The 6 Coolest PC Games We Saw at Play NYC 2019

Play NYC 2019 wrapped up last weekend, and the TechRaptor team went all-in on covering everything we could! We got to see a lot of games last weekend, and we found some really interesting titles in the mix. Among them were many great PC games that are already out or well on their way!

While we’re still working on our individual coverage, we thought it’d be cool to highlight some of the coolest things we’ve seen. Here are six of the many cool games that we’ve seen at Play NYC 2019!

Heave Ho Stole the Show

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This was the first Play NYC where Devolver Digital made an appearance, and they certainly didn’t hold back. Not only did they occupy one of the larger booths—their game Heave Ho practically stole the show.

The Heave Ho booth was absolutely packed any time we passed by it, and honestly, you can’t blame this. This game plays like a heart-pounding, hilarious hybrid of Barrel of Monkeys and Pitfall. Players must swing across the level, grabbing onto ropes, avoiding traps, and ultimately making it to the goal.

It’s an awful lot of fun, and it’s one of those games where you genuinely don’t mind losing because you’re just having so much gosh darn fun.

Damaged In Transit Drove Me Up a Wall

Add it to your Wishlist on Steam

Damaged In Transit is truly a game that first appealed to me based on the name and the poster the developers had set up. I went up to the devs to check it out and got way more than I bargained for.

The concept of this one is simple: Press a button, and two robots launch from their starting stations. The robots will turn when they hit special pads with arrows on them. Pushing another button will cause all of the arrow pads to change direction. If it were just one robot, it wouldn’t be too difficult to manage. However, the use of two robots on different paths means that you have to time the turns at the right moment so they each progress on their own respective paths.

Damaged In Transit is the very definition of “easy to learn, hard to master.” I think it’s a concept that was wonderfully executed, and I’ll love to see what it’s like when it launches.

Pure: Birth of the Goddess has a Cute Art Style

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Let’s be real for a moment: Creating a 16-bit JRPG is a bit old hat. Thanks to the proliferation of stuff like Gamemaker Studio, RPG Maker, and similar tools, pretty much anyone under the sun can create their own turn-based RPG PC games with minimal work. Making the jump to 3D, however, is a much more involved task.

Pure: Birth of the Goddess does not have AAA graphics. It does not have AA graphics, either—at least for the modern era. However, it would have firmly fit in with the PlayStation RPGs of the late ’90s and has a wonderful, colorful style all its own. It certainly was one of the more adorable PC games we saw!

Graphics aside, the characterization was fantastic, and the overall story seems genuinely intriguing. It’s not easy to get us excited about a JRPG from an indie publisher these days, but the fine folks behind Pure: Birth of the Goddess have managed to pull it off.

Spywatch Lex Speaks to Me

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Good spies have language skills. Even today, you can actually make a good amount of money simply by being fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, Farsi, or any number of critical languages that are valued by the United States government. Spywatch Lex takes the theme of spies and language and runs with it in an educational context.

Essentially, Spywatch Lex is all about uncovering mysteries and solving puzzles. There’s nothing new about that, but what is new (and very interesting) is how you go about it. You’ll pick from either Spanish or Mandarin Chinese and learn how to speak and read the language as you play through the game accomplishing your goals.

And you really do speak. Spywatch Lex is played through a web browser, and the game’s software listens to what you say via a microphone. It works pretty darn well, and it certainly seems like it would be a heck of a lot more fun than listening to Rosetta Stone for hours.

Way of Rhea Made Great Progress

Add it to your Wishlist on Steam

Way of Rhea is one of the PC games that we first saw at Play NYC 2018. The earliest version of the game was relatively simple at the time, but it had a cute art style and a simple concept that would be a great way to get into puzzle games. Come Play NYC 2019 and Anthropic Studios has really stepped things up.

What was once a game with extraordinarily simple graphics and a small screen has had a fresh coat of paint applied to it. The world is larger and more detailed. The art looks crisp and clean. And even then, it still manages to preserve the same wonderful gameplay.

Way of Rhea still has a ways to go, but both myself and Courtney Ehrenhofler were impressed with the progress we’ve seen so far. It’s going to be interesting to see exactly how the finished product ends up!

Totem Scratches that ARPG Itch

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Totem is an action RPG with a cool pixel-art style. I’m gonna be real, that’s literally all you need to sell me on a game like this. After playing stuff like Moonlighter and the upcoming Children of Morta, I’m always keen on seeing what kind of new spin a developer can put on the genre.

One of the things that immediately stood out to me was the art style. I am 1,000 percent behind an adventure with adorable deer people, and that number goes off the charts when our hero can fire a friggin’ magical laser beam from their antlers.

The gameplay is great too, of course. The player wields an axe that can be used in melee combat. It also serves as a throwing weapon, as a teleporter, and as a sort of battery for your magical power.

Totem showed us a lot of really cool gameplay with but a single weapon. I’m really looking forward to seeing how this all turns out!

And that’s it for the six coolest PC games that we saw at Play NYC 2019! Do make sure to check out the developer’s websites and Steam Store pages if you’ve found something you love!

What do you think of the six coolest PC games that we saw at Play NYC 2019? Do you have any particular favorites from the bunch? Let us know in the comments below! Check out what else we saw at Play NYC by going to our Play NYC 2019 Coverage Hub.

Robert N. Adams

Senior Writer

I’ve had a controller in my hand since I was 4 and I haven’t stopped gaming since. CCGs, Tabletop Games, Pen & Paper RPGs – I’ve tried a whole bunch of stuff over the years and I’m always looking to try more!

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