The Best Games at PAX East 2023: Highlights From My First Gaming Conference

Though I’ve written about video games since 2017 when I first started brainstorming plans for Epilogue, I’ve never felt connected with the games industry. Or, at least, I’ve always felt that what I do exists outside of the professional sphere. Recently, however, my friends and fellow hosts of the Left Behind Game Club podcast invited me to attend PAX East, one of the industry’s largest gaming conventions. I decided to use my credentials as the editor-in-chief of this website to see if I could obtain a media pass, giving me direct access to insiders in the industry, and I was delighted to have my application accepted.

I had never visited Boston, Massachusetts, nor had I ever taken part in a lot of what makes PAX such a prominent games industry event. I was nervous and excited in equal measure. On one hand, I was excited to meet my podcast and Twitter friends in person for the first time. On the other hand, I have developed social anxiety in my late 20s and truly dreaded the notion of four days of nonstop socialization. I wasn’t nervous to speak on gaming panels in front of hundreds of audience members, nor was I nervous to interview developers; in fact, those two aspects of my PAX trip were perhaps the most engaging reward of attending such an event. 

One of the true highlights of my PAX trip involved a video game trivia panel, hosted by Jacob McCourt, where six of us answered mind-bogglingly obscure questions about games and events in gaming that we’d mostly never heard of. I paired up with Kyle Stephenson, founder of Six One Indie, under the team name “StrawBBs.” Since this was my first time meeting Kyle, we discussed our favorite video games and quickly realized we had Celeste and Death Stranding in common, hence the name. (I am still partial to “Celeste Porter Bridges,” but bygones, etc.)

Though StrawBBs didn’t win, we came in second place. Our competitors consisted of “It’s Fine,” a duo of Katie Lesperance and Travis Colenutt of the Left Behind Game Club and Cutscenes podcasts, as well as “Team Video Game Trivia Winners,” better known as “Steel Battalion,” for reasons that became apparent during our panel. Brenden Groom of Pass the Controller and Jesse Vitelli of Prima Games comprised Steel Battalion, a powerhouse that took home the trivia trophy. It was tough competition overall, so I am proud of my team landing in second. 

This panel was a highlight, not because my team did well, but because I got to share the stage with some amazing people. I instantly befriended those on each side of me, and I had a blast interacting with the audience members who attended. Much to our astonishment, our room with a capacity of 600 people capped out, and every seat was occupied throughout the hour we took the stage on Friday night. I recognized industry professionals, journalists, enthusiasts, and more out in the crowd. I had a few audience members come up to me afterwards or DM me on Twitter expressing how exciting it was to see a trans woman taking the stage at such a prominent event; to this point, I didn’t properly appreciate the symbolic responsibility I was upholding by representing my community, and I hope I represented it well. In any case, we all hugged after the panel and saddled up for post-PAX dinner and drinks.

There were many other highlights of the show, some bizarre and others surreal. At one point, I ascended an escalator to join a live GDQ audience where a speedrunner tackled Celeste right in front of me. At another point, I was swept into a private hotel room for a hands-on co-op demo with Bread and Fred with my friend Jacob McCourt. I had a freezing adventure in blustery winds and misty skies as eight of us scoured downtown Boston on Saturday night to find a dinner place that had a wait time of less than two hours. I got to cheer on friends and colleagues as they presented their own panels to eager and enthusiastic audiences. I could go on, but one of the main reasons I went to PAX was to preview some games; here are some of the standouts of the show, from the few days I worked my way through the floor and beyond.

The Best Games of PAX East

5. Bread and Fred

I signed up for Bread and Fred because Jacob mentioned that he was going to try it out – simple as that. I had no idea that I was in for a co-op mountain climbing expedition where two penguins who are tethered together coordinate their ascent. When speaking with one of the devs, a comparison to Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy was made, which immediately felt accurate – as progress was tedious and perilous in equal measure. One bluster meant losing minutes of patient puzzling, so the stakes were high. There are also heavy Celeste vibes to Bread and Fred, from the pixel art aesthetic to the snowy mountain climb. Jacob and I laughed as we shared the screen, fumbling our way upwards. The developer we spoke with pitied us enough to turn on accessibility options like infinite jumps, and we were very grateful for this private hands-on. No doubt Bread and Fred will be a success when it drops (hopefully) later this year.

