This was only my second year at PAX East, but I can already tell that it's becoming a really special weekend that I'm already looking forward to the 2026 version of. What I love about PAX is the interaction of it; getting to demo so many games that I otherwise never would have heard of, chatting with the developers, and having super specific panels that cater to my interests is just so much more fulfilling than a typical con.

I went 3 days this year and stayed within walking distance of the convention center, which was so good that I basically can never go back. I got to demo a lot of games on the Expo Hall floor, and you can see my thoughts on each game I tried out in the links below!

Friday | Saturday | Sunday

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I'd heard of OFF in passing as a kinda pre-indie boom RPG, and I think it's fair to say it's definitely a classic indie title by now. I never played the original but after playing the remakester(?) demo, it's definitely on my radar. Hard to get a feel for a game's combat in a short demo session, but the vibe is really cool and I appreciated the game's sense of humor. Toby Fox worked on some of the new game's soundtrack and it was really catchy.

The producers were very passionate about having this version appeal to both newcomers and long-time fans, and I got to talk to them pretty extensively; they definitely knew their history, which I appreciated. It's also being published by FanGamer, who I generally trust with stuff like this, so I'm looking forward to see how it turns out!

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This is a pretty lighthearted puzzle game that deal with social anxiety (think of a G-rated version of Milk Inside a Bag of Milk) that was sorta pretty to look at but gameplay was very generic. This game was inspired by the son of the lead developer who struggles with social settings, and it was a really sweet story to talk to them about it and learn about their inspiration, but I didn't see anything in the game to really entice me.

It's got some nice cel-shaded graphics, and I suppose it could be relaxing in the right setting, but I don't think I'll be taking a chance on it. The controls were kind of a bit awkward, so that didn't really help either.

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The underlying theme of this PAX was rhythm games, since I ended up trying out a lot! The first was Nocturne, which markets itself as a rhythm-based, story-driven RPG. I'm a sucker for games with nice looking pixel art, so I was drawn in by that. I think it's a pretty unique concept, and the game has like 6 difficulties and a grading system, so for those who enjoy going for S-tier it promises a wealth of content.

The encounters I had in this one were all pretty low level (of course, it's a demo after all) but looking at some of the fights in the trailer got me pretty excited for what could come. I think it definitely has potential in the rhythm game aspect, just need to see how it delivers in the story.

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Okay, I'm just going to say what we're all thinking; Constance looks like a semi-dignified Hollow Knight clone. My headcanon for this game's existance is that the developer got sick of waiting for Silksong, and just decided to make their own sequel. Now that Silksong is actually coming out in 2025(?), it's going to be interesting to see how Constance survives.

It does look nice for sure, and I think if there's one thing that sets Constance apart, its the game's focus on platforming compared to combat. It seems like it has a lot more potential to push the envelope there; even Hollow Knight's hardest platforming was pretty routine and limited in scope. I mean, if you're going to emulate a game, might as well be a great one, and Hollow Knight is a great game. Constance is just cool enough looking to justify keeping a lookout for, but don't be surprised if it gets buried under Hornet's trusty nail.

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I was asked if I wanted to try a demo for Moonlight Peaks while I was sniffing around the XSEED booth looking at the new Story of Seasons game (spoiler alert: I never ended up trying that one) and I figured why not, it's close to the end of the day. From my time playing it, this game is basically just if they made a Hotel Transylvania farming sim. I can't really say anything more than that.

The classic horror tropes can be like, semi-funny I guess? But not for long enough to stop you from alt-F4ing and loading up Stardew. I don't see the appeal of this at all. Oh, and the art style is ugly.

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This game is basically out already, and actual reviewers who have played the whole thing have given their opinions on it, so this is already kind of pointless. But the feelings I got from this was a bit too much "we have Genshin Impact at home" for my tastes. Even from the demo I can tell the amount of content is staggering, so if you really like the open world style of crafting/farming/fighting, and wanted to experience it with no gacha elements, you'll probably love this game.

I've played my fair share of F2P Genshin back in the day and I got basically the same feelings from this, at least in regards to the combat. I hope that the town life is more fleshed out-this series did start out as a Harvest Moon spin off after all-but either way I probably won't be picking this up unless I get really into the series later.

