PAX East is always a treat. A smaller, more intimate show than PAX West, PAX East is a good way to take the industry’s temperature and see a ton of exciting new games from both major publishers and small indies that are doing exciting new work you may not have heard of before. I spent four days at PAX East this year, seeing a ton of cool games both on the show floor and behind closed doors. Some I unfortunately can’t talk about, but let me be clear: I saw a lot of cool stuff. This roundup will cover the best of the best.
Lucid | Developer: The Matte Black Studio | Publisher: Apogee Entertainment | Release Date: TBA
Sometimes, even during a show as great as this year’s PAX East, there’s one game that seems to suck up all the oxygen in the room, the kind of game that’s so good that it’s on everyone’s list when they’re discussing the best games of the show. This year, that was LUCID, a 2D action platformer that pulls together pieces of Celeste, Metroid, Castlevania, and Mega Man X. The first thing you’ll notice is how it looks: LUCID’s artwork is absolutely stunning, from the way it uses depth of field in the background and foreground to the way the smallest details of the game world guide your eye to the thing you need to see next. The soundtrack is equally wonderful, managing to convey mood and tone while perfectly matching the action on-screen. And then there’s the feel of all of it, nailing dashes into jumps into air dashes into sword slashes that reset your other actions. At its best, you’re constantly moving, flowing through the environment like water through a winding canyon, always forward, around, over, between. And if you mess up, it’s just an opportunity to try again, which makes nailing a section that had given you trouble all the more satisfying.
If I had to sum up LUCID in two words, they would be “thoughtful” and “deliberate.” Everything feels intentional, and everything connects to everything else. It’s not uncommon for an indie game to pay homage to great games of the past. It is uncommon for them to take their disparate elements and turn them into a single, holistic design that honors the classics that came before while feeling new and uniquely itself. LUCID seems on path to do that, and that’s no mean feat. This was, unquestionably, my game of the show at PAX East, and I cannot wait until I can play it again.
Heading Out | Developer: Serious Sim | Publisher: Saber Interactive | Release Date: May 7th, 2024
Every now and then, you run into a game that is so thoroughly Your JamTM that it seems like it was made just for you. For me, that’s Heading Out, a narrative driving game inspired by the cult classic road movies of yesteryear. You step into the hoodie of the Interstate Jackalope, a driver on the run from their fears and the cops, and they travel across America. Along the way, the fears, dreams, and ambitions you choose at the outset, and choices you make during your run, will define who your driver is, and how they affect the world around you. Heading Out is a great-feeling racer, an interesting narrative with a ton of branching paths, a roguelite where you never know what’s around the corner, and all Americana. Serious Sim is a Polish studio, but they clearly understand the American road and car culture. Everything from the black-and-white visuals to the soundtrack and radio broadcasts just felt right to this gearhead, and I can’t wait to get behind the wheel for the next run and put the pedal down. Never stop running, Jackalope.
Dragon is Dead | Developer: TeamSuneat | Publisher: PM Studios | Release Date: June 7th, 2024 in Early Access
I had the good fortune to play Dragon is Dead behind closed doors last year, and it’s remarkable to see how far it has come. A roguelike action-platformer that feels like a combination of Castlevania and Diablo, Dragon is Dead is a gorgeous, brutal action game where death is always around the corner and combat feels so good you’re looking it in the face and daring it to bring it on. Dragon is Dead’s combat is stellar, but what’s even cooler is how progression works. You retain your gear and runes when you die, so death is more of an inconvenience than a progress-stopper. Live, kill monsters, get loot, die, and repeat on your way to kill Guernian, the last dragon and leader of the Dark Dragons, whose evil is corrupting the world. Oh, I mentioned Dragon is Dead has cool lore, right? And some awesome music? What more could you ask for?