4. Goodbye Volcano High

Goodbye Volcano High has been on my wishlist for years at this point. It’s the kind of ‘Flora game’ that I instantly know that I’d love just from looking at it and taking in the vibes. Featuring queer high school characters depicted as anthropomorphic dinosaurs, Volcano High tells the story of Fang, a troubled senior who struggles to conform to more traditional and academically safe career paths. Fang wants their band to go on tour, and so spends their penultimate high school summer break writing a song that is a very different genre and tone than the band’s usual tunes. I had some strange technical issues with my demo preview of Goodbye Volcano High, which tragically ruined some of the more emotional moments including the playable rhythm sequences when Fang plays that new song. But if those performance issues were ironed out, Goodbye Volcano High might be fighting for my favorite game of the show. In so many ways, Goodbye Volcano High speaks to my tastes, and I will be day-oneing this game without question.

3. Gori: Cuddly Carnage

I am not terribly familiar with Wired Productions’ publishing catalog, but I saw promo images for Gori: Cuddly Carnage and instantly knew I needed a hands-on demo at PAX. Gori features a playable cat in a cyberpunk universe who joins forces with a somewhat sentient hoverboard, which functions as a dynamic weapon throughout the game. Partially Jet Set Radio vibes with momentum based exploration, partially hack-and-slash mechanics from the Musou genre, Gori is a fast paced and frenetic experience. Gori’s demo passed the most quickly out of the games I played on the PAX show floor, and I was truly sad when my time with the game ended. Speaking with a developer on the game, it seems like there will be about nine levels in the final build of Gori, which feels about perfect. Apparently most players take around an hour with the first level, whereas I finished my demo around the 35 minute mark. I’d love to spend more time with Gori, but it doesn’t seem remotely likely to be released this calendar year.

2. Strayed Lights

Strayed Lights is an unexpected mashup of Journey and Dark Souls. (Take a drink.) A wordless artistic exploration game that features the somber score of Austin Wintory, Strayed Lights puts the player in tough combat arenas with parry-based combat. Instead of attacking, the player character has to read enemy attacks on the fly, gauge their timing, and match the colored light of incoming enemy attacks. Orange attacks are parried by swapping to orange; blue works the same way; purple attacks cannot be blocked and must be gracefully dodged. Strayed Lights is both engaging and challenging in equal measure. Speaking with the developers, there will be about eight bosses representing human emotions that have been taken to the extreme, which sounds like Strayed Lights will be a meaningful experience as well as a well-paced one.

1. Wildmender

On the final day of PAX, most of my friends had flown home, leaving me alone for a few hours to take my final walk through the show floor. Due to the dwindling attendance on Sunday, I was able to walk right up to some demos without waiting in the customary lines. One such game that I was able to walk right up to was Wildmender, which caught my eye when I saw a screen bedazzled by swaying plants. Wildmender is a survival game where you can restore barren environments by fostering plants in little ecosystems, creating streams, and exploring unseen territory to fend off predatory enemies. While initially overwhelming, I got the hang of balancing the thirst and hunger mechanics alongside my desire to plant, harvest, and tend to plants. It’s an addicting game loop, made more interesting by the fact that, at PAX, four computers were running the game on an ongoing multiplayer server, meaning that I inherited a haphazard jungle that hundreds of other PAX attendees had contributed to. 

I stayed at the Wildmender booth for over an hour, which I sort of felt bad about, but there was always an available computer next to me, so I felt like I could remain without inconveniencing anyone. There were some strange bugs that I reported to the developer I spoke with, but nothing game breaking or undermining of the experience. Like many of my PAX highlights, there is already a demo out for Wildmender, and I can’t wait to start building out a forest in a private server with my friends who used to play a lot of Don’t Starve Together and other ongoing survival crafting games. Wildmender speaks to my inner plant lover, my adoration of colorful art design, and overcomes my resistance to multiplayer games all at once. I will be frothing on release day to see the final product.

Final Thoughts: Should I Attend PAX Again?

PAX East was a whirlwind of 10AM to 12AM days. I expected to feel exhausted and drained, but I hopped on the plane home feeling recharged, reminded of why I started my gaming passion projects like Epilogue in the first place. Last year, I wrote about gaming burnout, losing motivation to play and complete games, and the fact that I would be taking a significant step back from my gaming content this year. While all of that remains true to some extent, there was something truly inspiring about getting my hands on exciting, unreleased new games, about talking to people who are making games, and from getting to hug people that heretofore I’ve only had a relationship with through a screen and a microphone.

I liked PAX enough to consider going again, though I do not anticipate myself making it all the way to Seattle for the West event, as fun as that sounds. The next time I make my way to a convention, I want to host a panel of my own. I want to join more panels and play more games. I basically want to do this whole experience again, just with greater intensity. It’s an exciting time to be in the gaming space, and I hope the stars align the next time PAX comes to Boston. It’ll be nice to see what the industry is cooking up for us next.

Thank you for reading. Your Patreon support keeps our community entirely Ad free.