PAX East 2020: Day One

My trip this year was nearly a disaster before I even left New Jersey. I’m not talking about the fact that my endocrinologist forgot to send my insulin prescription to my pharmacy, prompting an emergency call to my primary physician less than an hour before my departure.

No, I’m referring to the fact that I nearly forgot to pack my lucky Bruins socks for the trip. I’ve still never seen one of their games. Maybe one day I’ll get around to it.

The Coronavirus may have scared away Sony, Capcom, Facebook, CD Projekt Red, and Square Enix from the show his year, but not Jeremy, Andrew, and me. It’s the Three Stooges for the second year in a row, though my first year ever driving up from South Jersey.

Jeremy rides shotgun with me to Brooklyn on Wednesday night, where we spend the night with Andrew, Kerri, and their adorable dog Sudo. In the morning we play some pulse-pounding rounds of Cannonbrawl, which is as addicting as I remember. On our way to Boston we encounter yet another 18-wheeler accident. This time the accident is blocking all four lanes of traffic, though thankfully going in the other direction.

The night is rounded out with some hard-earned beer and a pastrami sandwich at Beantown Pub, located a block away from the Omni Parker Hotel where we’re staying. Andrew desperately attempts to get his Switch working with the hotel TV with no success. I fall asleep watching paranormal vids on YouTube. Apparently the tenth floor of this place is haunted.

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Dawn of the first day. The markets are in freefall. The wind whips at our faces on this cold Boston morning. Jeremy only brought a hoodie, the poor bastard.

Out on the con floor the three of us hit the first thing we see, the booth for Sold Out Games. It’s the publisher’s first time here, according to one of the devs. They have five games on display:

• Disjunction: I actually played this last year! They apparently found a publisher, good for them. This is an old-school stealth game with vision cones and everything. Jeremy and Andrew really seemed to like it.
• Gestalt: Steam & Cinder: A side scrolling combat/platform game with a steampunk aesthetic. Andrew and I were not impressed.
• KeyWe: A co-op game where you play as two kiwis (the bird) operating a post office in the jungle ran by animals. I played with a dev and it was actually extremely amusing.
• Radical Rabbit Stew: A very cute 16-bit puzzle game where you need to knock rabbits into saucepans with your cooking spoon. Maybe not my type of game but the retro graphics look great.
• No Straight Roads: A third-person action game that feels a bit like No More Heroes with a music theme. The voice acting and soundtrack were phenomenal. The story seems a bit hackneyed but this one has me very curious, if only for the soundtrack.

Andrew and Jeremy wander off. Before long I bump straight into Kyle Seely of Emily is Away fame. For today he’s got a nice booth and showing off his third game, Emily is Away <3. I try out the demo and snap a photo with him.

Water break. Oddly enough, they are still playing ads for The Last of Us Part II despite Sony dropping out. And apparently Red Bull has a custom ad for PAX East? They must really love gamers.

Back on the con floor I decide to take a walk by the stalls at the outer edges of the con, which I tend to miss each year. I try out The Forgettable Dungeon with a few people, which I would describe as a co-op Legend of Zelda with voxel graphics and characters pulled from pop culture.

Across from them is a booth for a publisher named Snowman with a mobile game called Where Cards Fall, a point and click puzzle game where you build and collapse card houses in order reach your goal. The music is very calming and the graphics are outstanding, though the screen had some trouble registering my touches. Also there was Skate City, a side-scrolling skateboard game that I did not get to try out.

I briefly find myself in front of the 1-Up On Cancer booth and donate $5. Go me.

Further along the wall there is a booth for PQube Games with a large array of demos out. Cat Quest II looks really beautiful but otherwise seems like a run-of-the-mill dungeon crawler (with cats, of course). Unsouled catches my eye as a good-looking hack-and-slash, but I don’t try it out.

Front and center at the booth is Arcade Spirits, and the seat just happens to free itself up for me. One of the exhibitors delouses the headset and controller for me with some Lysol wipes. We crack some obligatory jokes about the Coronavirus.

Arcade Spirits is a choose your own adventure/dating sim based around being an arcade employee in the distant future of 20XX. Pretty standard as far as these games go, but otherwise it’s pretty good.

I check my blood sugar. Its 98, which means it’s time to eat. I try out one of those giant haunches of turkey leg for the first time and park myself at the Jackbox Lounge. I stop to consider what kind of turkey could have produced such a monstrous leg bone, and then decide that I probably don’t want to know.

