Room Escape Artist

Another PAX East is in the books! Once again, I traveled up to Boston in late March to attend this video game convention and report on the most interesting games that were on exhibit. This time, I was joined by REA contributor and videographer Steve Ewing, and together we sought out the games we felt would be most interesting to bring to your attention. We interviewed a few of the standouts, Steve turned those interviews into some great footage and first impressions of the games we saw.

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Like last year, there were no pure puzzle games to report on. But there were plenty of puzzle-adjacent games that caught our attention. Many developers had Metroidvania style games on display, and I spent a long time sampling them.

Metroidvania

Metroidvania (a portmanteau of the classic NES games Metroid and Castlevania) is a video game genre focused on exploration and gated progression. Typically, exploration and battle lead to power-ups and those power-ups allow deeper progression into the world. They’re not strictly puzzle games, but navigation becomes a puzzle in and of itself as the map becomes more interconnected. It is also a challenge to figure out how to use newfound powers to progress the story and find the many secrets that are almost certainly hidden throughout the world.

Metroidvania is one of my all-time favorite genres. Beating Metroid back in 1991 with a copy of Nintendo Power magazine open next to me is a core memory. Given that, I have been pleased to see a resurgence of the genre spearheaded by indie developers in the last few years. Games like Hollow Knight, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, and Dead Cells have been massively popular and well-received by critics. Here are a few of the new and upcoming Metroidvania games I saw at PAX East.

Full Quiet

Developer: Retrotainment Games
Publisher: 8bit Legit

The publishers of NEScape! have a bevy of 8-bit games playable on modern and updated NES consoles. Their newest game, Full Quiet, tasked you with restoring a radio relay grid so you can find your missing son. You wandered through a large forest, managing resources and finding clues to help you progress the narrative and through the mysterious forest. Full Quiet is already available on most of the major systems: XBox One, NES, Nintendo Switch, and Steam. Look for a full review in the coming weeks!

Edge of Sanity

Developer: Vixa Games
Publisher: Daedalic Entertainment

Edge of Sanity was a Lovecraftian survival horror game set in a 2D version of Alaska. The demo had a few mild jumpscares and more than a few cartoonishly horrific enemies and settings. The story, like many games in this style, is largely unknown at the start and that feeling of uncertainty as I explored the demo fed into the feelings of fear endemic to the Lovecraft style. Edge of Sanity will be available on Steam.

Memory’s Reach

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Developer: 100 Stones Interactive
Publisher: 100 Stones Interactive

Memory’s Reach was a first-person puzzle adventure that evoked the feelings of the early stages of a Metroid: Prime game. The demo I played, which is currently available on Steam, walked me through two of the three major puzzle types described by the developer while teaching me how to navigate and explore the world. This one was definitely in its early stages but the holographic circuitry puzzles and the puzzle-y navigation elements drew me in.

Venture to the Vile

Developer: Cut to Bits
Publisher: Aniplex

The town of Rainybrook had been taken over by the “Vile” and our protagonist’s job was to investigate it and find their missing friend. Some of Venture to the Vile’s creepy atmosphere came from the eeriness of the main character and all the NPCs wearing sewn-on animal masks; they reminded me of the mask-wearing splicers from Bioshock. The demo, which is available on Steam, took me through all the basics – platforming, light puzzle solving, and two-phase level boss.

I did not have a chance to get my hands on every Metroidvania style game at PAX East – there are too many games for any one person to see, and sometimes it wasn’t obvious exactly what style a game was. The Matte Black Studio’s LUCID falls into this category, and – distressingly – so does Crypt Custodian. I have always tried to shine a light on games that feature cats (especially black cats!) and it bothers me that I missed out on seeing this one at PAX East.

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Panels

As always, PAX East presented a series of panels for con-goers interested in just about every aspect of gaming. There were panels on game design and marketing, fan culture, the intersection of psychology and gaming, and many more topics. Unfortunately, I missed Thursday’s “The History of ‘90s PC Gaming” panel and there was no “Hidden Gems” panel that I found so helpful last year.

The panels I did go to tended to be extensions of my professional life. As an educator, I was drawn to the “Teaching With Games” panel hosted by Zachary Hartzman, a teacher from Ellis Preparatory Academy in the Bronx, who uses games extensively in his classroom to teach everything from literacy to social-emotional skills to physical education. Zachary was joined by a panel of five of his students to get their viewpoints on how gaming can intersect with education. The “Mental Health and UX in Gaming” panel was hosted by highly-credentialed academics Celeste Sangiorgio, Zhi-Fang Li, Brian Peña, and Dash Lunde. They discussed the things we learn from games that are applicable skills to our daily lives. Maybe we can’t learn how to double jump in real life, but games can teach us about problem-solving, develop our communication skills, and help us test out different types of interpersonal relationships.

I especially enjoyed the panel “Every Game is the Same,” which was delivered by Scott Rubin, one of the hosts of GeekNights. The presenter explored the very common method in which people describe games – “it’s game A + game B.” It’s a useful shorthand for communicating the feel of a game, and it was partially presented as a tongue-in-cheek math lecture about factorization. Unfortunately this one was late on Sunday afternoon and I had a train to catch so I missed the end, but it was being recorded and I expect it will be up on the GeekNights lecture series page shortly.

Final Thoughts

I had a blast playing games, attending panels, and interviewing designers over the four days of PAX East. I couldn’t shake the feeling that the convention felt smaller than last year’s version. I don’t have access to numbers of booths or attendees, but there was more open floor space compared to 2023. And there was certainly less spectacle overall. Last year there was a wrestling ring with matches every few hours throughout the weekend, and there were more games with huge studios behind them. This felt more like an indie showcase; this is not a bad thing, just an indication of where the industry is overall.

2023 was a bad year for the gaming industry in terms of layoffs and sales numbers. This article from Business Insider goes into detail about the overall issues the industry is facing. What this has led to is a contraction in many areas of the gaming industry. Major developers and publishers – notably the big three of Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo – have been doing fewer and fewer trade shows, instead opting to host their own events rather than competing for eyeballs at an event like PAX. Even E3, perhaps the most notable electronics showcase, has shut down entirely.

But the huge players like Nintendo are only a part of the industry as a whole. As events like PAX East show, there is a vibrant community of indie and AA developers churning out interesting and wonderful games across a broad spectrum of genres.

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Tips for Visiting

• Download the PAX Nav app and get your days planned ahead of time.
• Get in line for panels early! Not every one will hit capacity but the ones that will usually do so quickly. PAX is great about setting up spaces for queuing; considering it an extra bit of time to rest your feet and plan your next move.
• Utilize the tabletop library. There are hundreds and hundreds of games there to rent out for free.
• Spend time in the PAX Rising section. This is a curated selection of games from smaller teams that are really doing things right.
• Parking is available but there’s usually a long line of traffic heading in. Public transportation to the convention center is bus only as there are no T stops closer than a 10 minute walk away.
• There are a few extremely local hotels that sell out fast so make your plans early.
• Check out the list of PAX 2024 games on Steam.
• PAX East 2025 is scheduled for May 8-11, 2025. See you there!