WASD Live returned to London again this year, bringing loads of new and upcoming games to Truman Brewery. Although the event has since wrapped up, plenty of games have left lasting impressions on us.
Let’s look back at the first set of WASD Live 2024 games we played and find out what we think about them.
Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip
Snekflat’s Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip was easily the highlight of the WASD Live games lineup for us. So much so that we couldn’t stop talking about it throughout the weekend, and even convinced our friends to try out the demo on Steam!
What makes Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip so excellent is its humor, presented in a unique, lighthearted aesthetic. It also helps that Terry, our titular character, is a simple man. He only wants one thing in life: to go to space with a car.
With that premise established, the game focuses on Terry’s singular goal while delivering the laughs. His almost laser-like focus on wanting a car to go to space is comical, and getting paid minimum wage as a taxi driver is just a bonus for him (or, as he says, the pay would be nice).
Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip makes no qualms in letting you know that it’s a demo, and it frequently breaks the fourth wall in doing so. Several aspects of the game, such as the shop and car upgrades, make hilarious references to the demo’s limitations. Terry seems to have accepted his “rare condition” of being in a demo and pledges to return soon.
Terry in plush form
The gameplay gives you a lot of freedom to do whatever you want—drive around Sprankelwater, run around collecting Turbo Junk for your car, or be a menace to everything that’s moving. You can beat people up, run them over, or board their vehicles so you can be an unwelcome, awkward passenger. You can even whack their cars with a wrench until it blows up, and nobody says a thing.
Turbo Junk, which you can find everywhere, is needed to upgrade your starter car (which is a taxi, by the way. Terry is technically employed). However, you can’t really see what it does in the demo because collecting 150 of them ends the demo; you also need 150 to get your first upgrade. It’s apparent that several car upgrades are what’s going to help Terry eventually reach space.
There’s no release date yet for Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip, but Super Rare Games confirmed to me that the game would be released on Steam later this year. Don’t forget to keep an eye on this utterly adorable Terry plush, which I was told will also be available for purchase once the game is out.
Cult of the Lamb
Cult of the Lamb may have been out for a bit now, but I never actually got around to trying it until the WASD Live 2024 games lineup. I’m glad I did because I’ve been missing out on how good it is. It features a combination of cult management and rogue-lite dungeon crawling, all packaged in a cutesy, vibrant, yet dark aesthetic.
I could only try out the dungeon-crawling segment and was very impressed with how it played. Controls were easy to remember (special attacks and dodge roll), and each room was challenging enough to keep things lively without going overboard with the difficulty. The experience goes by quickly; before you know it, you’re about to face the dungeon boss. If you’ve spent any time playing Binding of Isaac, you’ll feel at home with this one, especially with crisp controls.
Sadly, I didn’t get to try the cult management aspect of the game. I used up all of the demo’s timer in the dungeon and got distracted by the presence of the lamb himself. How could you say no to that cutie when he’s right beside you, waiting for you to snap a selfie?
Now that I know what I’m missing out on with Cult of the Lamb, I hope to rectify that soon.
Luna Abyss
If you crossed Metroid Prime with DOOM, sprinkled it with a bit of bullet hell, and gave it a generous coating of black and red, you’d get Bonsai Collective’s Luna Abyss. And let me tell you, it’s a lot better than it sounds.
With such fluid gameplay, it’s hard to see this game not getting significant attention on release. Locking on to enemies is a godsend when you and the enemy are mobile and projectiles surround the room. The threat suddenly becomes more fearsome when you realize that you can’t just mindlessly strafe; you also have to consider your placement carefully.
Exploration is also where the Metroid Prime-aspect comes into play. Each section is divided by doors, which, as you may have expected if you’ve played Metroid before, must be shot before opening.
The visuals are usually dark and predominantly red, but it’s never too dark to the point where you don’t know where you’re going or can’t even see three feet in front of you. If anything, the darkness adds to the eerieness of the game, giving you a sense of urgency to do what you need to and move on somewhere else.
If this demo indicates the game’s quality when it releases, then Luna Abyss will be phenomenal when we can play the whole game.
Pieced Together
Presented as a scrapbook narrative game, Glowfrog Games’ Pieced Together seems like a relaxing game. And for the most part, it is; putting stickers on an album any way you want is always therapeutic.
But as I played through the demo, I could tell it wouldn’t be smooth sailing from how the story went. It was remembering Connie’s early teenage years and her friendship with Beth. Sure, the memories I was arranging on the scrapbook pages were happy, but immediately, I felt a tinge of sadness as I put them together.
Filling in Connie’s scrapbook is simple and satisfying. The game gives a theme, and it’s up to the player to pick the correct stickers. You’ll either get an envelope full of stickers or use leftover stickers from the previous scrapbook page.
The stickers provided are straightforward, so you’ll almost always fill the scrapbook correctly. If you don’t, the game kindly points out that some stickers don’t quite belong on the page, so you can take a few out and try different ones. There are no penalties for placing the wrong stickers, so you can keep trying until you get everything right.
Admittedly, I enjoyed going through Connie’s memories, and I was genuinely sad to reach the end of the demo. There’s something relaxing about going through old memories; it didn’t matter that they weren’t mine. Gluing items, placing stickers, and cutting cutouts felt as if I was getting more invested in Connie’s story.
The game’s Steam page mentions Connie and Beth drifting apart, hence the reminiscing on the scrapbook. I’m curious how the narrative will turn out and whether those two will finally address their friendship. Will the memories start becoming sadder as I progress through the game? I guess we won’t find out until the game releases.
Sky of Tides
I’ve been following ESDigital Games’ Sky of Tides since I first heard about it, and I was glad to see it included in the WASD Live 2024 games lineup. It’s even better when the developer guides you and gives you context via a Discord video call as you play.
Sky of Tides is a narrative game heavily driven by player choices. It’s very dialogue-heavy, and every single line is voice-acted. Although the voice acting is excellent and adds to the immersion, those who read faster than the delivery might find themselves impatiently waiting for the following line to begin (or skip the voice prompts altogether). However, skipping the voiced dialogues is not advisable because the delivery can sometimes give you more context than the text.
Once you have control of your character, the gameplay and exploration are fluid. You can examine every nook and cranny to learn more about your world, Numen, or to complete your objective and move on. The game rewards thorough exploration with bonus skill points, which then unlock various gear for you to use.
Your choices for dialogue influence more than just the story and how people react around you. They also affect your stat distribution and Rin’s overall personality. You are advised on how your choices have affected you every time you finish a chapter, which is helpful when aiming to do a specific run of the game.
There is a lot to unpack and discover in Sky of Tides, and I definitely felt this while playing the demo. It felt as if I had barely scratched the surface, and I finished the demo with more questions about the story than I started. But intrigue is good because the game’s release will tell me everything I need to know.
By the way, there’s also an animated series coming for Sky of Tides. ESDigital has kindly shown me a teaser trailer and a tiny bit of the first episode, and I must admit I’m quite excited for it to release.
Sky of Tides is shaping up to have a grand narrative, and I can’t wait to immerse myself in it.
