The Best of PAX East

I had the opportunity to go to a gaming convention for the first time. This is a big step for me personally; gaming has been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember. Some have said the show was disappointing compared to previous years; that may or may not be true, but I have no frame of reference for that. PAX East 2024 was, to me, a fantastic experience.

Some of our Epilogue Gaming friends!

With a huge show floor and dozens of games available to demo, I had an absolute blast wandering around and sampling the local specialties, so to speak. While the big hitters were mostly absent, that meant that the indies could shine even brighter than they would normally. Between familiar faces, interesting mechanics, and off-the-wall zaniness, it felt like all of the bases were covered. These are the best of what I got to experience at PAX.

Animal Well

Animal Well is fairly well-known for being the first game published by Dunkey’s group. Though, just how well does the actual game behind the publisher stack up? Turns out, Animal Well is pretty great. At its core, Animal Well is a metroidvania, but there’s a much bigger emphasis on exploration – there’s practically no combat, but the world is filled with environmental mysteries that beg to be dove deep into.

Glaive Bound

During PAX, I got to team up with another writer here at Epilogue Gaming – our very own Flora Merigold. We had the opportunity to try out Glaive Bound, a co-op 2D Zelda-like. Unlike Four Sword Adventures or Tri Force Heroes, Glaive Bound focuses on each character’s unique gimmick (one having an electric whip, and the other having an ice dash) to create interesting puzzle scenarios. The ‘dungeon’ we got to explore involved raising and lowering water levels, similar to what you might see in Ocarina’s Water Temple, to form paths. My electric whip was able to manipulate the water level from far away, while Flora’s ice dash was able to cross watery gaps. The combination made for one of my favorite Zelda-like experiences I’ve had in a long time.

Fraymakers

I may be a bit biased with this one. Back in the late 2000s and early 2010s, I worked with the amazing people at McleodGaming on a flash game called Super Smash Flash 2. These same developers are still at it, bringing us a fast-paced and well-made Smash-like, featuring a bunch of indie characters such as Orcane from Rivals of Aether and Octodad. While Fraymakers is available in early access, PAX was the first opportunity to play as the Watcher from Slay the Spire. Sporting a similar gimmick to Pyra/Mythra from Smash Bros Ultimate, Watcher combines quick reach with powerful finishers to decimate opponents.

Bandit Knight

I didn’t expect much from Bandit Knight; it was a smaller part of a booth that had a few other games as well. Despite its humble appearance, Bandit Knight is actually a lot of fun to play. It sports an SNES-era pixel art style that reminds me of classic Square titles like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI, complete with expressive 2D sprite animation. The actual gameplay is perhaps more Metal Gear, being an action stealth sort of thing. I got to throw daggers at guards and steal an aristocrat’s clothes while he was wearing them – clearly the developers are having fun as well.

Athenian Rhapsody

Throughout PAX, there were little purple polka-dotted hats – an odd marketing strategy to be sure. However, the game behind the hats is something of a fever dream. Borrowing its combat mechanics from Undertale, Athenian Rhapsody takes it a step further by integrating minigames into its ACT commands. But that alone isn’t doing Athenian Rhapsody justice; the true gem is in its commitment to wackiness, prompting the player to wear the demo hat and making burgers out of urinal pucks.

Lucid

There really was no question as to what my actual favorite game of the show was. Lucid was unassuming, tucked in a corner amidst a ton of other, equally interesting games. However, mechanically it stands above anything else. Fast, fluid, and technical, Lucid is an ode to some of the best 2D platformers out there. Equal parts Celeste and Super Metroid, Lucid is a speedrunner’s wet dream. Fitting, considering the title.

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