This year, a handful of us here at Gaming Age attended and are bringing you some of our highlights.
Fading Echo is probably the game I personally found to be my star of the hidden gems of PAX this year. I actually encountered them as the last booth I visited right before leaving for the airport Sunday night. With a recommendation from a passerby to check out one of the tiniest booths on the edge of the convention, I found an unexpectedly high quality game; and it’s no wonder. In speaking with them, I learned that developing studio Emetria consists of a seasoned team of largely ex-AAA devs who came together to form a small new studio. Utilizing contract work to fill in the gaps, Emetria has gotten together a very solid concept with a stellar vocal cast and extremely smooth gameplay.
Fading Echo is a 3D platformer, light puzzle game that will have you diving through fractured dimensions to unravel the story of protagonist “One”. Voiced by Samantha Béart, best known as Karlach in Baldur’s Gate 3, One is fighting alongside a gang of odd allies to save her land from being corrupted. Fading Echo features an interesting elemental combat and puzzle system at the forefront of the gameplay which offers many interesting ways to move through the world and fight enemies. There is a demo available on Steam that lets you get through approximately the (potential) first hour of the story, so you can jump in already and get an idea of what’s to come.
-Austen
This might be a hot take, but Metroidvania fans live in a golden age where those who fancy the genre have plenty of options to choose from. Frankly every time an email solicit uses the word Metroidvania I’m at least willing to skim the email. What drew me to GNAW was its cartoony visuals and its vibrant palette.
New Dino City is being besieged by meteors which are composed of meat and when these protein packed heavenly bodies make contact they seem to be spreading rodents as well. The demo finds the protagonist caged and bereft of any clothing. After breaking out of imprisonment and putting on some clothes you’re fighting bugs, rats and other pests with the option of devouring them after their defeat. The game’s health recovery mechanic involves digesting the food in your stomach, and that will leave you vulnerable…forcing you to pick your spot while recovering. Combat requires you to be up close as your jaws are your primary weapon, but during the demo you will acquire two projectile options (a spit shot which first horizontally and an explosive acorn which is thrown in an arc.) to let you soften up enemies before charging in.
I’m certainly invested to see what becomes of New Dino City and hopefully this tale isn’t like the Titanic where we know the ending before we start. GNAW will be coming to PC and consoles sometime in 2026.
-Stan
I agree with Stan here about us Metroidvania fans living in a golden age. The humor and art style of this game really stuck out to me. It’s refreshing to get an actual Metroidvania with color and some
Vibrancy. The platforming could using a bit more polish as I experienced some input lag when platforming. I’m excited to see what boss battles we’ll come across.
-Brendan
The Pittsburgh based studio certainly had a presence at the Thomas M. Menino Convention & Exhibition Center this year by not only being featured in the exhibition hall, but in front of the Games Done Quick Speedrun Stage.
Co-exhibiting with Playground Productions LLC, the duo were showcasing a brand new Backyard Baseball. Plenty of attendees spent time at the on-deck circle in order to check out the series’ new batting mechanic via the homerun derby demo. Once at plate (I swear I’m done with the baseball references after this one), demo goers would have to swing for the fences for 2 minutes, before closing out the session by hitting as many home runs before accruing 3 outs. After by session I asked one of the booth staffs what was the record distance for a homerun, hoping to dazzle them with my 390 ft~ dinger, at which I was brought back to Earth when I was informed a play tester had smacked a 1000+ ft moonshot (she explained the game subtly enhances your swing’s power with each consecutive homerun).
Adorning the booth was also merch both purchasable and for display. Although I have to say the non-purchaseable merch definitely piqued my interest. Backyard sports branded bats, baseball mitts and of course the basketball adorned with the face of Pablo Sanchez. Besides gracing a basketball, the booth did feature visits from a Pablo Sanchez mascot (especially when he wasn’t hanging out at Fenway Park), who was happy to take photos with fans young and old.
Pressed back to back in some sort of spartan formation was the God of War: Sons of Sparta booth. Their setup featured quite the landmark as the Mega Cat Studio team commissioned a full-size arcade cabinet with an accompanying diorama featuring Kratos and Deimos fending off Medusa. The arcade cabinet allowed attendees to experience the co-op mode which would’ve been unlocked after initial competition of the base game, but if you wanted a more solitary experience, the booth also had stations where you can demo the title.
If you felt your skills were up to par, attendees were directed to the Games Done Quick Speedrun Stage where the studio featured two challenges for con-goers. The first was a speedrunning challenge in Backyard Baseball 97 and the other was a trials challenge for God of War: Sons of Sparta. God of War games tend to have a number of trials to test the players skills and in this speedrunning challenge, players were tasked to complete as many trials in sequential order as quickly as possible. Those netting the fastest time would win a replica arcade machine which featured at the booth (sans the diorama). In a roundabout way to boast, Brendan and my hotelmate mate Ken managed to have the best time on day one and managed to take home one of the mini-cabs! After realizing what’s at stake, I too took a shot, hoping to secure another mini-cab for the room…alas it was not to be.
God of War: Sons of Sparta is available now on PlayStation 5 and Backyard Baseball will be released July 9th on PC and consoles.
-Stan
I felt a bit of nostalgia playing Backyard Baseball. I remember wasting many a lunch period playing Backyard Baseball & was excited to see a brand new entry into the franchise. I am also excited to share the new animation program & game with my niece. I hope for her to have as many memories as I had with the game! I tried out the Home Run Derby and just like the team I root for ( The New York Mets) I had a hard time hitting. With some practice I’m exited to see what I can do.
-Brendan
The fourth entry in BlackMill Games’ ongoing WW1 series, this time featuring combat from the Ottoman front of the war. With a heavy focus on authentic battlegrounds and scenarios, Gallipoli serves to fill a niche that isn’t often covered in the immersive battlefield FPS games: the middle-ground between simulation-level combat of a game like Arma and casual friendly games like the Battlefield series. Gallipoli does what both ends of the immersive battlefield FPS game spectrum do best. With the extensive focus of detail you get from the hardcore end and the player friendly and tighter play areas you find on the more casual side, Gallipoli is shaping up to be excellent.
Speaking with a few of the developers at their booth, I was shown all the little bits of detail they really ensured to get right. They weren’t kidding, either. As someone who tends to be very attentive to accuracy on gun handling, I saw something I’ve never seen before in any game: when reloading a bolt action rifle early, the round in the chamber is immediately lost from the remaining round count. That is, if you interrupt your reload prematurely, you’ve now lost a round. I asked them about this and they told me that of course they did their guns right, they went and hung out with none other than (much beloved by shooter fans) Jonathan Ferguson, keeper of Firearms and Artillery at the Royal Armouries Museum in the UK. With his name being dropped, you know this is serious.
-Austen
My first booth was checking out OVR Technology and their Omara Scent Display.
It’s a new level of in game immersion using a device that disperses a variety of smells that are customizable that will be available to indie developers to bring to their games. We played a custom Minecraft demo that incorporated all the available scents the included cartridge can create. This demo showed how the tech can be incorporated into games via interacting with the environment from triggering events. While it may not appeal to everyone, like they say, Seeing is believing and in this case smelling is believing.
There were also some other game demos available:
-Benny
On Saturday morning at PAX East, I spent about an hour with the head of Streamlabs, Ashray Urs, who walked through showing off their new integration of AI within Streamlabs. You might be about to skip this with a “ugh, more AI”, but listen – there’s a legitimate usage here, and while some of it might reach beyond some people’s boundaries, I think it’s largely a good showing for some good uses of AI. So what’s new? Streamlabs is adding several dynamic functions within the core Streamlabs application on both desktop and mobile. One of their biggest talking points is this agent: an assistant who quietly monitors your ongoing stream. While this can be used to do the more in your face things that AI is commonly seen doing, like displaying a character on the screen who speaks, personally, I think it’s best for the other functions.
You don’t need to have the voice generating things to say to your audience; the agent can also do things like playing effects in reaction to events in-game. Got a win? Tell the assistant to fire confetti. Want to go back and clip that win? Just say something like “let’s see that clip” and the assistant will immediately kick the stream back in time to replay the moment again. Ask it to handle settings live, change sources, fix audio problems… all this and more is either currently or soon to be possible with Streamlabs. It’s like having an editor, but able to do all of it live, so people who aren’t professionals with a whole team backing them up have a cheap and reliable way to up their production quality.
As a last note from Ashray Urs, he mentioned to me that Streamlabs is offering methods for new, up and coming streamers to find a path to connecting with advertisers. A way to get sponsorships earlier on in ones career in easy ways for everyone involved. An application available for free within the Streamlabs store offers creators a way to find a way to make their dream come true of profiting off their streams. The best part? I was told that this function is totally free, and they intend to keep it that way.
-Austen
I had the chance to chat with indie dev and publisher duo Evan and Julia Wolbach. They are a small self funded studio that self publishes a variety of zombie titles in the Outbreak series.
We were able to try out their early access for the latest title in the series called Outbreak : Shades of Horror which is heavily inspired by the Resident Evil Outbreak titles.
During the demo, I was able to chat with Julia, the co-founder and writer for the team. We discussed how they embrace different sub genres and gameplay styles with each game and share their love for the survival horror genre. At their booth they were selling physical Limited Run copies of some titles that are no longer in production at a great price. It was nice to be able to help support an indie dev directly by purchasing from them directly. They were very kind and appreciative of us stopping by and supporting indie horror.
-Benny
I love me some controllers and Hyperkin certainly has delivered some fascinating controllers, including the modern versions of the Xbox controllers such as The Duke and The Duchess. The company also distinguished itself by releasing single and multi-repro consoles such as the RetroN 5, Supa RetroN HD. So it would be interesting to see what type of hands-on time I would get at the show floor.
The first product was something whose announcement occurred right as the show was kicking off. Teaming up with ModRetro, Hyperkin will be releasing their Captain with colors (Green, Clear, Purple and Red) matching the former’s M64 repro console. The second product was absolutely legally confounding and it’s known as The Competitor, whose hand feel might be familiar if your console’s price shot up just recently. If you’re looking to cross the line and defect in the console wars, perhaps this controller will ease you in as you join the ranks of Xbox or gasp…PC Gaming.
The Hyperkin branding tends to align to a retro aesthetic and while you can classify this controller type as retro, the team at Hyperkin would politely agree, so when they announced their Guitar controller the InfinaKore they tied it to the announcement of their “modern platform” facing imprint Drakong.
This controller which comes in Xbox or Multi-platform SKUs and can connect with devices via 4 input methods (3.5 mm aux, USB-C, Wireless via Bluetooth and Wireless via USB-A Dongle). It features modern buttons such as the share button and home buttons, but the controller’s modular design is what brings in the wow factor. The neck is capable of folding, making it easier to store and transport. For the people who prefer efficiency over verisimilitude, you can even slide the body off the controller and just fretboard and whammy bar. The InfinaKore is set to be compatible with Fortnite Festival, Guitar Hero, Rockband, