PAX West 2026 - Scenes from the Show Floor

It's almost autumn, which guarantees a few things: a crisp fall breeze, apple picking, pumpkin patches, scary movies, cinnamon everything, and of course, PAX West. Another year has come and gone, once again seeing Downtown Seattle lit with colorful cosplays and cardboard Pikmin hats as far as the eye could see. I was lucky enough to attend for my 5th year in a row, media badge in hand, this time with help from my brother and my partner, to make this some of the most extensive coverage yet of the actual game floor. As such, on September 4th, we set our sights on the Seattle Convention Center and sat down to play as many games as possible within the short four days that we had.

The energy was a little bit different at PAX West this year than I've experienced previously; many of the heavy-hitters I've become accustomed to seeing weren't there. Nintendo was absent (probably because of their huge Ocarina of Time direct that happened literally the day after PAX ended), Capcom had no presence there, and the bigger names that did make it had a much smaller footprint than in previous years. While this may seem like a detriment on the surface, as much as I like seeing previews for huge AAA titles, the lack of the big boys allowed for an emphasis on what I really think PAX is about – the indies.

The indie devs did not disappoint this year. PAX introduced the new Indie Incubator floor, showcasing 20 smaller creators who raffled for a spot at the show. At the PAX Rising booth, tons of devs packed into a space that gave show-goers easy access to individual games. They implemented a brand new treasure trove of artistic goodies with Artist Alley, where dozens of artists sold their various wares.

The back half of the Arches Convention Center was completely inundated with indie games, and unlike the last few years, even the slowest days had lines wrapped around almost every single one. If you have read any of my previous coverage, I typically schedule as many demos as possible to sit down and talk with developers and interview interesting people. While I still did quite a bit of that this year, I decided to see the show more from the perspective of an actual event-goer, sitting down and trying as many games as my small team and I could. As such, here are all the games I got to try but not necessarily interview for, giving you a small taste of what each game was and how they played.

MURDEER

Swift Stag Studios

MURDEER is one of those games that immediately sets itself apart with eye-catching art and bizarre premise. Plastered on a banner in Swift Stag Studios' booth was a bright yellow backdrop covered with a pixel-art deer holding a ray gun. How can you not give it a look?

MURDEER is a roguelite FPS reminiscent of the boomer shooters of old, where you play as a mutated deer desperately trying to escape the facility that turned it into a monstrous version of itself. The normal roguelite offerings are here; learn enemy movement, kill scientists, buy upgrades, the works. The difference is customization; You can make your deer look however you want them to (one of the devs said, "I wanted to make a game that, if you wanted, you could do whatever, including making a dummy thick deer"), and the gun upgrades stack.

I don't mean that just the effects stack; no, no, I mean the upgrades literally stack. The attachments for your gun will stack on top of each other until you have a ray gun with dozens of red dot sights and multiple barrels going out of the field of view. You can also gore scientists with your antlers, and there's a big gun that is also a noodle, called (what else?) the Noodle Gun. It's got it all.

A game made for fun to have fun; you can wishlist MURDEER on Steam.

Terra Nova: Legend of the Runes

9th-Bit Games

Now this, this is a good one.

Terra Nova: Legend of the Runes is the ultimate love letter to the JRPGs of old. The wonderful people at 9th-Bit Games sat us down, gave us some really high-quality trading cards, and frankly let the beautiful game speak for itself. If you've ever played a classic Final Fantasy or Chrono Trigger game, you will immediately understand the language Terra Nova: Legend of the Runes speaks.

What really blew me away, though, were the customization options. Not only do you get to choose from 30 different classes for your entire party (there were 12 that were playable at PAX), but you can customize every single aspect from hair color to eye color, which is actually reflected in the character's sprites as you play. On top of that, there are 3 different play styles available: the traditional turn-based combat you know from Final Fantasy; queue-based combat; and a time-based combat system reminiscent of Chrono Trigger.

