First time at EGX, was there on both Saturday and Sunday with five others, most of whom were also there for the first time. It's pretty exhausting, and wouldn't probably have been able to stomach doing it for another day. Despite only playing a fraction of the games at the event, I felt fairly all-gamed-out by 6PM this evening. Definitely enjoyed it and would consider going again next year, albeit there are some seriously frustrating issues with the setup, which I'll note here in case anyone influential is listening:
1) A small number of culprits are making the hall incredibly noisy. I get that you're on a stage, but there is literally no reason for me to be able to hear you talking when I'm trying to do something completely different several booths away. This goes for the PlayStation shows, the Twitch stuff, and particularly the fighting game tournament that was going on this afternoon: seriously, shut the fuck up. It is one thing to be loud enough so that everyone in your area can hear you, it is entirely another to be so loud that everyone for hundreds of metres in any direction can. At times it was actually painful, and as a simple example, if I had been inclined to watch the fighting game tournament today (I think it was Tekken but I'm really not sure), I'd have left because I think it would have damaged my hearing. The speakers in the wristband collection and penning area were also obscenely loud, and painful to walk past. Just apply a bit of common sense, and have a bit of respect, frankly. I can't imagine what it's like for those actually exhibiting in a booth near to these obnoxious events.
2) Limit the length of your demos. All of the really long queues I had to deal with were caused by unnecessarily long demos. There are some types of game that really do need a decent period, but if you're a huge, popular game, having demos that are half an hour, to an hour long, significantly reduces how many people can play your game and also ensures that anyone playing your game is sacrificing the possibility of seeing several other things. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that there were things at the show that would take two and a half, to three hours, to actually play, which is pretty damned absurd.
I'd like to praise the guys from Secret Sorcery showing off Tethered (more on that later), as around half of their attendants were conversing with those in the queue, which frankly makes the wait seem half as long. I get that this isn't always feasible, but I think you'd be surprised by how much goodwill would be caused by having one or two people talking to those queuing, answering questions and introducing the game or demo, rather than leaving everyone to stew and wonder how much longer is left.
That's really it for the criticisms, as for some games...
I was lucky enough to try PSVR, which was my first VR experience. I've held a preorder for the device since they went up, but had no real idea of what I was getting myself into in terms of comfort, image quality, whether I'd have motion sickness issues, etc. The image quality is definitely the biggest downside, though I suspect that's primarily a VR thing rather than a PSVR thing (even though PSVR will have the poorest IQ in general). If you want to play a really pretty game, VR isn't going to be the answer for some time, but that is fine if the experience itself is only possible because, or significantly better, with a VR headset on.
My first time with PSVR was with Driveclub, a pretty ideal comparison for me as I own the game and have played it a lot, and own the same wheel they had setup in the booth. I found the entire thing totally comfortable, and it felt so immediately natural to be looking around and into each corner. Racing games are a large part of where my interest comes from where VR is concerned, and I was delighted with how good it felt to play with that setup. Driveclub is still one of the prettiest games that has come out this generation, and it's PSVR version cannot claim that, but, it does enhance the immersion immensely, which I'd say is pretty impressive in a game that already felt great to drive in.
The other game I tried was Tethered, which was absolutely adorable and I was disappointed when I had to stop playing as I'd only just got started building my Peep empire. There is something immensely appealing about VR for this type of game because the perspective, and the sound, makes you feel like a real God, rather than someone operating a computer.
I also tried out the Virtual Boy, which was underwhelming compared to PSVR.
All said with VR I'm still not 100% certain I'll keep my preorder, but, if I do, I will certainly pick up both Tethered and Driveclub. The biggest issue for me right now is whether I'm more interested in PSVR, or Pro, or a new (4K+HDR) TV, or a combination of these things. I didn't actually get to play Horizon, but there was a glorious, gigantic, 4K/HDR TV showing the PS Pro version off, and it proved to me just how big of a jump there is, particularly with HDR. A friend who did play the PS4 (standard) demo said that the difference was night and day.
I gave Little Nightmares a try, which was short but sweet. The atmosphere is wonderful and the general feel of the game is on point. I mentioned it in another thread, but I absolutely adored Snakepass, and I will certainly buy it when it releases. I also really enjoyed Blockships, which was in a neighbouring booth, a clever idea executed well. It's a four player free for all where you pilot a ship and try to destroy the other three players, the only issue being that you start with a single block that can only move, dies in one hit (losing you the game) and cannot shoot, leaving you to build your ship, finding extra armor blocks and guns while also fighting your opponents.
I'm not sure entirely what my favourite game of the show was, but my favourite experience was certainly Beasts of Balance. The game is part physical, and part digital. The basic premise is that you have a load of oddly shaped blocks that you have to build into a tower (on a fairly small, round base), and it's best played co-operatively, taking turns to place blocks (you'd be surprised at how much conversation and argument arises over what to place and where to place it).
Every move you make physically effects the digital game. You might start by placing the octopus (most of the blocks are animals, hence 'Beasts' of Balance), which will spawn an Octopus into the digital world, and the octopus will have some number of points associated, which drive up your score. You can place more animals, but animals can become jealous if there are better animals around, which will begin to lose you points and eventually the animal (only from the digital world, fortunately their block doesn't disappear from the middle of your tower). There are also various non-animal blocks with weird effects - some can be used to strengthen an animal (to reduce their jealously, for example), others to create new animals from combinations of those already there, so you might end up with an eagle boar, or a toucan octopus (the game has funnier names for these crosses than these). Ultimately, without going too far into the description of every detail, the game is half about building a tower and not seeing it fall, but half about being ambitious and placing things in the right order to maximise your score. There are also some interesting quirks, like the tower toppling (or a piece falling) isn't actually a disaster. You have a small period in which to replace a fallen piece before the volcano (yes, there's a volcano) explodes. There's some really cool tech here that means the game knows when the pieces are falling and moving - it's fundamentally so unique, and wonderfully quirky.
Me and a few others had three tries at it over the weekend - the less said about the first two goes the better - but our third try was a real triumph. It can only have been about an hour 'til the end of EGX, but we managed to place every piece. We didn't do that well on the score but I believe we were the first (and therefore only) group at the conference to achieve this, and they actually captured a timelapse of the tower going up.
https://mobile.twitter.com/beastsofbalance/status/780083897946210304/video/1
There were plenty of other games that I tried, but these were the highlights. For me at least, it was certainly best for trying new things, and I was frankly astonished at how many people were queuing for hours to play already released games like Destiny, but also some of the coming AAA titles like Gears, Titanfall, Battlefield, and FIFA. It's fine - shorter queues for the indie stuff for me.