Ra Ra Boom | Developer: Gylee Games | Publisher: Midwest Games | Release Date: TBA
I grew up playing games like Turtles in Time and X-Men in my local arcade, so Ra Ra Boom caught my eye as soon as I saw the arcade cabinet at Midwest Games’s booth. But it’s one thing for a game to catch my eye and another for it to demand my attention. Ra Ra Boom follows a group of ninja cheerleaders from space as they fight for humanity on Earth. The premise might sound a little ridiculous, but I quickly grew to like this charming and funny crew. Ra Ra Boom’s artwork is stylish, colorful, and clean, and it’s got a great soundtrack to beat up robots to, but the coolest thing about it is its gameplay. Every character feels different and comes equipped with a ranged attack and a powerful super move to turn the tables. What makes it unique, though, is the dynamic lane system, which makes it easy to focus on where you want to be on-screen and the enemies you want to fight. Throw in upgradeable tech trees to power up your character of choice and cool boss fights, and Ra Ra Boom looks like a knockout. I liked Ra Ra Boom so much that I dragged several friends back to Midwest’s booth to play it with me, and guess what? They all liked it, too. That should tell you all you need to know.
Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo | Developer: Pocket Trap | Publisher: PM Studios | Release Date: TBA
Pipstrello and the Cursed Yoyo is a terrible name, but as a video game? It rules. Styled after the top-down, Game Boy Advance games of old, especially the old Zelda games, Pipistrello is fast, satisfying, colorful, and full of inventive little quirks. You can bounce your yoyo off of corners to bounce it into enemies, or the next corner, where it will bounce again, which becomes required to solve puzzles or clear rooms, and while it’s traveling, you can still whip enemies with your yoyo string. You can ride it across water, use it to snag items, and so on. And then there are badges, which upgrade your stats or provide perks. Pipistrello’s inspirations are clear, but it still feels like its own unique thing, and it’s all wrapped up in a stunning presentation, from its charming art to up-tempo music that harkens back to some of the best games of yesteryear.
Slime Heroes | Developer: Pancake Games | Publisher: Whitethorn Games | Release Date: TBA
I didn’t expect Slime Heroes to emotionally devastate me less than five minutes in. I also didn’t expect to fall head over heels for the combat. But video games are surprising like that. As your magical forest is overrun by a strange corruption that is transforming everything around you into monsters, your little slime (and a buddy’s, if you’re feeling nasty) set out to save the world. To do that, you’ll fight your way across a magical, whimsical world filled with puzzles, dungeons, and secrets. The game’s combat, which is built on the light attack/heavy attack/dodge formula is fast, crunchy, and fluid, and it never got old watching my Slime wade into enemies with his sword or do his best Kirby impression and stomp opponents from above after he’d turned into a shoe.
The real kicker, though, is the skill gems you’ll find, allowing you to combine custom magic spells. Sure, you could stick with a regular projectile or tornado abilities, but you can also combine two projectile gems to make a super projectile, or combine a projectile and a tornado to turn that tornado into a projectile, or maybe just add a status effect like electricity on top of whatever spell you make. It’s a fun system that encourages you to fight everything, search everywhere, and experiment, and I always loved finding something new and trying every combination I could. Plus, you can find little hats for your slime to wear as armor! Slime Heroes is adorable, feels great, and looks gorgeous. Oh, and that soundtrack. Man. Who says a slime can’t be a hero?
Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days | Developer: PikPok | Publisher: PikPok | Release Date: TBA
PikPok is bringing their mobile-exclusive Into the Dead franchise to PC for the first time with Our Darkest Days, but you wouldn’t know it from playing it. An extremely polished side-scroller, Our Darkest Days drops you into 1980s Texas, after the zombie apocalypse has upended the world. I started the demo by searching a house for food and other supplies to bring back to my shelter. While I was there, I heard an SOS call from a nearby police station. Saving other survivors is risky: it meant risking people I had for a return I wasn’t sure of. I went in.
I got everyone in my group of survivors killed. The first one went down when I got lost and wandered into a room full of zombies. The second survivor set off the siren of a nearby police car, alerting a horde I had no chance against. And my last, who arrived too late to save the people I’ve been sent there to save, fell victim to garden variety bad luck while he was on his way out. It was a devastating run; I had only made a couple mistakes, and it had cost me everything. But sneaking through rooms of zombies, fighting when I had to, running when things got dire, and taking risks is a rewarding loop that rewards you for playing well, and I could see how I could have done better each time I made a mistake. I can’t wait for another shot at it.
