Off-site from PAX West 2024, I wait in a hotel lobby for Tom from Megabit. It is not unusual for some publishers to opt to show their games to press off-site, but it feels different. I’m going to see OMUT, a game from Madame Cyclone about a small boy following a dark and twisted trail, on a mysterious quest. And as I am shepherded into an elevator and then into a side suite, I can’t help but feel just a little bit like the small boy.
The suite in question clarifies little. I’ve done my homework on every game I’m seeing during PAX West 2024 but, though I was able to find a “prototype” for OMUT on Itch.io (then called Alder Choke), my other on the title came up fruitless. Madame Cyclone is an unknown developer. There is no easily accessible press kit. And while the Marketing Manager for Madame Cyclone is present – one incredibly helpful Aimee Michie-Sanjari – no dev is. At this point, I don’t even know the name of anyone on the game, or what country they are from. I’m going in blind.
“So,” I say to Aimee as Tom sets up the game to...
