If you turned away from your computer after Bethesda’s Pete Hines left the stage during the publisher’s press conference last night, you missed the best part of E3 so far: the “Devolver Digital press conference.”
Before you open up another tab and start Googling what games were revealed, let us save you the trouble. Devolver didn’t show off any new games. Instead, the publisher used its one-hour space on Twitch to bring viewers the most absurd, strange and deeply wonderful bit of performance art. Sticking to its brand, nothing about the show made sense but everything about it was intoxicating. Like stumbling across a magical infomerical on Adult Swim late at night, Devolver Digital’s segment on Twitch’s Pre Pre E3 Show was something to behold — and remember.
It started, like every conference at E3, with crowds of attendees applauding as a representative from the company takes the stage. Unlike most conferences, however, “Chief Synergy Officer” Nina Struthers doesn’t have time for journalists getting rowdy.
From there, it only got progressively more offbeat. After showing a new trailer for the publisher’s upcoming cyber-punk game, Ruiner, Milo Lowrie, head of research and development (and more research) at Devolver came out to introduce a new payment method that people can use to buy games. As shown in the demonstration below, all you have to do is throw dollar bills at an outdated computer and that payment will be reflected in the game.
Things went from good to violent in a matter of seconds after this, with fake blood and missing appendages littering the main stage. The same poor fellow who was asked to throw money at the computer screen eventually tried to get some of that sweet American cash back, but it doesn’t go exactly as planned.
Warning: The following does get a little graphic.
The poor man with a severed hand’s involvement at the Devolver Digital’s press conference didn’t stop there. He was invited back on stage to try out a new feature at the publisher that allows commenters to create games based on their negative feedback. No, this isn’t real, but the aftereffect of tying his comments into the possessed computer isn’t pretty.
This time around, however, it wasn’t the one-armed man who suffered from fatal injuries but Struthers herself. The moment in the GIF below takes place after about five minutes of bloody, puking on-stage chaos. It is, without question, the most bizarre thing to happen so far at E3 this year.
Devolver did include a couple of clips for upcoming games that were already announced, but this wasn’t a press conference akin to anything we’ve seen so far. That’s what makes it so intriguing. While people weren’t expecting Devolver to come out with a Microsoft or Sony style conference, the dedication to absurdity seen throughout the entire conference was a refreshing change of pace.
The entire conference, which runs at just under 15 minutes, can be seen in the video at the top of the page. It is well worth your time.