Deathbound | Developer: Trialforge Studio | Publisher: Tate Multimedia | Release Date: TBA 2024
The first thing that struck me about Deathbound was how good it looked and sounded. Seriously, even the ambient noise in this game is impressive. The second was that the combat felt both weighty and satisfying, unlike some games in the Souls-like genre. But what really impressed me about it, beyond the world and story, which is immediately interesting, and the hand-drawn cutscenes, which look like they’re straight out of a comic book, was the party system. In Deathbound, you control a party of up to four characters, each with their own health and stamina bars, and you can switch between them on the fly depending on what you need and your health and stamina. If you need a rogue, you can use your rogue. Need a beefy tank? He’s there. A bruiser? You’re covered. And a mage that doesn’t use mana but whose skills generate heat and can explode if you’re not careful about managing it? Naturally.
Be warned, though: if one goes down, they all do. Some party members may also not like each other, offering debuffs as well as buffs if you use them together. You can also build up sync as you fight to both switch characters and pull off a devastating Morphstrike when you land a hit, which can be the difference between a close victory and a crushing defeat. Deathbound is a unique take on something of an overstuffed genre that already feels really good, I’m interested to see where it goes from here.
Heartworm | Developer: Vincent Adinolfi | Publisher: DreadXP | Release Date: TBA 2025
Heartworm is the fusion of several of my favorite horror games: Silent Hill, Dino Crisis, and Resident Evil, but it also feels like there’s a little bit of Parasite Eve and Fatal Frame thrown in for good measure. You play as Sam, a young woman devastated by the loss of those close to her, who decides to investigate a supposedly supernatural house that’s rumored to allow you to make contact with the great beyond. That goes about as well as you’d expect, and things get real weird, real fast. Armed with a camera, Sam has to figure out what the heck’s going on. Heartworm is genuinely creepy, and a sense of dread hung over my entire time with the game, but I was so compelled I had to push on. Based on what I saw, Heartworm’s writing is clever and strong, its music and background noise is unsettling, and its PS1-era aesthetic absolutely nails the vibe of games from the era. All I can tell you is that when my time with Heartworm ended, I was sad 2025 is so far away.
Lunar Lander Beyond | Developer: Dreams Uncorporated | Publisher: Atari | Release Date: April 23rd, 2024
Lunar Lander Beyond probably shouldn’t work, but it does. You step into the boots of the newest captain of the Pegasus Corporation. Food and air are luxuries when you work for Pegasus, so you’d best figure out how to make money, and fast. You’ll do that by guiding your pilots, and your lander, across planets to rescue pilots, deliver cargo, and fix equipment problems. This is a lander, so it’s not the most maneuverable thing. If you don’t wanna crash into a rock, base, or just the landing pad, you’ll have to pick your spots, pulse your thrusters, and pray. It’s easy to overshoot, undershoot, and everything in-between – but that’s what makes it so much fun. You’ll also have to manage your pilots’ stress levels – you wouldn’t want them hallucinating in the middle of a mission, would you? – and your own limited resources. Combine all that with some absolutely gorgeous, hand-drawn art, a bumping synthwave soundtrack, and some really neat stuff I don’t want to spoil, and Lunar Lander Beyond is shaping up to be very, very cool.
Pioneers of Pagonia | Developer: Envision Games | Publisher: Envision Games | Release Date: Dec 13, 2023 in Early Access
Pioneers of Pagonia is a game about vibes. A relaxing city builder with a warm, inviting art style and a low barrier of entry, Pioneers of Pagonia is the kind of game I want to play with my friends on a rainy Sunday. In a world of scattered islands and disparate tribes, you’ll lead your people as they build a bustling civilization and forge alliances with the other inhabitants of the world. Bandits will try to steal from you, and you might run into mythical creatures like werewolves who require silver weapons to take down and will transform your populace if you’re not careful, but what really impresses about Pioneers of Pagonia is the depth of a simulation where every object is accounted for. You can zoom all the way into a ground level and follow a piece of wood from the moment it’s chopped down to the moment it is used to build a guard tower that expands your territory, or watch a box of supplies travel from its point of origin in real time.
There’s a ton of minutiae here if you want it, with dozens of resources to gather and hundreds of pioneers to manage, but you can also take a top-down view and simply assign broad tasks and watch as your people worry about whether to gather soft or hard wood (yes, it makes a difference) or supplement leather production with cloth. Me, I just wanna build a pretty town with my friends and enjoy the vibe, and Pioneers of Pagonia lets me do just that.