You really get to pick and choose exactly what you want out of Terra Nova: Legends of the Runes, right down to the combat speed, so anyone can enjoy the experience whether they're veterans of the genre or newcomers. My absolute favorite aspect was the instant switching between a 16-bit art style and an 8-bit art style. This is done in-game, in-engine, at any time, with a single button press. Not only do the visuals change, but the music jumps from 16-bit to 8-bit as well, staying in time and not missing a beat, allowing you to really enjoy the gorgeous pixel art however you want.

I was really impressed with the game, and my brother confidently proclaimed it his favorite thing at PAX and what he's most excited to see more of. Keep an eye out for this one on Steam.

The Box is Alive

Ludocratic Games

As we made our way through the show floor, a man wearing a white polo shirt approached us with a cardboard box in his hands. He had one simple question, one that we couldn't answer – what is box? We waffled for the correct response to the box wizard's riddle. Box is cardboard? Box is empty? Box is for shipping? For storage? The obvious response was, of course, The Box is Alive.

Having an insane pitch like that is one great way to get me interested in a project, and he directed us to the new Indie Incubators section of the show floor. We made our way over and got hands-on with The Box is Alive, a challenging 3D-platformer in the same vein as I AM BREAD. The Box is Alive is based around the idea of a monopolizing shipping company shutting down completely, leaving the entire world at a standstill because no one can get their supplies. The boxes got sick of waiting and decided to deliver themselves, and thus the stage is set for you, as one of these boxes, making your way through Hell and high water to complete delivery.

There are multiple boxes to choose from, each having a specific size, shape, and stats that help or hinder depending on the situation. The Box is Alive is based entirely on the physics of how a box would move if it could - each flap is controlled with a different button, and momentum is built from tumbling and rolling. It sounds silly on paper, but the demo was a blast, and the team behind it at Ludocratic Games were some of the kindest, most courteous, and passionate developers I had the pleasure of talking to at PAX this year. They even set up a box to draw on if you play their game that they're going to make into a skin within the game itself. Astute readers may just find a certain magazine name written on one of the flaps.

It may sound weird, but I think that's the point, so check out The Box is Alive on Steam.

Song of Maka

Silverjay Studios

Sidescrollers have the unique opportunity to be some of the most beautiful games ever made. Only contending with one plane of movement means that you can layer the art style however you want, and some of my favorite indies take full advantage of this artistic capability; Song of Maka is definitely one of those games.

Developed by ten students at NYU, Song of Maka is a puzzle platformer that emphasizes exploration and problem-solving over combat. Described as a "cozy platformer" by its creators, Song of Maka is a gorgeous 2D sidescroller filled to the brim with hand-drawn animation and adorable characters. You play as a little bird who recently lost their ability to fly, so you must learn different songs (represented by different colors) to solve puzzles and traverse the world.

In this world, the fruit of knowledge was found by a bird, so birds became the dominant species on the planet. You and every character you interact with are little birds adorned in cute bird outfits. This draws from the fact that the developers are all bird lovers and feel like their representation in the games industry is lackluster. It creates an atmosphere and an art style honestly unparalleled in the indie space, and I am looking forward to seeing how Song of Maka progresses throughout its life cycle. It's gorgeous, has an engaging story, plays well, has interesting puzzles, and is a passion project by hard-working students. Give it a look, and join the playtest on Steam.

Village in the Shade

Nippon Ichi Software

Just because the biggest players weren't on the show floor this year doesn't mean there weren't any heavy hitters in the lineup. If you happen to sit at the intersection of loving indie titles and games from Japan, you've undoubtedly heard of Nippon Ichi Software. One of their latest games, Village in the Shade, was released in Japan on July 30th, 2026, and is making its United States debut on October 27th.

As such, they had a pretty sizeable booth set up on the PAX floor showcasing some of their newest tiles, and we spent a good amount of time with their newest game. Village in the Shade is one of my favorite horror subgenres: cute, approachable, and lovable, with an unexpected hard pivot into the sadistic and demonic. At its core, Village in the Shade is a life sim à la Stardew Valley and Harvest Moon, but once the sun goes down, the small Japanese village you find yourself in turns into a ghoulish hellscape filled with ghosts and demons.

