Las Vegas-based PM Studios made its convention debut atLVL UP Expolast weekend, an anime and esports convention that introduced game publishers to the exhibitor show floor for the first time this year. While you may not recognize the name, PM Studios is a developer, publisher, and physical media distributor that has been part of a number of high profile games over the last 20 years, including last year’s smash hitBlack Myth: Wukong.
PM Studios, along with several of its partner studios, brought a diverse selection of games to the expo, giving over 100,000 attendees the opportunity to try out some fresh and innovative upcoming games. Here are my four favorite demos from PM Studios.
Yooka-Replaylee
I was a backer for theYooka-LayleeKickstarter all the way back in 2015. The promise of a Banjo-Kazooie spiritual successor from the original Banjo-Kazooie developers sounded like a dream come true, but when it finally came out in 2017, it didn’t quite hit the mark.
Ten years later, Playtonic is bringing Yooka-Laylee back - not with a sequel, or even a remaster, but with a remake that aims to deliver the experience Banjo fans were hoping to have with the original game. Yooka-Replaylee incorporates a variety of quality-of-life improvements and major changes born from player feedback to the original release. It’s also filled with brand new challenges, including a totally reimagined arcade game replacing the original Rextro Sixtyfourus mini-games.
It’s a bold way to approach. Most studios would incorporate lessons learned from the original into a sequel, but Playtonic wanted to go back and make Yooka-Laylee the game it always should have been, and from what I’ve played, it succeeded. New collectibles, refined platforming, and starting the game with all of the powerups makes the old Yooka-Laylee feel new again, and I’m excited to give it a second chance when Yooka-Replaylee launches later this year.
Pipistrello And The Cursed Yo-Yo
Pixel-art Zelda-likes are nothing new, and at first glance, Pipistrello and the Cursed Yo-Yo looks like any other retro-inspired throwback. But the magic of this 2D top-down action-adventure lies in its titular cursed yo-yo - a simple tool with a surprising amount of depth in combat and puzzle solving.
As you might expect, Pippit has a few yo-yo tricks up his sleeve, and learns a lot more throughout his adventure. The most simple use for the yo-yo is throwing it at enemies, or charging it up to unleash a barrage of short-range attacks. But it can also ricochet off slanted walls, extending much further than a regular yo-yo throw to hit enemies and activate switches that are out of reach. The yo-yo’s first upgrade allows it to detach from the string for long range attacks and to grab distant objects. Retrieving the yo-yo after a toss can be dangerous, though, and often leads to complex platforming puzzles.
Pipistrello and the Cursed Yo-Yo feels incredibly tight. The action is fast-paced and there’s a surprising amount of skill expression in how you wield the yo-yo. If you like classic Zelda games, Hyper Light Drifter, or are eagerly awaiting Yacht Clubs’Mina the Hollower, this one should definitely be on your radar when it launches May 28.
Dragon Is Dead
Another upcoming release, Dragon is Dead is the love child ofDiablo 2andDead Cells, and it wears its inspirations on its sleeves. The tone, the music, and even the character sheet is straight out of Diablo 2, while the roguelike 2D action gameplay is perfect for Dead Cells fans. The only thing you’ll keep between each run is your gear, making it the perfect game for ARPG fans that like to experiment with builds and find new synergies. Like Diablo, the skill tree is expansive, with tons of build options and interesting abilities. There are a lot of ways to approach Dragon is Dead, especially compared to other action roguelikes like Dead Cells and Hades.
Dragon is Dead has been in early access since last year, but its 1.0 release is quickly approaching. This was the game I ended up spending the most time with at LVL UP Expo. It has that one-more-run hook that all great roguelikes have, but with the depth of a true RPG. There’s enough here already to make pulling the trigger on early access worth it, if like me, you just can’t wait for the full release.
Bandit Trap
Bandit Trap has a great pitch. This is a 1v3 Home Alone game. The three-player team are the bandits. Their goal is to break into a building and, using an assortment of high-tech machines and simple tools like screwdrivers and crowbars, find and steal all of the treasure. The fourth player takes on the Macaulay Culkin role as the trapper. Their job is to lay booby traps all over the house to stop the bandits in their tracks. The trapper can lock doors, turn appliances into weapons, create surprise sling shots to batter the bandits with furniture, and dash around the building using vents to allude the bandits.
Asymmetric games are incredibly hard to balance, and in my brief time with the game it seemed like the trapper had a serious advantage over the bandits - both in power level and in how much fun they are to play. This one is still a work in progress, but it shows a lot of promise. It has a wacky style and sense of humor that, combined with its emergent systems, makes each round feel one of a kind.
You can participate in upcoming Bandit Trap playtests by requesting access onthe game’s Steam Page.