Also, the guy at the demo booth went over in great detail to me about the game's potential romance options and all the relationship upgrades you could achieve (you can hold hands at really high levels, this was very important to them) so I need to start asking myself some tough questions.

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Another rhythm title and I really liked this one. From what I can gather it's a roguelite skiing rhythm game with original music and boss battles...? It's one of those bizarre concepts that can immediately appeal to you. This kind of game is what makes PAX East one of my favorite events; something completely new and unique that you go from never having heard of it to being really excited to give it another run in an instant.

I know the roguelike indie game has kind of a dwindling reputation in some gaming communities, but Fresh Tracks has to be an exception. I'd actually consider it more like a sort of evolution of Beat Sabre (without the VR obviously). The game's Scandanavian folklore influence is really cool too!

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I'm already biased since these folks were at the last PAX East I went to, but I absolutely love everything I've seen about this. Falling block puzzle games are definitely up my alley, but it's just got everything I love. Great cast of characters, aeshtetically beautiful, local multiplayer, puzzles with specific clear conditions, low skill floor/high skill ceiling, it's just fantastic. Super fun game that is easily one of my most anticipated games!

I actually took part in a tournament for this game at PAX, and I was lucky enough to get past the first round in spite of my poor skills. But yeah this game is awesome. There's a demo out which is super cool, but I'm doing my best to avoid playing it so that I don't go too crazy before it releases.

Scramble Star Crossing is awesome and the legends say the only reason GTA6 was delayed this year is because it couldn't compete with PEAK.

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The crown jewel of the XSEED booth, and probably one of the only games I hadn't tried before that I was actively looking forward to trying. I think we've seen a lot of attempts to make a silky-smooth 3D platformer with perhaps more room for skill expression in the indie scene, and The Big Catch feels like the culmination of those efforts. Movement here is appropriately slippery in the best kind of way, gen 5 era graphics are perfect for this kind of game, and for all those people who love the fishing-based mini games, The Big Catch is basically a dream come true.

Most importantly is that from the brief part I played, this game really feels like it has its own identity. It was just a fantastic sandbox to play around in, and the time passed so quickly. It's fluid, it's unique-maybe one or two of the controls could have used some better mapping-but overall a fantastic time. If it runs as smoothly as it did in the demo, I can't see this game not being great.

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I'm kind of realizing in retrospect how many good games I got to try in a row, which is really cool when you're going in basically blind to so many of them. Love Eternal is a psychological horror 2D platformer that was based around (as far as I played anyway) the ability to flip gravity when falling. I think when you're talking about precision platformers, having one core gimmick and executing it well is all you really need for a game to feel really good; Celeste is testament to that.

Love Eternal is kinda reaching for that same goal; it's really snappy and enjoyable to move through each screen fluidly. It is definitely a good enough mechanic to feed a wealth of potential applications, now it'll just be about seeing if the game can deliver consistently. Absolutely could join the ranks as one of the modern indie precision platformer darlings, though. Interested to see how the story devleops as well.

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I basically stood in line forever to play this, and it's already out by now, and I never even played Elden Ring to begin with, so nothing I have to say here will be of any consequence. Like literally who cares. This is even worse than the Rune Factory one because, okay I at least played some kinda similar games. We sat in a big bubble dome kind of thing and played some day 1 runs. It was fine? I got carried. I didn't do anything noteworthy.

I normally wouldn't even have included this but damn it I was in line for a long time so you're going to hear about it. I'm sure for a certain kind of niche this game is cool but I'm not that niche and I generally don't care about multiplayer games anyway that aren't local multiplayer. Whatever.

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This is really cute. You play as a postman who is in charge of collecting every letter that has never been sent. The dev described it as a whimsical 3D platformer and I can't disagree; it's very PS2-era. As a platforming fan I think this was mostly pretty okay, and the controls/hitboxes could definitely use some tweaking, but it was the final project for a group of students, so I am willing to cut it some slack.

My interest in this game is mostly rooted in its concept and worldbuilding, which was real charming. Sadly I didn't get a chance to experience the full demo, but it is out on Steam where you can try it unincumbered by time. The writers were pretty coy on how much emotional toil this game could inflict, but I have a feeling that it might have the propensity to tug at a heartstring or two...

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I got baited to play this OpenAI game generation piece of trash and, okay let's get one thing straight, using AI in games and taking away the roles of hardworking artists/musicians/writers/etc. is vile and disgusting, so just off the bat you know this is horrible. But like, holy fuck, this was genuinely awful in every possible way.

Like we're talking 2 fps horrible assets, no structure, no vision, nothing human at all. It's abhorrent and horrible, and if there's one thing I can say about PAX East I didn't like this year, was the popping up of these AI genertion games that plagued the demo hall. The correct amount of AI games at PAX is zero. They should all be thrown into the Boston harbor.

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Okay back to some good games made by actual humans. I think if you're going to make a demo for a mystery game, you basically want your player to learn as little as possible, while also still maintaining interest. Sunset High is a kinda choose your own adventure time loop narrative-based adventure game that mostly does just that. I think it warrants keeping an eye on, even if I feel like I know about it now as I did before I tried it.

My only concern is that it handles the time loop part of the game well, I think it's pretty easy for that gimmick to become tiresome if not done correctly. Admittedly I was enticed by the color palette as well so that's how you can tell my opinion is pretty useless.

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I played this for only a minute or two since the demo was very short and also kind of easy? Didn't really strike me as that interesting. It's another roguelite with procedurally generated dungeons so, maybe it'll be okay but I feel like I can just get this anywhere else.

Like due to the large amount of rougelite stuff out there, I feel like I can just play any other game that will give me the same feeling as this. I need either exceptional gameplay or a unique premise to hook me in, and I didn't sense this one had either.

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This is actually pretty funny since out of all the games I stood in line for, I think this one took the longest to actually get to playing. Which maybe is thematic given the game's narrative? This was described by the published as basically Papers, Please in Southeast Asia. Which I think is an interesting setting to explore the corruption and incompetence of newly formed governments, the fear of citizens that things won't be getting better as they hoped, and how decisions can way on you even if it's only "part of your job."

I didn't get a chance to finish the demo since I encountered a bug and it crashed, so I think it's pretty impressive that in spite of all the things going against it, I'm still eager to check it out in the future. As an American, this is a lens into a culture that I rarely was exposed to, and I like how Compensation Not Guaranteed really drives the impact of the choices you make in the short time I played it. I could definitely see this game having a lot to say, and I look forward to what that is.

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I really don't know why I even bothered with this. Like yeah sure they had a big set up and a big wormy guy so a lot of attention was drawn to it on the show floor, and the line was always huge, and I liked the movies, but what, did I think I would actually want to play a Dune-skinned ARK game? Crafting survival whatever? No it's very boring and unfun.

Funnily enough the part I got to demo was the "building" part of the game, which is probably the least fun, but also probably the most representative of what the game is. Go get resources, go build, go get more resources so you can fight monsters to get more resources to build more...etc ad nauseum. Cool big worm. Game sucks.

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This is easily my MVP in the category of games I never heard of until the weekend of PAX. I love detective puzzle games, and Mind Diver is absolutely one that looks like it has potential to join the ranks of modern day classics like Obra Dinn and Golden Idol. A mystery game where you get a non-linear recounting of events is just so good when done well, and from the demo I played, Mind Diver does it very well.

Extremely interesting premise too that has me already thinking of theories. The ceoncept of swimming through someone's "mind ocean" to uncover their repressed memories is just fantastic, and I love the visuals here. Very confident that this game will be great, and it's coming this year! I'm really excited for it.

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This was my last demo of PAX, and it was okay! The story is that you're trapped in an abandoned video game with a bunch of creepy characters that have gained some kind of sentience. It's very creepypasta coded, which could still be good, but can also just end up being silly. Since the game you're stuck in is canonically unfinished, a lot of the game's assets look kind of funny, it may be something that takes some getting used to.

I do enjoy that depending on which character you interact with, the type of horror will be different. So you got a lot of different applications of horror in one game, which is a neat concept. The section I played was pretty rudimentary, so I'd need to see a bit more from it before I'd be willing to commit to checking it out, but I think it has some promise.

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That's all the games I checked out on the demo hall and my thoughts on them! I hope that this little article introduced you to something you haven't heard of before, and I encourage you to wishlist any of the games that interested you on Steam! You can click the picture to be brought right to their page.