PAX West, aka Penny Arcade Expo, is a 4-day nerdfest of video games, board games, vendors, publishers, creators, cosplayers, gamers, media, and other awesome-minded folks who gather in downtown Seattle at the end of summer to crowd into a couple buildings and celebrate the things we enjoy together. This year was the 2nd year in a row that I was able to make the trip and trek between the Arch and Summit buildings, so here’s some of my favorite highlights from this year.
Most Fun Group Activity: Acquisitions Incorporated Live play
I did the Triathlon again (Tabletop, Console, and PC) and got to participate in my first ever MTG draft, but it’s hard to escape the orbit of some of the most famous nerds live-playing for a few hundred of their closest friends. The jokes and improv were hilarious, and even not knowing some of the background info for their characters didn’t prevent me from enjoying myself. Adding to that, I managed to also have a rare interaction: after leaving the panel, I loudly asked, “Hey when did Jim Darkmagic become a Ribbit??” Only to have Mike Krahulik (1 of the 2 founders of Penny Arcade) speak up from the escalator next to us, “Well actually,” explaining that when they changed RPG systems he swapped his character over to a frog-person. And then he walked away while I stood there, dumbfounded.
Runner Up: Artemis Bridge Simulator
Ever wish you and 4-5 of your closest friends could pretend-play out your Star Trek fantasy for reals? It might end up feeling a bit like a more serious Spaceteam game, but we had a blast shouting information and blowing enemy ships out of the black.
Coolest Upcoming Game: Stranger Than Heaven
Spanning 5 distinct eras set over 50 years (1915-1965), Stranger Than Heaven follows a Japanese-American outcast who sets out to find belonging in Japan. Combat has you controlling left and right limbs with the same bumpers and triggers on the controller, and I can vouch that so far the feeling of a perfectly timed parry, dodge, or finisher can be satisfyingly brutal. Gamers will have to wait until early 2027 to see, but it sounds like there will be plenty to do besides combat, much like one of the Yakuza games. Only this one has Snoop Dogg.
Best Already-Released Game: Emberwind
Emberwind is a, “rules-light, tactics-rich, learn-as-you-go role-playing game.” It’s also a Tabletop RPG built with inclusion from the ground up, doing things like making the rulebooks softcover and landscape, so they lay flat and stay open better, also giving them 3 columns of text when they use the full page, making it easier to read. Oh, and you can do some light dice rolling to take the place of a GM. I walked away from talking with one of the designers ready to sit down and start making a character, so look for my review of this up-and-coming RPG in the weeks to come.
Runner Up: Legends of the Arena
Part programming, part Super Smash Brothers, Legends sees you trying to K.O. your opponents while keeping your footing on the platform. Players will select a stack of 3 cards from their hand, resolving them from the top down in initiative order.
Most Awesome, “Hey you got PB in my M&M’s” Award: Stern Pinball
The Stern Pinball booth was one of the simplest ones at PAXW: nothing but a row of machines, and a single empty table save for a QR code to their website. They had 3 different machines for PAX-goers to try: 2 versions of their Fallout Pinball machines, featuring characters from the Fallout TV show, and one each of their Pokémon and Transformers machines. All of them featured the ability to register, log in, and put your name up on the leaderboard, which was mounted up behind their table. Interestingly, after talking to the designer he also told me that if you play the Pokémon table repeatedly on your account, you could “catch” over 200 Pokémon currently in the game, and they want to add more! He also described his work as making a video game with the world’s worst controller, pointing out how new Pinball machines use both analog and digital parts to bring the fun to the user.
Impressive Accessory Award: Epic Desk Gaming Mats
A playmat or desk mat is just a mat, right? WRONG. Epic Desk makes artist-created (no AI here) creations with both original pieces and limited-run collaborations with everyone from bands like Sleep Token and Rush to games like Rust and Darkest Dungeon. Oh and they have upcoming collabs with Fender and Ozzy Osbourne, as well as ones with streamers like CoconutB. And the mats themselves? Printed fabric top, stitched edges, and a rubber base. They’re visibly thicker than the average mat, and roll out flat even after being stuck in a bag and carried around a convention all day. And every mat comes with a lifetime warranty against manufacturing and material defects. Yes, they gave me one to take home—but I liked it so much that I got my friend to go check out their booth, and he got 3. These are the Rolls Royce of mats, people.
Excellent Indie Award: TIE – Freestyle Football 2 and Super Dungeon Designer
If like me, you haven’t heard of Freestyle Football or the upcoming sequel, don’t sweat it: the Dev team shared with me that the original came out over 20 years ago, and back when there wasn’t such a thing as reliable internet for them to share their game, so it only became popular in Asia. The sequel looks like a cross between Mario Strikers and Overwatch, and has you controlling a single character in 5v5 Football (Soccer if you’re American) matches, where you can use super abilities to help change the tide, but if you really want to overpower your opponents, you’ll have to chain multiple super abilities together. The gameplay is smooth, the characters have a polished, almost PIXAR-like quality, and it’s the only booth I went back to to play again. Look for Freestyle Football 2 near the end of this year.
Super Dungeon Designer caught me by surprise on the first day of PAXW. I was walking the Expo floor, trying to see if anything caught my eye, and SDD did just that. You’re playing as an adventurer in a Dungeon that looks like a 16-bit version of the original Legend of Zelda. Oh, and it can be played 4 player co-op; OH, and you can fight on the same screen or run off to do your own thing without rubber-banding or being stuck together; OH, and you can MAKE your own Dungeons for anyone else to play as well with simple click and drag controls?!?
Super Dungeon Designer is out now on early access for Steam and coming soon to Switch.
So those were just some of the highlights for me from the nerdiest 4 days in September. Next year’s version will be from Friday September 3rd to Monday September 6th, 2027. If you have the means to come out to Seattle, bring some comfortable shoes, and good luck seeing all the games, panels, contests, booths, swag, merch, friends, cards, vendors, pins, concerts and lines that you can. I highly recommend it.
Publishers did not ask for or give compensation for inclusion in this article; any publishers who gave review copies for their products will be mentioned in their respective reviews or paragraphs.