Games Expo – Day 3

The last day of expo saw an earlier rise than I would have liked due to check out being at 12. Packing up everything was a slightly sad affair as I knew I would be saying goodbye to an excellent weekend soon but there was still time to get some more gaming in. 

With one of our number fallen by the wayside temporarily and the other heading off to an RPG session I headed back to the NEC to wander round on my own. Hitting the Trade Hall early had the benefit of it being a lot quieter so I could make my way round at a more leisurely pace. I didn’t stop to get demos of as many things as I would have liked and will definitely try and put in more time on that next year. I mostly spent my time pawing at shiny things and wondering what to take back in my limited suitcase. 

I wandered the trade hall as methodically as I could trying to see absolutely everything. I paid particular attention to the smaller publishers, having been in that situation myself, and tried out Game of Shame and Legends of Dungeon the later being from a Scottish group of developers I hadn’t heard of before. I also had a look at Surviving: One month in which was one of many games that I saw at the con with a pixel art style. Seems to be very much the ‘in thing’ at the moment. 

Once our fallen comrade joined me in the trade hall we continued to wander trying out Odin’s Ravens from Osprey Games and eventually buying ‘Escape from the Aliens in Outer Space’ which finally adds a hidden movement game to my collection. Full review of that once I get it to the table, beautifully presented though and I love the art style. We poked our head into the Bring & Buy when it was a little quieter, but nothing really grabbed my attention. 

2-3 more hours saw us mostly done as fatigue kicked in and we decided to head back to the Hilton for some food and games to round off the weekend. My friend had bought Star Trek: Five Year Mission for a bargain prcie and we got through a few rounds of that before it was time to go our seperate ways.

I had an absolutely ace time at Expo and I can only see it continuing to go from strength to strength every year. Maybe I’ll go back some year as an exhibitor but for now I’m content to go as a punter and sample the very best of what the gaming scene at home and abroad has to offer whilst surrounded by good friends, good food and a great con.