I spent the weekend helping out with PR for Klei Entertainment’s new shoot-em-up / beat-em-up / slash-em-up / stuff-grenades-in-their-mouths-and-blow-em-up game, Shank. I’m usually more of a “make peace, not war” gamer, but after a few moments’ apprehension I found that I really enjoyed the Shank demo that Klei had playable at PAX. Here’s a little tease:

Shank is a 2D side-scrolling game with a really distinct art style and top notch animation. The art team all come from a cartoon background, and it shows. Probably my favorite thing about the game is that it’s very easy to make Shank do things that look really cool and complicated, which is especially rewarding for non action gamers like me. And in spite of (or maybe because of) the blood and gross “Ugh” noises the characters make as you kill them, it’s a lot of fun.

The PAX demo was a really early look at the game, so it’ll probably be a while before there’s new news on Shank, but it’s a game I look forward to playing in its entirety someday… especially since Jamie (Klei’s CEO) reassured me multiple times that not only will the game have a story, but they’re working with a writer they’re really excited about. Games with good stories are always my favorites, so consider me intrigued.

If you, too, are intrigued, more Shank details can be found on the official website, or on pretty much any gaming site that covered PAX this weekend.

(Oh, and Ron Gilbert’s DeathSpank is looking pretty sweet, too.)