The game Randall has me try out is Alien Hominid: Invasion, which is quite good and probably the first game of the con that really “wows” me. It takes the Metal Slug gameplay of the OG Alien Hominid and adds objectives to each stage like destroying a specific enemy or collecting intel. Each stage you beat enables you to advance across a grid, and your objective is to reach the other side of that grid.

The grid-based stage system allows you to choose different paths to the end of the game, giving it a rogue-like element. There’s also a bunch of power-ups you can pick up such as stat boosts and different weapons. Also, the soundtrack fucking slaps, and they brought along the difficulty of the original game.

While wandering away from the Behemoth booth I bump into Andrew and ask him where Harmonix is this year. He points me in the right direction and… what in name of god is this?

Is this the “thing” Randall wanted me to check out? Man, they went all out on this booth. The crowd is so thick I can’t even see the players at the center of it. Also, I’m not quite sure just what Fuser is about. I try to watch the gameplay and I’m completely lost. Whatever, maybe I should come back tomorrow morning. Maybe I’ll even give it a try tomorrow if the line is short enough.

I try looking for the Team Cherry booth (the makers of Hollow Knight) per Alfred’s request, but they don’t seem to be at the con this year. He tells me to check for Hades pins from Pinny Arcade instead. Acknowledged.

Back towards the Indie show floor, I spot the booth for Annapurna Interactive, makers of the acclaimed Gone Home, Florence, What Remains of Edith Finch, Donut County, The Outer Wilds, and many others. Not to mention one of my personal favorites, Sayanara Wild Hearts. Is Annapurna even capable of making bad games?

I briefly replay some Sayanara Wild Hearts on a tablet before spotting an open seat for The Artful Escape, apparently out later this year (though previously known under another name and never released).

Wow, if Sayanara Wild Hearts felt like an acid trip, then The Artful Escape is a mushroom trip, a game of Simon, and a KISS concert all rolled into one. This one is really gonna be on my radar. Annapurna also has line for some game called Mesquite, so I’ll have to check that out tomorrow.

The image uploader on WordPress broke here, so enjoy the rest of the article without images. THANKS WORDPRESS.

Some cleverly-named stall called Atilla the Bun is selling cinnamon buns for the princely sum of $20. I’ve got an hour left on the con floor and I’m nearly tapped out, so it’s time to check out my favorite part of the con floor: The Indie Megabooth.

Right on the main aisle I spot something noteworthy – a little person dressed as Tyrion Lannister playing a VR sword-fighting game called Ironlights. I wish I could have complimented him on his costume but he was preoccupied with chopping off robot limbs.

Down the row, a company called Sokpop Collective brags that it releases a game every two weeks. Apparently this team of four very-Dutch developers create micro-games and rotates releasing them every two weeks. Each game is sort of a fun mini-game. I play Kart Kids which is very fun. I wind up buying their Season 6 bundle for their convention price of $5, which comes with eight games. I mean, how could I pass that up? $5 is less than the price of a hot dog here.

Further along is Area Man Lives, a VR game where you play a local radio host. You need to prepare your scripts, play records, and answer callers using the VR microphone. Time is short and the line is capped, so I’ll check out this game tomorrow. It definitely has my attention.

I note that Sometimes Always Monsters, From Rust, and Moving Out! have returned from previous years.

The last booth I’m able to hit is The Red Lantern, a “mushing simulator”/survival sim where you lead a team of sled dogs during the Iditarod Race. The overall tone feels like a lot like Firewatch, with the main character sort of running from her problems by distracting herself with some grand goal.

You need to guide your sled dogs while managing your food, medicine, and bullets. The premise sounds entertainment though the demo felt sparse on content. It’s an early build so some polishing may be needed.

And that’s last call. Andrew is grabbing food solo, and Jeremy is still in a panel, so I decide grab a beer and write. The Sam Adams Pub in the food court no longer serves beer, but the Voodoo Ranger Lounge is available, which is new to the con. The beer is good, but there’s a noticeable lack of seating. There I befriend two folks named Aubrey and Dominque. Aubrey tells me to check out Magic: Legends tomorrow, though she warns the line may be long.

Ooph, so much left of the con to explore. On my checklist tomorrow are the Devolver booth and the remainder of the Indie Megabooth. I’ll also probby check out PAX Rising, which usually holds a few good surprises. Beyond that, there’s still more of the Indie showfloor to explore.

But at least for now, there’s beer.