The game's art is breathtaking, with a hand-painted style and cutesy chibi characters to interact with and play as. During the day, your tasks are par for the course for this sort of game: plant seeds, farm crops, talk to the locals to build up relationships, decorate your farm, and design your house; pretty standard stuff. At night, however, you must traverse the town, completing tasks, avoiding monsters, and solving mysteries. The game is actually pretty freaky too, with monster designs skirting the line between adorable and horrifying perfectly. Village in the Shade will be available on the Switch, the Switch 2, the PS5, and Steam on October 26, 2027.

Unfathom

Eftsith Software, LLC

I have always been a huge fan of the Gauntlet series, specifically Gauntlet Legends. I remember renting it all the time for the N64 with my brother, wiling away the hours as an enthusiastic narrator repeatedly yelled "Rock Shower!" while I spammed the only attack 6-year-old me knew.

As an adult, I always get giddy when I see a Gauntlet Legends arcade cabinet in a local barcade, and plan for at least an hour of goblin murder with my partner. So when I was perusing the indies section of PAX and saw a massive 8-person arcade machine with artwork in the same style as Gauntlet Legends, I had to make my way over to see what was what.

The game in question is Unfathom, a competitive class-based action RPG pitting teams of 4 against each other in PvPvE matches. The goal is to collect as much treasure as possible, kill as many of the other team as possible, destroy enemy spawn points, and claim zones within each dungeon within a time limit. There are multiple classes to choose from, with tons of varying abilities specialized to each class. We only had time for one game while on the PAX floor, but we came out victorious, and I couldn't stop thinking about how badly I wanted a beer and another round. According to the devs, that's the whole point, and while it's available on Steam, their ultimate goal is to get the unit in barcades for people to enjoy.

Stepwell

Jeff Krause, Alex Krause, Tim Fowers, Adrian Graumann

Stepwell is one of the most unique puzzle games I've ever had the pleasure of encountering. You have to get a few little polyhedral guys to their destinations by placing tiles in the right positions, so they can traverse their intended path.

The "puzzle" piece of this puzzle game is that the world is shaped entirely like a modern MC Escher painting, with each tile having multiple vertices and layers in which to create your path. Each tile has a unique structure, with some little shape guys walking on the walls while others go straight on the floor. As you build your labyrinth, it starts to resemble an ant farm, with the small characters moving back and forth over their intended paths, weaving in and out of each other's ways, creating a cohesive level.

One of the developers told me that, to my amazement, the entire game is 2D, with the only thing dictating the direction in which a piece can guide the shape characters being shaders of different colors to create the illusion of more vertices. It's a brain-bending, fun, and unique puzzle game that will scratch the puzzle-solving itch for anyone interested in this sort of experience. It's kind of difficult to explain, but when you see it, you'll know exactly what I mean.

Put it on your Steam Wishlist today.

Sucronomicon

Red Meat Games

Sucronomicon is the exact type of game I love to see at PAX every year: a creative and fun concept, executed well, that I can have a great time playing with other people.

Sucronomicon is a 3-player co-op baking game not too dissimilar to Overcooked, except with a twist - you're fighting off confectionery beasties while trying to follow your recipe book. A witch gives you a floating instruction book filled with the items you need and the preparation method necessary to finish the baked brew, while demented gingerbread men and cake monsters flood into the kitchen trying to stop you.

It mixes first-person shooter elements with the frantic nature of Overcooked to create a uniquely engaging and hectic time. Communication is key as you scour the kitchen for ingredients, shout out commands on how to cook what you're making with the right baking utensils. At the same time, you'll need to support whichever unfortunate soul on your team has been relegated to hacking and slashing and stabbing the baked monstrosities all around you.

The graphics are fantastic as well, with a heavy fantasy overtone and extremely creative weapons (for example, there's a shotgun that shoots icing, and the loading animation is two candles on the gun reigniting). This creates an atmosphere that's fun and adorable as much as it is claustrophobic and overwhelming, and it's an extremely endearing experience as a result.

This is but a taste of what we experienced within the hallowed halls of the Arches Convention Center in Seattle, with so many more we didn't have time to see as the days flew past. These bite-sized overviews don't do these titles enough justice, and I highly recommend checking them out on Steam or just giving them a search if they piqued your interest.