Top 7 Things Enthusiast Gaming Live Expo (EGLX) 2018 Had To Offer

Having not been to any previous EGLX events, I wasn’t sure what I would see as far as cosplay goes. Of course, cosplay had a pretty dominating presence at the con. Not only was there a Cosplay Lounge on the floor with events running all weekend long, but there was a good amount of cosplayers walking around the floor as well. I’ve always had a respect for cosplay and the men and women who do it, but seeing some of the costumes this weekend instilled my love for the art.

While only about a tenth of the floor was taken up by vendors, the ones in attendance offered a wide and interesting variety of wares. Whether you’re looking for some cool art, an awesome doo-dad to accent one of your shelves, or a rare and hard to find video game or video game accessory, there’s a good chance you could find it at EGLX. I spent most of my money on some awesome art (courtesy of Rawry and Pohly), and I was even able to find my dad a semi-rare game he’s been looking for.

The Exorcist: Legion VR started its release journey last year, and went on to release five horrifying episodes. I got a chance to try out the game at EGLX and I had a great time. Not knowing anything about it, I picked the episode with what I thought was the creepiest title, “Episode 1: First Rites.” The episode had me play as a detective investigating a happening at a church and the disappearance of a priest.

Sadly, I didn’t get to any real scares before breaking the game, but what I saw definitely made me want to go out and buy a PSVR set. The game looked great and had a good level of interactivity.

EGLX was a good one if you’re an Overwatch fan. Not only did Overwatch League (OWL) have a presence at the con (with the coach of the newly formed Toronto OWL team, Toronto Defiant, taking to the stage to announce the first two team members joining the team), but Overwatch was also available to play at the Microsoft booth, allowing a console player like myself to try out the game with keyboard and mouse (never again). Microsoft also hosted their own little Overwatch 3v3 tournament which I was apart of, and subsequently lost in the first round.

It’s a video game convention, there were some video games. Nintendo was probably the biggest draw of the convention with playable demos of their upcoming games like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu!, and Let’s Go, Eevee!. Many indie games also had their time to shine while being shown off on the main floor of the expo. All weekend long games were being played on the main stages allowing attendees to rest their feet and watch some fast-paced action on the big screen. I caught a pretty fun Smash tourney that was a delight to watch.

It was never a dull moment on either of the main stages during the weekend. There were rarely any lulls in the programming, which was impressive. One stage would mostly host CS:GO and LoL-type games, while the other was used for more the panel/talk programming. Some of the highlights from the weekend include the Smash tournament, the OWL Toronto Defiant panel, the Kinda Funny panel, and the Escapist panel.

Lastly, I have to give props to the people behind the scenes running Enthusiast Gaming Live Expo. I’ve been to a ton of conventions now, and this is definitely up there on the list of most well-ran events. I had no issues with any stage, picking up my passes was a breeze, any questions were answered without issue, and it was just an all around great atmosphere for first-time con-goers and veterans alike. Again, I had a fantastic time. I’d like to thank the convention for inviting us out and I absolutely can not wait until the next event.