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Ragequit.gr at Daedalic Days 2016

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There’s a first time for everything in life. Our site has managed many times till today to be among the first ones which globally present a PC game, right after its embargo lift. We also have succeeded in reviewing games that are not widely known, meeting that specific goal we had put from the very first moment we created this portal.

Something that was admittedly absent from our trophies was the presence in an event abroad, where new and upcoming games would be revealed. That particular goal would come to be unexpectedly covered by Daedalic Entertainment, after an invitation to attend Daedalic Days 2016 at February 25th, in the third implementation of this annual event. It was quite logical to accept with great pleasure to travel to Hamburg, Germany, undertaking the exclusive representation of our country in this very important gaming event, especially considering the tremendous pace of the German development studio’s growth.

Daedalic Days 2016 pic10Zurich was really cold…

Daedalic Days 2016 pic11… but the state services work well

My trip included a nearly three-hour flight from Athens to Zurich and from there transition, through a second flight, to Hamburg, while my return was made via Frankfurt, since it gave me the opportunity for a little more sleep. The event was held in a very original setting, more specifically inside Cap San Diego, an old cargo ship that has now been converted into a museum which hosts such events, being for many years permanently moored in the port of beautiful Hamburg.

Daedalic Days 2016 pic12The Cap San Diego ship

It is probably unnecessary to mention the excellent organization of the event from our German hosts, who, beyond their compatriots, had invited journalists from Italy, Spain, Poland, the Netherlands and Greece. Beyond all others, throughout the duration of the event there was a very rich buffet, constantly renewed with every kind of food and beverages, enchanting our palate and at the same time supplying us with the necessary energy needed to feel comfortable at any time we decided to let the warm interior of the ship and climb aboard at -2 degrees Celsius prevailing there, which due to extremely high humidity (96%!), according to the various sites I checked, gave a sense of six degrees below zero.

Daedalic Days 2016 pic13Courage was needed in order to leave the ship’s interior

Daedalic Days 2016 pic1Journalists from many countries were there

I guess it would be better to leave the co-founder and CEO of Daedalic Entertainment, Carsten Fichtelmann, make the event prologue, accompanied in its end by the video that prefaced in detail what we would see later on.

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Right next to the hall where various titles were presented from their creators was a specially designed space for the necessary hands-on that would follow, with Razer having greatly assisted by providing part of the necessary equipment. Laptops from Asus and Alienware had given the run of five games that were to become apparent to the public, while a PS4 expected those who wanted to see the first attempt of Daedalic at Sony’s machine, through the original Deponia.

Daedalic Days 2016 pic2The “magic” buffet, which was constantly renewing its content

Daedalic Days 2016 pic4The well prepaired room for the hands-on experience

Daedalic Days 2016 pic3Complete and trusty equipment

The game that marked the beginning of the event was “Caravan“, a prototype hybrid game that successfully mixes the trading card games with adventure and RPG elements. The creator company is it Matter Games company, headquartered in Berlin and the head designers are Jens Kortboyer and Ulrich Kaminski. Jens was the one who took to say a few words about this new title that will be released in Q2 2016, highlighting the opportunity given by Daedalic Entertainment to the company to launch its maiden game.

Then Matthias Niebergall, producing manager of Daedalic Entertainment, took the baton in order to present the second title that the company decided to publish. This is “Candle“, from Spanish Teku Studios, a game that also mixes gaming elements, combining the platform action with several puzzles and hidden traps. This game managed to captivate our sight at once, as all its characters and backgrounds are based on hand painted aquarelles, giving an excellent result. Let’s see what Matthias had to say for the game.

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Completing the trio of third-party games that Daedalic Entertainment publishes this year, Bodo Pfeifer and Falk Möckel of FAKT Software gave us an idea of the upcoming “Crazy Machines 3”, a physics-puzzle game that successfully combines elements of previous members of the series with brand new features, making it the most realistic physics simulator to date. I admit that this game caught my attention much more when I was given the opportunity for a hands-on along with Bodo. I admired first hand both the work done in the campaign part as well as the endless wealth that the creation part of the game includes, which through the Steam Workshop will provide players with the opportunity to create their own levels, limited only by their imagination.

Daedalic Days 2016 pic6Yeap, the Germans are not afraid to experiment in their sketches

Daedalic Days 2016 pic7The atmosphere was festive

After a short break elapsed, action was taken by Andreas Suika, head of Daedalic Entertainment West, the second studio launched by the company based in Düsseldorf, known to deal with the creation of titles belonging to genres other than adventures. “The Long Journey Home” is described from its creator as a space exploration RPG. Its universe is randomly created, based on mathematical algorithms that differentiate the position of various planets. At the same time our decisions differentiate both the attitude of various creatures towards us and our need of finding resources, as well as our crew members’ survival during our wanderings. Here’s a short video presented from Andreas Suika himself.

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The finale could not be owned by anything else than “Deponia Doomsday“, the fourth part of the very successful adventure game created by Jean Muller Michaelis, a game that has inextricably linked its name with Daedalic Entertainment’s course up to today. Using Visionaire Studio 4 graphics engine once again, “Deponia Doomsday” adds new elements to the famous saga, plays with time, baffles Rufus in new adventures and gets us in contact with countless new characters. The success of the company’s executives to keep the design of this fourth chapter, which began in January 2015, a secret is remarkable, with the announcement coming just five days before the official release. But I think Jean Muller Michaelis can better talk about all these.

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Daedalic Days 2016 pic8While we were having the hands-on experience…

Daedalic Days 2016 pic9… the company executives were having multiple interviews

If you feel that all the above information seem few, do not rush to reach conclusions, as a second article dedicated to my daily presence at Daedalic Days 2016 event will follow. It will contain many interviews I was able to get from the company’s executives and creators of these games.

Before concluding this first part of my report, I must emphasize at one more thing, something that is not always done by colleagues attending such events, but, as you can imagine, I don’t care so much whether they do it or not. The organization of the event, the whole attitude of the company managers towards their guests and even more their exemplary care for our travel, stay and departure from Germany to take the way back, reveal another reason, beyond all the others, that this particular company has managed to grow so much in so few years.

And when the whole event came to an end, the atmosphere that arose when everyone was drinking a beer or drink, chatting in a considerably more relaxed style, is something that does not need to be described in more detail, but I surely keep it as a very pleasant memory and a perfect culmination of my presence in Hamburg. Interviews will follow soon…

Daedalic Days 2016 pic5Claudia Kühl, Sandra Friedrichs and Kristin Splieth, marketing director and PR managers respectively, had prepared a souvenir for everybody

Μάνος Καρκαλέμης

Manos can't help but feel happy that he was actively involved in gaming writing in the years 2009-2017, when he was given the opportunity to write reviews for some adventure game gems, such as "The Whispered World", "Monkey Island 2-LeChuck's Revenge" (Remastered Edition), "The Book of Unwritten Tales 1&2", "Grim Fandango" (Remastered Edition), "Gabriel Knight-Sins of the Fathers" (25th Anniversary Edition), "Night of the Rabbit", "Memento Mori 2", "Day of the Tentacle" (Remastered Edition).

One Comment

  1. Well done Manos, congratulations to you and to RageQuit who have represented our country and you inform us with fresh news about pc gaming that we love so much all these years 🙂

    I’m sure it was a fantastic experience for you , well done again Manos and I wish you to repeat such things soon !!! 😀

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