Blowfish Studios at PAX Australia 2018! — Blowfish Studios

Blowfish Studios is showcasing six games at our booth at PAX Australia this year (booth PR03 at PAX Rising), and each game has its own distinctive personality. You can see for yourself and take them all for a test spin when you drop by the Blowfish booth. Each of these games bring their own interesting quirks to the gaming ecosystem, and they’ve each got that fun indie feel.

Take Qinoto, a puzzle game where you fold, crease, and slide gorgeous images like they’re on paper. You combine parts of the images to create shapes that reveal clues and items. The story follows Qinoto the fox on her quest through the fantastical World of Folds to discover her identity … and the mystery of The World itself. With its sherbet-colored palette and cheerful characters, this game is a rich confection of puzzle-ry that satisfies the craving to solve. It’s a great game for kids, and they’ll probably master the folding mechanics quicker than the average adult, but it’s not difficult. I think many adults like me will also get a kick out of the folding aspect of the game, since it’s so unique, and they might also recall a similarly fun folding experience from the back inside covers of MAD magazines.

Minesweeper Genius will also be playable at the Blowfish booth at PAX Australia this year, and it’s an amazing complete reinvention of the classic casual game. Seriously, this game has tremendous depth and character for such a lightweight, portable puzzler. The idea is the same – use logic to avoid deadly mines on a grid – but with new elements reminiscent of sudoku, 8-bit quest games, and Bomberman-type maze games. You play as Aristotle the huggable little genius and you literally sweep a path through a grid that gets bigger as you progress, using logic (or luck) and an actual broom. You get three chances to complete each small but challenging level, and the game generates endless new levels, so the addiction factor is high.

You can also get your hands on Subdivision Infinity DX, a fast-paced 3D space shooter with stunningly beautiful graphics. Seconds after starting the game you’ll be piloting a sleek and deadly starship through asteroid-strewn space above an alien planet, blasting away at enemy drone ships. The animation is so fluid and smooth, it feels cinematic. The multiple incredibly-detailed flying environments give you plenty to dodge, track, target, and destroy, and the action is relentless. So gratifying! Subdivision Infinity DX keeps the action fresh with side quests and ship upgrades. Even the upgrade screen’s 3D look-around feature is fun, giving you a 360-degree view of your ship and the sci-fi hangar it’s parked in. Check it out at our booth!

Or if you’re more into the medieval fantasy genre, drop by and try out JackQuest: Tale of the Sword. JackQuest: Tale of the Sword is a fast-action platformer with a retro 16-bit look. The game appeals to fantasy fans with its evil orcs and minions, dank dungeons, and a noble premise: rescue your love Nara from the powerful villain Korg. The game borrows its look from arcade-era games and early platformers, but it’s got loads of depth and progress to enjoy. The more you play the more you discover: you’ll find many power-ups, new abilities, hidden treasures, and startling secrets in this sparkling gem of a game.

The upcoming Storm Boy game is already generating some buzz, and you’ll definitely want to see it at PAX Australia. Based on the beloved book familiar to Australian primary students, Storm Boy the game transports you into a real-life paradise in South Australia: the bush, beaches, and lagoons of Coorong National Park. The game is a peaceful little excursion into the classic, award-winning book, realized as a lush, explorable 3D world. Passages from the story organically fade in and out of the scene as you roam the landscape. I really felt the freedom of Storm Boy’s world, discovering mini-games like digging for cockles in the wet sand (watch for the bubbles), or guiding an Ibis in flight over the shallows. I really liked sailing a homemade raft a little way from shore and diving into the water to swim with the schools of colorful fish teeming among the coral and crustaceans beneath the surface. It’s a game that’s all about a boy’s relationship with nature, especially the animals in his life. Poignant and even heartbreaking at times, Storm Boy is a truly rare experience in today’s gaming world.

Projection: First Light is a visually stunning and innovative game also playable at the Blowfish booth. The quest game’s bold design is based on 2D light-and-shadow silhouette puppetry from multiple eras and cultures from around the world. The designers’ artistry and care are so evident in every aspect of this game; it’s utterly unique and so well executed. Despite being unapologetically 2D, the designers make sure you feel the cavernous spaces of the mansions, entire cities, vast oceans, and other environments you explore. But Projection: First Light’s most special and intriguing little quirk is the way you use light to interact with the environment in the game. You control both a puppet and a ball of light, and you use light and shadows to create objects and surfaces to battle foes, solve puzzles, and overcome obstacles. There’s no dialog in the game, staying true to the style of traditional puppetry; the entire story is told with images, and told well.

So, the Blowfish booth has six games ready to be played at PAX Australia this year. We are prepped and ready, the only thing missing is you! See you there (booth PR03 at PAX Rising.)