wouldn’t be writing this, and would actually be lying down on my sofa enjoying the satisfying “plop” of a ball being potted.

GRIP: Combat Racing is leaving Early Access, and officially launching on November 6th, so EGX was a great chance for the team at Caged Element to show it off to an attentive audience. The stand seemed busy at all times, helped by being run on some extremely powerful looking PCs. It looked great in action, although I was a dizzy in my first blast with it. I had no idea on whether I should be breaking, or going hell for leather. It seemed that breaking would have been the best course of action, as I ended the race bringing up the rear.

It was fast and furious action, and appeared to have a whole bevvy of game modes to choose from, ranging from time trials to combat filled races, all the way through to full on demolition derbys. I also had a crack with the game on the Switch, though sadly, when hooked up to a TV, it wasn’t looking too hot. Hopefully the team can optimise things before release on Nintendo’s little device, but on the bigger machines, this will be a riot.

Nippon Marathon. I played this with a friendly chap from publishers PQube Games. We had a riot. It made me think of Takeshi’s Castle…on steroids and in videogame form. You can find it on Steam Early Access right now. I’m not sure what else to say!

While This Is Pool might give me a chance at becoming a better pool player, What the Golf? certainly won’t make me a better golfer. It’s an eccentric reinvention of the sport which borrows the shoot mechanic, and throws everything else away.

The short demo I played was great fun, with no two levels the same and a constant re-imagination of what a golf game should be all about. It borrows its influences from all over the gaming world and was just a complete joy to play. Game of the show? Could well have been.

Tick Tock: A Tale forTwo is a game I dearly wanted to play, but the trouble of going to these shows by ones self, is that co-op games aren’t really an option. Tick-Tock is a puzzle game that requires someone else to join in and play, but you won’t need to be playing on the same device to enjoy it. You could be playing on a PC, talking to a friend playing on theirs over Discord. You could play it on your iPad from the bedroom while your friend or partner plays it on the Switch in the lounge. Any combination works, as long as you are able to communicate together, piecing together the different parts of the puzzle you are seeing.

It’s due out in Quarter 1 of 2019, and I’m already trying to workout who I’m going to play it with. You can wishlist it on Steam right now.

There was only a short demo of Honey I Joined a Cult on offer on the show floor, and it is very much in the early stages of development with many enticing, cultish features hidden away from prying eyes.

There are some important things I took away from my time with the game. You can dress up your cult with cute dinosaur hats and a fig-leaf to maintain their modesty. I was sold on it after that! I did play beyond the cult creation screen, and was immediately thinking that it feels a bit like Prison Architect, which is no bad thing at all. You set up your cult in your own image, build your evil base of operations, recruit new members then send them out to carry out essential cult work. Think of Cultist Simulator but with a shiny cute exterior.

Are we entering the era of the cults? Come join The Reticulans when this one launches. (I might let you wear something more than a fig leaf.)