PAX East 2024: ‘Disco Samurai’ and ‘Fallen Aces’

While exploring PAX East there are so many games of all types and quality. Occasionally I see some that really catch my interest. These are games with interesting concepts or striking visuals that I want to spend a little more time with. Two on the first day caught my eye. Disco Samurai and Fallen Aces are very different styles of games, but each had something special that made it stand out.

Disco Samurai

Located in the Games from Poland booth, Disco Samurai was an instant try for me with its striking visuals and interesting premise. In the game all strikes, blocks and actions need to be timed to a beat to be successful.

The demo is essentially a tutorial level that slowly hands out skills so you can master the mechanics. Hear the music, time the beat and slice, parry, kick or shoot enemies if successful. Miss the beat and you take damage, which results in quick deaths if you can’t keep up with the music.

Thankfully the reloads after death are nearly instantaneous so it never felt like a slog to try again. And in addition to the complexity of the beat system, the enemies also have different attack patterns. Some strike once, others multiple times in a row, while others block or shoot their own guns.

Learning the enemy types and keeping on top of the skills at your disposal is key to the magic this game generates. Much as in martial arts game Sifu, when you click with the mechanics the game just feels so good to experience.

The music itself is amazing, a mix of techno and electronica beats that pull the action along. A very cool feature is custom mode, where you can upload your music and replay a level with it.

I was really impressed with Disco Samurai. The musical experience came across even on the crowded floor of the conference. There is no firm launch date yet for the game, but it will be released later this year on Steam.

Fallen Aces

A game billed as a crime noir FPS and leveraging peak ’90s first person technology with a twisted sense of humor? I jumped at a chance to try Fallen Aces. The game certainly did not disappoint and I left wanting to see more of this depraved and colorful game.

Fallen Aces focuses on a mystery. The A.C.E.S., watchful guardians of Switchblade City, are being killed one by one and the main character gets pulled into the middle of the mystery. The story is laid out comic book style, but with a fully voiced cast giving their best period gangster voices. The result is a story that’s hilarious in a Dick Tracy kind of way.

Once the game proper begins it surprises right away. It may look like a shinier Duke Nukem or Doom set in a ’50’s-style mobster era, but it plays like a modern game. Weapons are grabbable from everywhere; objects like a bottle, bat, pipe from a wall or chair can be accessed and used at will.

The weapons degrade and the bottle itself was particularly cool – can shatter causing slashing damage. The levels are inventive, packed with alternate routes and weapons to use.

This is a brawling game at heart, although there are guns to be had, so it’s especially fun when going fist to fist (or bat) with someone else. Blocking is effective, as are charged punches, and if an enemy is staggered they can be taken out with a finishing blow.

As I explored the demo levels there were plenty of memos, recordings and clues to find to piece together what is happening to the A.C.E.S. as well as the bad guys’ internal politics. The dialogue itself is full of cheesy mob lingo and swagger, hilarious even as it pushes the game along.

This was a true gem at PAX East and I was happy to see the lines were long during the entire conference. It helped that the lead artist was there signing throughout the show, and special guest Jenna Lynn Meowri was repping the game in period-appropriate goon cosplay.

Fallen Aces is releasing “soon” according to the developer and a demo can be enjoyed on Steam while you wait. Don’t fuggedabout this game as it will be a blast based on what I tried out at PAX East.