PAX South 2017: Day Two Recap – Dauntless, Dreadnought, & Rooster Teeth

Attention, Internet! Day two is done, and the madness is slowly funneling into my brain! But that’s okay because there were phenomenal cosplayers (even more than yesterday) a lack of a media entrance, and so many great games!  My favorites today were probably Dauntless, Dreadnought, and probably our chat with the Rooster Teeth folks, in particular their gaming development squad. They were incredibly polite, and I have the utmost respect for what they’re trying to do for the indie scene. More on that below. There were other things I saw today and yesterday, but we’re saving those for the final day roundup, which will mostly be spent taking photographs and popping in unannounced to see wonderful games, and probably spending more money than I have. That’s the nature of the beast! But rest assured we have some great coverage of games hopefully dropping this year that you won’t want to miss!

Dauntless

 I actually saw this day one, but I held off covering it until now. It was our top rated most-anticipated title of 2017, and I stand by that sentiment, even if I personally love Hyper Universe maybe a bit more. One of the really cool things they were doing at the booth was having their artist draw people, taking photographs of them and drawing them in that beautiful style that Dauntless uses. And I was first blood! It was a favor asked of me that I was all too-glad to indulge. And her art. . . wow, it blew my mind how cool she made me look! Then we played it.  We tackled a Behemoth as a four-player team, and eventually bested the beast!  We had many of us, mostly me, fall in battle, but thankfully we were rezzed and got right back to combat. The game does feel like a Monster Hunter style title, but they aren’t trying to copy them. Instead they have their own vision of a world populated by massive behemoths that are being hunted by these brave souls. Each character plays different and has their own role on the team. This was my first time playing the game and I was far from disappointed. It’s gorgeous, the controls are tight, the challenge and learning the bosses, finding them in their zones, it’s all worth doing.  Few games have made me this excited to learn and polish my skills and work as a team, quite like Dauntless has.

Dreadnought

Dreadnought is a game that cannot come soon enough! I’ve been seeing and playing it for the past couple of years now, and alas, it’s not quite ready. But that’s okay, because I’d rather it be polished. Regardless, the game is going full-steam and the gameplay has never been better. However. . . we didn’t play the PC version! No, we played two matches on the PS4, and I’m proud to say not only did we win the initial match, we won the grudge match, and I carried! Dreadnought class ships are my bread and butter, and one of my personal favorite ships, Thanatos, was playable! They didn’t even know what hit them.  So we tried the PS4 version and in all total sincerity, I like that version more! I hate to say that, because PC Mustard Rice, but the best thing about it? The touch pad.  The touch pad controls what direction you push the power of your ship, whether it’s defense, offense, or movement speed.  The controls of this game lend themselves quite well to this space-ship shooter, and while I don’t imagine it will be on the Xbox One, it plays identical to the PC and the UI is still just as intuitive as ever.  I was pleasantly surprised to see them at Pax, as I had no idea they were going to be there, and while I was bummed I didn’t see Yaegar, who is super cool, Dreadnought’s going to be a smash hit when it eventually goes 100% live. No big news on the horizon for the game itself, but having access to it on the PS4 was fun, and I believe it will be available for beta before too long! I don’t have a date right this second, but as soon as I do, you will know!

Rooster Teeth

Rooster Teeth has really grown as a company over the years. Their first game, RWBY: Grimm Eclipse, was not perfect, I think we can all agree on that; but it was definitely fun as a beat ‘em up. But they did show off something I already knew, that the indie game Battlesloths [which is amazingly  fun by the by, you should definitely be following it on Twitch and on the social media places] is going to be published by Rooster Teeth! They’ve noticed the same thing we have: it’s really hard for indie devs sometimes. Not particularly the monetary aspect, but being noticed. Having no name-brand presence or social presence, and that can cripple motivation and kill a smash hit dead, before it even gets off the ground. I can only imagine they have received thousands and thousands of entries, and they can’t possibly get them all.  They said that even if they only publish two games a year, they will be games that fit their vision and are definitely quality, and deserving of that attention. I think this is a wonderful thing. Rooster Teeth has millions of faithful followers that consider their words carefully and heed their suggestions. The weight of Rooster Teeth’s words is heavy, and they can do a lot for the gaming community at large which I am terribly grateful that they’re doing.  And Battlesloths is a wonderful multiplayer game with a lovely retro design. It’s challenging and fun, and it has hats! Really cool, awesome hats! Their devs are wonderful, they believe in what they’re working on and it shows in every minute detail.

Tomorrow’s piece is going to be focused heavily on the indie titles I saw, and the other stuff that is definitely worth mentioning. Expect Dire Wolf, and so much more! A lot of the end of the show is spent finding things that might be overlooked.