The Eurogamer Expo 2017 Recap

Have a read when Matt Edwards went to EGX 2017 in Birmingham for Fanagram;

It’s only the second time I’ve been to a gaming expo. The UK isn’t as well-known for its content as other countries like Japan and America, but that doesn’t mean we have a lack of gaming fans.

This year was EGX’s tenth year, and they pulled out all the stops to make this the biggest event yet. Big titles like Destiny 2 and the new Shadow of War game made an appearance alongside zones for Nintendo, Blizzard and other big name developers and publishers. There were many areas to try out games both old and new. It was actually one of the first places we checked out, where we immediately spent an hour on Jedi Knight 3’s multiplayer and Counter Strike. There were also many chances to get loot, with shops selling shirts, memorabilia, trinkets, badges, bags… all sorts of stuff for a geek with some cash to spare like myself.

One of the biggest things I got involved with while there was playing at the Road to EGX tournament, the UKL’s biggest Overwatch tournament. The organisers were constantly looking for fresh players to try their luck, so I thought it’d be rude not to at least try. Despite some issues with lag, we managed to push through a win in our first game with some other random teammates, with our second game resulting in a loss. It’s a great experience, though.

There was also a dedicated zone for indie games both old and new, with one of my favourite recent titles, Overcooked, having a presence. This is always one of my favourite places to visit as the ability of indie developers to break new ground and experiment with their creations has always been far beyond that of bigger, triple-A titles. Unfortunately, I barely had time to look at this zone after checking out everything else

The cosplay area also deserves a heap of praise. I had the chance to meet and chat with one of the Overwatch cosplayers dressed as Junkrat, who had revealed that it was his first ever cosplaying experience. I didn’t really believe him at first, because it looked amazing. It also sounded amazing, because this guy had a voice that could have been ripped straight from the game.

There were also cameos from characters from the Star Wars series, Destiny, other Overwatch characters, the Zelda series and more. There were many talks that budding and experience cosplayers could sit in on and learn more about how to improve their own work. It was very inspiring stuff and left me wanting to try it out for myself. I’ll have to practice my armour-crafting skills. Especially as our Junkrat friend was so popular with the other attendees on the day.

I’m going to let these images do the rest of the talking. I had a lot of fun. I’d recommend it to anyone and might even try out next year’s event for size…

A big thank you to John who helped with the photography link to his site here.