Going into a showcase of Skybound Games back at PAX West, I was immediately excited to check out WrestleQuest, an impressive-looking pro wrestling RPG from retro game developers Mega Cat Studios. It’s been on my radar for a while now and appeared to be shaping up rather well. But as you may have seen with theTop Ten Games of PAX West 2022feature, the most impressive game they had to offer was a pleasant surprise in the form of Vice NDRCVR, a unique alternate 1980s adventure from Ancient Machine Studios. It goes to show that the indie publisher has been hard at work when it comes to curating a selection of varied and impressive games and hopefully they can keep this streak going from this point onward.
While WrestleQuest may not have walked away with top honors, though, it was still an impressive and fun RPG. The game follows some aspiring rookie wrestlers as they travel throughout the land on the journey to become champions, with the twist that the land in question and the characters that inhabit it are all made out of various action figures and toys, which makes for a rather eye-catching style with cleverly-built locations. Combined with the gameplay, it has this unique “Toy Story meets WWE meets Paper Mario” identity, and it also has actual pro wrestlers in the game with various world apparently built around their careers, like “Macho Man” Randy Savage and André the Giant, adding a lair of authenticity (sadly, they could only get the permission to use likenesses of wrestlers who owned their identities before and after the WWE, meaning no Rowdy Roddy Piper, with would have pushed WrestleQuest into GOTY territory).
The mention of Paper Mario may have given you an idea of what to expect from the combat, being turned-based with certain special attacks based on timed button prompts. Solid stuff, but the use of pro wrestling adds several fun wrinkles on top of that. There are tag team moves you can prepare with two different characters, a hype meter built up by putting on a good show with different moves that can provide different rewards, the ability to defeat opponents by either knocking them out or being able to pin them, and more, which not only adds more wrestling flair, but also allows for strategy. The story bit shown off, where we had to help another wrestler known as the Loachador help find their kids, was also charming and enjoyable, and the overworld made good use of more wrestling-themed bits like using the ropes of a ring to get flung around the map. Overall, one for wrestling and RPG fans alike.
Vice NDRCVR was still the show-stealer for this writer, though. Maybe it’s just because I have some sort of affinity for games like Papers, Please that reward careful attention to detail and manage to make what would normally be ordinary paperwork and other bureaucratic jobs into a sort of puzzle, but here things were bolstered by the unique setting and interpretation of a 1980s internet database. The setup is that you’re an undercover officer getting intel on criminals using these new technologies, getting info from their computers and sending it to your handler, who gives you new objectives, like getting the names and occupations of various suspects by copying and pasting them, all while a killer synth soundtrack plays as you try to work within a time limit.
There are some notable twists beyond that, though. The 1980s tech isn’t just there for atmosphere, as you actually have to work with not only a more Windows 3.1-esque interface, but you also have to deal with memory limits as well, meaning you have to deal with load times for each bit of info and windows that you have to close in order to free up room for others, which makes for a delightful challenge as you have to navigate an increasing bit of clutter while getting exactly what you need, which surprisingly feels like a thrill. And do you know what’s even more of a thrill? Having to actually watch out for criminal on security monitors. Yes, Vice NDRCVR has actually been described as Papers, Please meets Five Nights at Freddy’s, requiring the player to keep an eye on security cameras as well in order to anticipate anyone still in the building. The part wasn’t in the gameplay demo, but was shown off later, and hopefully it makes the game even more fun and interesting than it already is.
The last Skybound game I had checked out was Glitch Busters: Stuck on You, a co-op third-person shooter from developers Toylogic that was fun and impressive, but not one that I have much to say about. Playing as the titular squad in a virtual world populated by AI, your job is to eliminate any viruses that could be posing a threat. The action is impressive, the bits of traversal and co-op combat using magnets are fun in various ways (especially during the boss battle showcased that required proper teamwork as a magnetized stack to avoid attacks), and the emoji-inspired character designs and landscapes are a delight to look at. But really, it’s just a well-crafted shooter that’s shaping up to be something highly fun, and a blast to play with friends. There isn’t much more you need to know beyond that right now. Overall, it was a trio of games that suggests Skybound is still working to help bring even more good games to wider audience,and hopefully there’s no limit beyond the sky here.
