Philippine Game Developer’s Expo (PGDX) came along and many showed up to let us see what they had. Now, there were a lot of people showing what they’d done and there were certainly good ones there to play. Heck, Until Then, a unique visual-novel style game that’s doing us all proud for the Filipinos out there, is also in there. But I want to focus on a couple of titles that are first, new to me, and second, left a lasting impression that some people might want to know about. It’s not like other offerings there were not attractive, or fun. But, I’ve talked about most of them before, and the two that I will bring up are the ones that truly left me with a lasting impression.

The Cope

First I’d like to bring some attention to The Cope, a game created in Thailand, where a “cope” is basically their term for “janitor.” The general idea here is that you’ll be a newly hired cleaner for a very suspicious hotel. Where you clean during the late hours and have to be aware of what to keep in check. You have to do this while doing a bunch of other tasks and everything is under a time limit.

Now, giving it a closer look, it’s easy to think that this is a mix between the Crewmate tasks of Among Us, and the paranoia-inducing surveillance mission you have to do from Five-Nights at Freddy’s. And it doesn’t look like Double Zero Studios, the developer responsible for the game, was trying to hide that fact. Their whole game is designed as gray, dark, and dreary, which makes anything suspicious stick out. Say, splotches of blood or suspicious-looking garbage. All aimed to make you unsettled as you have to pay close attention to your audioscape as they would be the ones giving you hints as to what may be going on in places you can’t see.

Without a manual on how to do all the tasks, you are left to figure things out on your own with whatever they lay in front of you. Combining the weight of time pressure, the other issues you have to be mindful of, and the incomplete information you have to work with. It can certainly be quite an interesting game experience. They told me in passing that they’re also planning for an early access release on Steam and maybe even a mobile release in the future. So, I’d like to tell everyone to keep an eye out for this. Check out their demo release here.

Fast Food Crew Simulator

I’m actually not a fan of Virtual Reality games, or more commonly called VR games. The equipment for it is unique and only serves that purpose. Getting used to a VR configuration also takes time, and some of my sanity, as I struggle to not move on my own and potentially run into a wall, another person, or my PC. I simply personally see a lot of barriers to entry for that space in my experience.

So, it’s a VR game that’s trying to reflect the experience of taking part in the food service industry. Not particularly unique, as we can easily go through Steam and see many simulator-type games that have a considerable overlap. But the experience for Fast Food Crew Simulator seems a little too detailed, and quite realistic from others I’ve seen before.

From, punching in, taking an order, issuing change, assembling the meal, and getting fries, extra tissues, and ketchup packets. It seems all too familiar, exactly what I ask for when it comes to fast-food joints. As it turns out, the developers behind this title, Sulren, actually went out of their way to interview and research the work that goes behind the counter for fast food workers. Which is why the interactions with so many devices and such are so detailed. Honestly, if there was no guiding voice about what I should be doing, I’d be completely lost.

Moreover, the VR experience didn’t force me to move around too much, which gets rid of a huge part of the awkwardness I feel towards VR games. When it was finally coming together and I was capable of getting orders out despite the rather awkward grab mechanics within the game, I was getting more excited that I was actually pulling it off.

I think what attracted me the most towards this game, and what left an impression on me is how realistic the process of getting through the work of simply serving up burgers, fries and drinks was. I can imagine this being the sort of game that some people would like to stream as they stagger through each action to just get a pack of fries out of the counter. Check out their demo release here.

And that’s it for my few recommendations from PGDX, the convention has certainly improved from its offerings to last year, and will be looking forward to them getting more developers and bigger names to present in their next event!