Disco Samurai | Developer: Pixel Fiber Games | Publisher: We Dig Games | Release Date: TBA 2024
Disco Samurai is a game for action game sickos. A rhythm-based action game loaded with cool cyberpunk art and a slamming synthwave/rock soundtrack, Disco Samurai asks you to attack, dodge, and parry to the beat to beat down your opponent’s stamina. You’ve also got the ability to kick enemies into environmental objects and take them out instantly, or use a gun and stun them, and then get to swinging. Add in a cool metanarrative based around Disco Samurai, the game within the Disco Samurai you’re playing, and there’s a lot to like here. I found Disco Samurai’s combat challenging but fair, and I can’t wait to dig back into it.
Kriegsfront Tactics | Developer: Toge Productions | Publisher: Toge Productions | Release Date: TBA
Let me sell you on Kriegsfront: Tactics as fast as I possibly can. It’s indie Front Mission. There, done. Wait, you want more? Okay. Kriegsfront Tactics is set in a conflict in Southeast Asia during an alternate 1970s, and your squad of mechs is behind enemy lines. Recruit pilots, customize your mechs, and make smart choices in combat to live to fight another day. For instance, if you sneak up behind another mech, they won’t have a chance of dodging your attacks. Positioning is everything in Kriegsfont Tactics, and you’ll want to be smart when choosing which mech does what, which of them explores the fog of war, and even where you end your turn and when you reload your guns. Combine some intense strategy with a catchy soundtrack and gritty, low-poly visuals, and Kriegsfront Tactics was one of the most memorable games of the show.
Dustborn | Developer: Red Thread Games | Publisher: Quantic Dream | Release Date: August 20th, 2024
Funny thing about trade shows: one way to tell what’s good is to watch the crowds around a booth as the show goes on. When I first sat down to play Dustborn on the first day of the show, almost nobody was taking an interest in the booth. When I came back to play again on Saturday, the line was wrapped around the booth. Clearly, Dustborn is doing something right. You play as Pax, the leader of a crew hired to transport a mysterious package across a divided, alternate history United States. Each member of your crew has special powers – one is strong enough to lift a bus, Pax’s words can manipulate people and are useful in combat, and so on – which comes in handy when you’re masquerading as a punk rock band to get past security checkpoints.
Dustborn is multiple games in one. One section played like a traditional adventure game, where I had to wander around and figure out how to activate a robotic lift so a bus didn’t end up crushing a friend. Later on, I was stopped at a security checkpoint and forced to play a song to prove we actually were a rock band, Guitar Hero-style. Still later, I was taking it to the man by beating up some cops with a baseball bat that I could throw and recall in my best Kratos impression. None of this feels disjointed thanks to the natural back-and-forth between the cast, who are a genuinely likable, neurotic bunch, and visuals that wouldn’t look out of place in a comic book. Long story short, most people at PAX didn’t know what Dustborn was before the show, but it absolutely earned that line.
Phantom Fury | Developer: Slipgate Ironworks | Publisher: 3D Realms | Release Date: April 23rd, 2024
3D Realms has been killing it in the realm of the boomer shooter lately, and if Phantom Fury is anything to go by, they’re not slowing down anytime soon. The continuation of the story of Shelly “Bombshell” Harrison from Bombshell and Ion Fury, Phantom Fury is part action film, part road movie, all rule of cool. Featuring a graphical style that wouldn’t look out of place in some of the best shooters of the early 2000s (please understand; this is a massive compliment), an insanely interactive world that reminded me of Duke Nukem 3D, and some outrageous guns and satisfying gunplay, and Phantom Fury won me over very quickly. I mean, come on, Shelly has a cybernetic arm that she can use to punch lightning through people. Cool, absolutely? But that moment of hitstop right before they turn into red paste? Divine.
Enter the Chronosphere | Developer: Effort Star | Publisher: Joystick Ventures | Release Date: TBA
Enter the Chronosphere is a roguelite tactics game where time moves when you move. As a result, turns can be as fast as you want. With a unique crew, each of which comes with their own abilities – I mean, seriously, one of them is essentially a bear wearing a Power Glove – stunning art design, a synthy soundtrack that had me nodding along, and a ton of unique weapons, stages, and enemies, no two runs in Enter the Chronosphere are exactly the same. I should know, because I did several of them. Enter the Chronosphere is one of the rare games that gets weirder and more interesting as you go, and I’m excited to see what my next run brings.
