PAX East 2023: Plaion Games Impressions

The following are impressions of the Plaion Booth games at PAX East 2023.

Dead Island 2

Yes, you heard it right, Dead Island 2 is finally coming out after playing hide and seek. We actually tried our hands on the game at PAX East. The game is developed by Deep Silver Dambuster Studios and published by Plaion.

During our gameplay, we started off at a location similar to Santa Monica Pier and were exploring the beach to get to the Ferris Wheel, with a bunch of zombies. Devs provided us with some amazing weapons already available to browse through. And the gameplay mechanics are very similar to if you have played any Dying Light games, but provides a bunch of additional mechanics with some environmental items to be used while killing zombies. We tried out melee as well as ranged weapons and there are bunch of different types of zombies that player will have to strategically handle the survival, as just going guns blazing is not going to ensure the win.

Also, the weapons have durability, so that will need to be taken into the account, but for the most part, the gameplay was very smooth and fun, and it feels like all the wait was worth it for Dead Island 2. 

Dead Island 2 is finally coming out on April 21, 2023 for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC at the Epic Games Store.

For more information and to pre-order the game, visit: https://deadisland.com/preorder

System Shock

System Shock is another game that we tried out during our time at the Plaion booth. 

System Shock is a complete remake of 1994 System Shock in Unreal Engine, and in a full 3-Dimensional world, developed by Nightdive Studios and published by Plaion. Rather than being a text heavy game, you are to explore, salvage, and survive the Citadel station. For anyone who has played System Shock before, will definitely know the backstory mostly. But players will be in for some new experiences.

We tried out the game, and we can definitely say it looks amazing, allowing you to explore and grab anything useful as much as possible and escape the terrors available at the station. There were a few melee weapon options available and we used them in combat. We even used our investigating skills to actually get through some unexplorable areas as well as try to figure out the story through the audio tapes. It was, overall, a lot of things that you get into like inventory management and trying to salvage the junk stuff to get coins.

Let’s see how System Shock delivers when it releases on May 30, 2023, for PC. The game will definitely reignite the lost flame with the remake, and players old and new will be in for quite an experience.

For more information, visit: https://www.systemshock.com/

Road 96: Mile 0

We checked out the Plaion booth at PAX East 2023, and got our hands on at Road 96: Mile 0, a narrative based adventure game, developed by DigixArt and published by Plaion.

If any players are familiar with Temple Run or Subway Surfer, you know the mechanics, then you know the basic gameplay, but with an amazing story and some additional mechanics of their own. Road 96: Mile 0 is set in the 90’s, and you are to play narrative stories that will introduce players to two playable characters over time. 

We tried out the story from the point of view of Zoe, a girl coming from a rich part of the town. And you are trying to escape from her life. We didn’t dive much into the story, but we did try out the gameplay, where we are escaping as Zoe, who tries to skate away on the road, where players will have to dodge obstacles and collect glowing orbs. Each level is a bit different with some story attached to it, and will have some quick time events. 

The challenging part of the game is trying to duck or jump and handle the left right mechanics with changing camera angle breaks your judgment on the obstacles, but the game does have a quick checkpoints so you won’t have to restart the whole level.

Road 96: Mile 0 was definitely one of the amazing games we played at PAX East and we are looking forward to the release on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S on April 4, 2023.

Related: gamescom 2022: DEAD ISLAND 2 Unveiled during Opening Night Live

Hemal Patel

A gamer turned into a game developer. A huge batman fan and follower of Arkham Series, generally I like to play mostly Action and RPG genre of Games. Into the Abyss!!! PSN: AbyssRyder

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