It’s the first year that EGX has combined with the MCM Comic Con London which meant a much larger-scale event and an even more jam-packed weekend. While the game demo offering in 2024 remained the same, it was great to see the additional cosplayers and activities all combined into one event. During my time at EGX 2024, I was able to check out the demos for some upcoming indie games, and here are my thoughts on some of them so far.
Sorry We’re Closed
à la mode games’ Sorry We’re Closed was probably my favourite demo that I played at EGX. This single-player survival horror game reminded me a lot of the old school Resident Evil games with its fixed camera, level exploration and puzzle system, but its design is far more fabulous.
We play as Michelle who has been cursed by a demon looking for love. She also receives a third eye, which gives her powers and allows her to see the demon world at the snap of her fingers.
Since Sorry We’re Closed operates mostly with a fixed camera, the combat was a lot more satisfying than I thought it would be. We can switch between the fixed camera angle to first person at the press of a button, which fixes Resident Evil’s problem of being unable to aim at enemies from a fixed camera perspective without auto aim.
From the first person perspective, we can attack enemies using a variety of weapons that we will pick up as we proceed through the game. With our third eye, we can reveal their weak spots at a close distance, allowing us to deal higher amounts of damage. We can’t move while in first person, which feels like a throw back to Resident Evil 4, but this also ups the ante in terms of combat as you have to really take into consideration a lack of movement when facing up against a room full of enemies.
The rest of the gameplay consists of solving puzzles to get around the area, switching between the human world and the demon world to unveil passageways.
What I liked most about Sorry We’re Closed is that, despite the retro graphics, it feels very modernized in its character design. Everyone is wearing stylish, vibrant clothes which we can see in more detail during dialogue when their illustrated portrait pops up.
Sorry We’re Closed is due to release soon on Nov. 14.
Cabernet
Party for Introverts’ Cabernet is a horror RPG visual novel set in a 19th Century Eastern European world where we play as Liza, a young woman who has been turned into a vampire by a group of vampires led by a countess to take on the role as the doctor’s apprentice.
I believe Cabernet’s demo consists of the game’s opening, as it started at Liza’s funeral. During the eulogy, we can pick out Liza’s backstory and starting traits, which I found was an interesting way to play this out – and also humorous if Liza is an aspiring author, works as a scientist, and has a passion for art. Liza then wakes up in the dungeons of the countess’ home and, after escaping, stumbles into a high society party of both vampires and humans. It’s here that Liza realises out that she too is a vampire, and is introduced to the new world that she’s been born into.
Cabernet has different outcomes as a result of dialogue options which will affect the story as well as our relationships with different characters. We’ll unlock new dialogue options by levelling up certain skills, as well as vampire powers which can also aid us during certain events. This game will definitely appeal to visual novel fans, maybe less so to RPG fans as it does mostly consist of dialogue and making story choices. It has an interesting premise and intrigue as to how the story will unfold was definitely built up during the demo.
Cabernet is due to release in 2025.
Blue Prince
Dogubomb’s Blue Prince is a stunning, unique puzzle game where we play as the heir of Mt. Holly, a manor with alternating rooms which we must navigate around to find the hidden Room 46.
In the demo I played at EGX, I was given 20 minutes to get started on Blue Prince. As we enter our newly inherited property, we must use blue prints (haha, get it?) to decide what room lies behind each door. We have a limited number of steps to use each day and different rooms will hold different key items and other valuables and perks to aid us in our search.
At the end of each day, the rooms and any upgrades you found will reset, though I wasn’t able to see the repercussions of this as in my demo playthrough as I spent the whole twenty minutes on one day. I definitely needed more time with Blue Prince to get the hang of things, but during the demo I was able to play around with the blueprints mechanic. We get a choice of three rooms to choose from, most of the time we will get a tip on what this room will include and we must choose wisely to ensure our steps are spent well. There are a set number of rooms to uncover which will be marked off each time we find them.
How this all adds up to eventually finding Room 46 I’m unsure, but Blue Prince is definitely a fascinating game and one I can see myself wanting to play at release, especially considering there are clues towards a wider side stories to uncover as we proceed. The art style is also stunning, using a sketchy, comic book look with a colour scheme that suits the game’s name well having adopted a very blue-toned colour palette.
Blue Prince‘s release date is yet to be announced.
