The Big Con Demo Thoughts
I was lucky enough to get a chance to play The Big Con demo a little early in the Tribeca Festival. Since this same demo will be available during the Steam Next Fest between June 16-22, I want to get my thoughts out there early so you can have a chance to play and enjoy this too.
This demo is very good at introducing you to the characters, plot, and the basic pickpocket mechanic that you’ll be using as you play as Ali to help save her mom’s video store with the help of someone else. The one thing that immediately jumps out once the game starts is the bright color palette and the quick and witty dialogue between characters. I knew about the pickpocket mechanic existing from reading about the game, but was not aware that there would be dialogue choices that enhanced and made it feel like a customized experience. What I like a lot about the game design is that you have a mini-open world area to explore your surroundings, pick up garbage (not sure what that does yet), enter buildings, and best of all, pickpocket random people.
Since this is the beginning of the game the pickpocketing is easy, but I hope and expect the challenge ramps up as the game goes on. The pickpocketing is sort of like a horizontal version of the Madden kick meter where you need to stop within a given area and the longer you wait the area shortens. The length of the demo is around 25 minutes or shorter, which felt just about right, because the exact moment the demo ends is where I was annoyed I couldn’t play more of it because the ‘The Big Con’ was just getting underway and it was getting interesting.
I didn’t notice too many things in the demo that were definitely 90’s centric, but I have no doubt the game will include that stuff as the game progresses from where the demo stopped. The Big Con is a game I was unaware of until recently, but now my 90’s heart can’t wait to play the finished product.
The Big Con
Developer: Mighty YellPublisher: Skybound Games
Release Date: August 31, 2021
Platforms: PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X | S
Want to Wishlist or Buy?
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1139280/The_Big_Con/
Microsoft Store: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/the-big-con/9p01r01zj9bx
