UK Games Expo – The Hitlist
We have come to the end dear readers. Through games untold and exhibitors unnumbered I have fought my way here to the final article. For my will is as strong as yours, and my eye as sceptical.
Let’s look at the companies I really want to see this year at Expo.
This outfit have recently announced that they will be publishing a game called Ruthless, a piratical themed deckbuilder, and I have been searching for a pirate themed game that would fit in my collection for a while. Hopefully going to get a demo of this on Friday morning with Ross from moregamesplease. My sense have also been tingled by the upcoming Coral Islands which I hope they might be showing off.
I got a taste of Gladiatores at Dragonmeet last year with Rory from the Board Meetings Blog and I’m keen to get dug into a full play of the game. This year I hope to get a preview done along with Rory and the gents from the Polyhedron Collider Podcast. Looking forward to being entertained!
I somehow managed to miss this outfit out of my preview, but I should not have. I’ve got a review copy of Dead & Breakfast that I have really enjoyed and I liked Farsight that I reviewed previously as well. They have a game coming based on being in a band called The Gig that sounds really interesting. This is a small UK company doing interesting things that are definitely worth checking in on.
I literally hadn’t heard of this Dundee based outfit until doing my preview, which is sort of the point of me working on these articles. They are going to have a new game with them, Doomsday Bots, and I am looking forward to meeting the team and finding out more about them.
I really want to check out Untold as a potential gateway roleplaying game, though I might get to play that with my friend Rich who is coming to the con. The game I am most intrigued about is Holding On: The Troubled Life of Billy Kerr that is a worker placement game themed around retrieving the memories of a dying man. Worker placement usually falls a little flat for me but I am curious about a game taking on such a different, difficult and interesting subject matter.
It may seem a little ridiculous that three of my hitlist are Scottish but sometimes you just can’t quite connect with people at the right time. Inspiring Games were nice enough to give me a preview of Legends Untold when I had just started out on the press path for the site so I am looking forward to trying out the almost finished version!
Their removable sticker set for Gloomhaven is great and I am really interested in forthcoming game Villagers and their previous title Great Scott. I am a sucker for small games done really well.
I have heard of none of these designs which instantly intrigues me. I know very little of design from that part of the globe so hoping to find some cool gems.
Themeborne were easily my hit of last year’s con and I am really looking forward to meeting up with Thomas and the team again to see what they have planned for the future. They are going to have a new Kickstarter on the go for some Escape the Dark Castle expansions and “extras” which I hope to get some more details on, so you can decide whether to back or not (you should totally back it).
The really different art style of this company has drawn me towards their games, much like Themeborne’s did last year. Hope the mechanics live up to the art direction.
That’s it. 10 companies I really want to link up with. That’s not to say that I probably won’t hit up more than this but I do want to keep my priorities really tight this year to allow me more flexibility. Of course I am going to visit some of the vendors I mentioned in my preview articles as well and come back with a bunch of goodies, but the above are the companies I think are doing something I really want to write about.
My general aims for Expo this year are to actually play more games, spend more time meeting/hanging out with folk I have only met online, catching up with good friends I don’t see often enough, and not to worry so much if I am ‘doing enough’ to justify the press pass. I think it’s easy to run yourself ragged trying to see everything and Expo is getting to the stage where that is no longer possible. You have to be selective.
Follow me at Expo
If you want to keep up to date with everything I am doing at Expo you can follow me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. I’ll be doing summations of each day as I did last year hoping to keep you up to date with the cool things I find. Keep an eye on those and maybe you’ll see something you like as well. Alternatively if you find something you think would be up my street please reach out however you want and tell me. There is so much to see at Expo that I am bound to miss things.
Really looking forward to seeing you all and don’t forget to sample all the food carts, they are amazing!
I second the food places! The burrito place is especially amazing. Fully recommend.
The first year they were there my wife just got reports on the food.