6.30, my alarm went off. I felt a bit if a buzz in the air. An excitement I’d not felt in a long time. The Eurogamer Expo, now EGX, was a premiere event once upon a time, packing Earls Court to the rafters with the latest and greatest in what to expect from games over the next 12 months. It’s fallen on hard times somewhat of late, but my spirits weren’t to be dampened. This was my first EGX event since Rezzed in 2017, and my first EGX proper since 2012.

I’ve been yearning for a taste of the old days of late. A trip to the capital, for day among the future of gaming, might just be what the doctor ordered. So I boarded by train at ten to eight, landed in London at ten past nine, and had a quick stop at Gregg’s to fuel up, and hit the underground towards the ExCel.

I actually visited the ExCel last year, attending Star Wars Celebration, so I felt well prepared for what this new (to me, at least) EGX environment would throw at me. Getting off the (still exciting to use) Elizabeth Line, I was met with a lot of people in cosplay, and a lot of very excited punters. I breezed through the ticket collection queue, and we’re in. Ready to attack the day.

A work of art

The ExCel is pretty big and I thought it wise to try and gather my bearings before committing to anything. After finding the EGX area of the show, I noticed an empty seat in front of a pretty lovely looking platformer. The Eternal Life of Goldman was the first game I got hands on with, and it was a delight.

Sadly the headphone wire was too short for me to actually wear them, so I can’t comment on how the game sounds, but I can say with certainty that it plays like a dream. A hand-drawn platformer that puts you in the shoes of an old man with a cane. A cane that lets you bounce around. Yes, like in Ducktales.

The demo showcased that the cane itself is the key to everything you can do. The demo showcased two upgrades; a curved handle, so you can pull things along, and a spring-loaded length, so you can pogo a bit higher. It makes sense in the context of the game, and being able to switch between accessories got me wondering what else could be slapped onto the cane. Guarantee there’s be an umbrella attachment for some floaty levels.

Platformers live and die by how it plays, and I was delight by The Eternal Life of Goldman in that respect. Everything was super tight, though there was a section where you jump from hook to hook using the curved handle that felt like the landing needed to be super precise. Nothing that you couldn’t get used to over the course of a full playthrough, however. Across the 10ish minutes I got, I could feel it hooking its claws into me. By the end of it, I was invested.

Personal Best

This is what I’d been looking for, I think. I immediately added it to my PS5 wishlist, and looked to what might come next. After a few minutes strolling around, I settled on the Playtonic Friends booth, which had Dunk Dunk (some sort of multiplayer basketball riff that I didn’t get hands on with), Yooka-Replaylee, and Victory Heat Rally, which was a bit of a throwback.

Victory Heat Rally is an arcade rally racer that looks really nice and plays really nice. I think it’s supposed to be a bit of a riff on Daytona USA, albeit a bit more cartoony. It’s colourful, and pixel-y and it really pops when it’s in motion. The game is super smooth, though the boost mechanic took a little work to get used to, and I really enjoyed what I played of it. They had a daily competition, where whoever got the fastest time on a particular track won a copy of the game. No one was really monitoring it, but I managed to log a time of 1:11ish, so if anyone at Playtonic is reading this please tell me if I won. Thanks.

I’d hoped to get straight into Yooka-Replaylee,  but there was a bit of a queue forming and I thought I could double back on myself when it died down a little bit. Instead, I opted to head to the de-facto headliner of the show. Once Assassin’s Creed Shadows was removed from the billing, I guess the biggest up-coming title at the show was Lego Horizon Adventures.

Aloy? ATOY! Doesn’t work.

The Horizon games are an odd one, for me. They’re clearly very popular. You don’t sell over 32 million copies of two games (no one counts the VR one, surely) if you no one’s interested. But I’ve never really felt like it’s had much more of an impact than “the game that comes out just before the best game of the year”. It feels like the Avatar film series. Billions and billions at the box office, couldn’t tell you about the series at all.

I digress. Getting hands on with Lego Horizon Adventures was an interesting one. It was my first chance wearing the Pulse 3D Headset (didn’t do a great job of blocking out “nerd bingo”), so I managed to miss a lot of the dialogue. I’m not exactly sure if this is a retelling of the first title, or a new story within the universe. Either way, it’s a very handsome game. Probably as “realistic” as I’ve seen from a Lego title. There’s a reflection and a sheen to each block, the characters seem to move as if they’re in stop motion. It’s as close to a playable Lego set as I’ve seen.

It’s very clearly aimed at a younger audience. Very easy to play, no real messing around. Has all the trapping of a Lego game, really. It being on Switch is an interesting move. The stereotypical demographic on the Switch swings towards the younger, so it makes perfect sense in terms of growing the interest in the series. It was fun! I liked it! Not sure if it’s a day one purchase, but I’ll definitely give it a go at some point.

That queue took quite a bit of time to get through, so a break for lunch was in order. The entire middle of the ExCel is made up of tables and seats which is pretty handy. I rued that at Celebration last year, as people were clogging up the walkways while I was trying to get between panels. Very welcome this time around. A sandwich, some crisps, and a cup of tea later, and it’s back to the grind. I’ve been replaying the Uncharted games recently, and wanted to make sure I got into the panel, so I only really had time to get into a couple more games before then.

A lizard and a bat, what’s up with that?

Having wandered around the show floor for a while, I settled on just waiting for a seat at Yooka-Replaylee. I actually penned some thoughts on my history with the original title back in the early days of this site, so I don’t think I necessarily need to rehash what the game is. I was on the look out for one or two things, however.

So back in 2017, my first experience with Yooka-Laylee was at EGX Rezzed at Tobacco Docks. The game was on the cusp of release, and was given a whole room to drum up more interest in it. That demo took place in “Glitterglaze Glacier”, the game’s ice level. Not a great location to showcase how your game controls when the player is sliding about all over the place. 

It was a nice touch that the demo at EGX this year was, yes, Glitterglaze Glacier. FOr those of us who were there at both events, it was nice to have a direct comparison. I am delighted to report that the game feels a lot better. I breezed through the level, rolling into fights and speeding away without skipping a beat.

Jumping from one platform to another, a staple in every platformer (obviously), no longer felt like a shot in the dark. It felt precise. It felt like it always should have. If Yooka-Replaylee is setting out to right the wrongs of yesterday, based on what I played, it stands a very good chance of doing so. I can’t wait to play more.

And that was it, really. I managed to get into the Uncharted panel (doesn’t seem like anything new is coming soon, unfortunately), and decided to call it a day. Some dinner at “Three Uncles” in Liverpool Street (incredible) and a stop at Wembley for England Women vs Germany Women, and back home by midnight. A long and exhausting day, I must say. I’ve got some larger thoughts on the event as a whole, but I’m glad to have come away with a handful of titles that have grabbed my interest as we close out the year and head into 2025!