With September creeping ever so nearer, tickets to Seattle are flying off the digital shelves. Or something along those lines. What I’m trying to say is that it’s almost time for this year’s PAX West, and based on the Indie MEGABOOTH and Pax 10 lineups, attendees are going to have a grand time. Yes, I know that there are other things to experience at PAX West. But as you may have guessed, this isn’t really about them (sorry, other events/exhibitors).
What this is about, for those still wondering, is Indie MEGABOOTH and Pax 10, both of which are set to feature some genuinely groovy titles, almost totalling in the 100s! That’s a lot of games. A lot! And not all are of the digital variety either, as a sizeable chunk of the floor has been taken over by… wait for it… tabletop gaming. We may be in a time where video games are a pretty big thing, but that doesn’t mean the non-virtual sort should be discarded like some ancient relic. Gathering around a board game, moving tiny figures and rolling the dice to figure out who lives, who dies, and who has to take the next train (wait, what?) can still be a ton of fun after all.
That said… with the likes of Nidhogg 2 and Runner3 at the MEGABOOTH, Tabletop is facing some tough competition for attendees’ precious time this year. Not that Race for the Galaxy and Sarah’s Singularity doesn’t look awesome, mind you, but still. Tough competition. Then again, I’m sure there’ll be more than enough at PAX West 2017 to ensure every booth will be crowded.
Oh, and we mustn’t forget about Pax 10 either, as while noticeably smaller than even the MINIBOOTH (yes, that is a thing), this too features some exemplary – and recent – releases like Antihero and West of Loathing. Quite a groovy lot, and as always, I’ve listed everything below with links. So get to clicking, even if you won’t be attending this year’s PAX West!
Pax 10
- Antihero (Tim Conkling)
- Celeste (Matt Makes Games Inc.)
- Cosmo’s Quickstop (Big Sir Games)
- Keyboard Sports (Triband)
- No Heroes Here (Mad Mimic Interactive)
- Ship It (Think On Labs)
- Shoot Shoot Mega Pack (Actual Humans)
- Tiny Bubbles (Pine Street Codeworks)
- Wandersong (Dumb and Fat Games)
- West of Loathing (Asymmetric)
MEGABOOTH
- Aegis Defenders (GUTS Department)
- At Sundown (Mild Beast Games)
- AWAY: Journey to the Unexpected (Playdius Entertainment)
- Blasters of the Universe (The Secret Location)
- Castle Story (Sauropod Studio)
- Children of Zodiarcs (Cardboard Utopia)
- Crest (Eat Create Sleep)
- Date or Die (Dev or Die)
- Dead Cells (Motion Twin)
- Dunk Lords (Story Fort, LLC)
- Eco (Strange Loop Games)
- Figment (Bedtime Digital Games)
- Fort Triumph (Fort Triumph Ltd.)
- Galaxy of Pen & Paper (Behold Studios)
- Heaven will be Mine (Pillow Fight / Worst Girls)
- Holy Potatoes! We’re in Space?! (Daylight Studios)
- Hot Lava (Klei Entertainment)
- Interfectorem (Girls Make Games)
- LEGRAND LEGACY (SEMISOFT)
- Midair (Archetype Studios)
- Monster Prom (Beautiful Glitch)
- MOTHERGUNSHIP (Terrible Posture Games, Grip Digital)
- Mystic Melee (Serenity Forge)
- Nidhogg 2 (Messhof)
- Nine Parchments (Frozenbyte)
- Obduction (Cyan Inc)
- Once Upon a Coma (Serenity Forge)
- Pikuniku (Sectordub ltd)
- Q.U.B.E. 2 (Toxic Games)
- Runner3 (Choice Provisions)
- SHU (Coatsink)
- Signal Decay (Nela System)
- Stifled (Gattai Games)
- Super Slime Arena (JellyTeam L.L.C.)
- The Church in the Darkness (Paranoid Productions)
- The Gardens Between (The Voxel Agents)
- The King’s Bird (Serenity Forge)
- Thimbleweed Park (Terrible Toybox, Inc.)
- TINY METAL (AREA 35, Inc.)
- Trailmakers (Flashbulb Games)
- UFO 50 (Mossmouth, LLC)
- Way of the Passive Fist (Household Games Inc.)
- West of Loathing (Asymmetric)
MINIBOOTH
- A Case of Distrust (The Wandering Ben)
- A Duel Hand Disaster: Trackher (Ask An Enemy Studios)
- Cloudbase Prime (Floating Island Games)
- EarthNight (Cleaversoft)
- Emily is Away Too (Kyle Seeley)
- Exception (Traxmaster Software LLC)
- Keen (Cat Nigiri)
- Keyboard Sports (Triband)
- Lifeless Moon (Stage 2 Studios)
- Light Fingers (Numizmatic)
- LIGHTFIELD (Lost in the Garden)
- Mulaka (Lienzo)
- Phantom Brigade (Tetragon Works)
- Planetoid Pioneers (Data Realms)
- Putty Pals (Harmonious Games)
- Return of the Obra Dinn (3909 LLC)
- Russian Subway Dogs (Spooky Squid Games Inc.)
- Rusty Lake Paradise (Rusty Lake)
- Spartan Fist (Glass Bottom Games)
- SUPER IMPOSSIBLE ROAD (Wonderful Lasers Inc.)
- Tasukete Tako-San: Save me Mr Tako! (Christophe Galati)
- The First Tree (David Wehle)
- Tiny Bubbles (Pine Street Codeworks)
- Vidar (Razbury Games)
Tabletop
- Abandon Planet (Orange Machine Games)
- All or One (Robot High Five)
- By Order of the Queen (Junk Spirit Games)
- Complicated Board Game the Card Game (Offcut Games)
- Cult Following: The One True Game (Bravely Told Games)
- Emergence (Emergence Team)
- Fantastic Factories (Fantastic Factories)
- H.E.A.D. Hunters (Gut Shot Games)
- Human Era (Lay Waste Games)
- Maximum Apocalypse (Rock Manor Games)
- Now Everyone Get the F%$# Out! (Starcap Games)
- Phoenix Covenant (Hikari Games)
- Race For The Galaxy (Temple Gates Games)
- Sarah’s Singularity (Wandering Monster Studios)
- Someone Has Died (Gather Round Games)
- Spaceteam (Timber & Bolt)
- Wisp in the Vale: Larklamp (Lumo Amuzo)
(Source: Indie MEGABOOTH PAX West 2017 lineup announced)