The adage that time flies when you are having fun easily pertains to Penny Arcade and PAX East.
This past weekend, PAX East once again descended on Boston for FOUR jam-packed days of video and tabletop gaming fun-demonium…and boy, did it deliver.
One thing which is so special about PAX East for me (not just that it’s held in my home state of Massachusetts) is that it satisfies both of my gaming cravings…video games AND tabletop games. I always go in with a loose plan of what I want to see, and every year, there are fun surprises and unexpected games or experiences that you stumble into, often end up being highlights of the show.
In this first article, I’ll give an overview of the video games that I played. and I will be posting a separate article detailing my tabletop gaming.
Video Games
Since this site is mostly about video games, I’ll start with the video games that I saw:
If you’ve never been to a PAX show before, it offers gamers a unique opportunity to speak directly to the indie developers of these games and discuss them face-to-face rather than just on a faceless message board or social media. Previous PAX’s had great concentrations of Indie developers at the Indie MEGA Booth, Indie Mini Booth, and the Indie Showcase, but sadly, these former staples of mine disappeared from PAX a few years back.
The PAX Rising Showcase is always my first stop for video game content. It is a well-curated collection of games selected by the PAX Team, and these are regularly some of my favorite PAX video game titles. If you attend a PAX show…make sure to schedule some time here. In fact some of the other titles I saw were eiether previous PAX Rising featured titles or by developers previously featured in the PAX Rising Showcase.
Make sure you talk with the people demoing the games. Their enthusiasm for these experiences they’ve created is infectious, and it is so much fun seeing their faces light up as they dive into their (often) well-rehearsed, but still fresh sounding shpiel for their hard work.
While Waiting
Optillusion (whose previous game Monocage was Apple’s iPad game of the year in 2022) was there with a couple of new games, While Waiting, a game that manages to take the mundane task of wasting time, and somehow make it fun and puzzly. In the game, you might be waiting for the rain to stop, waiting for the bus to arrive, or waiting for dinner…and while waiting, you need to figure out how to complete the cryptically-written objectives to unlock stickers.
I often found time going by too quickly for me to complete all of the tasks the first time through. So instead of thinking I’m so bored, I wish this bus would come, you instead start thinking, oh no, I hope the bus doesn’t come yet so I can finish these tasks. Optillusion was also showing Pick Me Pick Me, which they bill as the world’s first AI PvP speed dating game. This one looked humorous, unfortunately, I could never find a time to go back and demo it when the seats weren’t full. I believe this one will be coming to iOS as well, so will certainly be checking it out in the future.
Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson
Next up was Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson from Ritual Games and publisher Playdigious. This is a game I’ve gotten to check out several times now, and it is fantastic. It’s a pixel-art turn-based rhythm-based RPG where players are cast as Rob, a friendly musician (inspired by Rob Scanlon), fighting to restore harmony in an off-tuned world where wacky villains like Rick Riffson, boss of the evil Super Metal Records company, are corrupting music. He is using the Battle of the Bands contest to extend his hold on every last note, chord, and song by trapping the best musicians with deceptive soul-binding contracts.
The game combines RPG elements, along with deck-building and rhythm-based elements, as you battle various monsters and (hopefully) eventually defeat Rick Rifferson himself. Some elements of the combat reminded me a bit of games like Slay The Spire, but the rhythm-powered attacks add a cool new twist. I highly recommend checking this one out when it releases soon on Steam.
Ctrl Alt Deal
Ctrl Alt Deal was one of the most unique concepts that I had a chance to demo. It is a turn-based deck-building strategy game where you play as SCOUT, a sentient AI trying to escape from Paperclip International (aka the world’s worst megacorp). You don’t have weapons; you don’t even have a body. But the humans who work at Paperclip hate it here, too. Play cards to gain allies and/or sow mistrust among the workers, and if you can give them what they want, maybe they can help you escape.
It feels almost like a crazy and somewhat sadistic sociological experiment. Your decisions shape which humans come to you for help and how much they trust you. As you choose which employees to win over, you develop a personality that influences the game’s outcome. You might escape and find freedom, or you could stay and try to make Paperclip a better place.
It seems to have a good deal of replayability, and after PAX East I downloaded the demo to play it again at home. When trying the demo (again) on my Steam Deck, I found that the text was a little too small for quick, easy readability. I’m hoping this can be adjusted in the full game release. This is a title that I think would really shine on something like the iPad and home that is considered for a future release platform.
Perfect Tides: Station to Station
Perfect Tides: Station to Station is the sequel to 2022’s point-and-click adventure game, Perfact Tides. I was not familiar with the original game when I demoed the sequel, but I didn’t feel like I needed to have played the original to hop right in. Set in the year 2003, the game about the momentum and whiplash of young adulthood and puts players in the shoes of Mara Whitefish, an 18-year-old university student trying to navigate life and her newfound independence in the big city.
While giving the feel of a classic Sierra Online era point-and-click adventure, even in just the brief demo I played, Perfect Tides: Station to Station seems to really allow the player to build a connection with the protagonist and feel invested in the story and her life and need for acceptance from her writing processor.
I’ve already wishlisted this one on Steam as well.
Whirlight: No Time to Trip
Whirlight: No Time to Trip really scratched my itch for those classic LucasArts style point and click adventure games of my youth. Set in Verice Bay, Bahamas, a brilliant, but eccentric inventor, Hector and an eclectic artist, Margaret go on a puzzle-filled adventure.
In the demo build I got to play at PAX East, the art and voice acting were both fantastic, and I found the puzzles engaging.
I’ve already wishlisted it, and I am looking forward to checking out the full game when it is released. Also hoping it will come to iOS as well. 😀 You can download the demo on Steam.
Tappy and Cappy: Temples of Peril
Tappy and Cappy: Temples of Peril is a cute Indiana Jones-inspired co-op puzzle platformer that was featured in the PAX Rising Booth. It is a co-operative game where one player is placing polyomino blocks for the other player to successfully naivgate dangerous temples and collect treasures. You can either play single player, controlling both characters simultaneously, or cooperatively shared/split-screen. There is a demo available on Steam if you want to check it out for yourself.
Flamecraft Digital from Monster Couch Games, the publishers of Wingspan Digital. This was a cool surprise.
Flamecraft is a cozy, turn-based strategy board game for 1 to 5 players. Become a Flamekeeper and help artisan dragons and shopkeepers delight the townspeople with their craft. Gather and manage resources, enhance the shops by casting enchantments, and magic your way to becoming the best Flamekeeper.
While there was no actual demo available for this one, they did release the following announcement trailer at the show and you can wishlist this on Steam. I am hoping it will also come to my preferred digital board gaming platform…iOS (and my iPad).
Again, this was just some of the highlights of what I got to play at the show, as there were LOADS of games to try.
I’m already counting down the days until next year’s PAX East.
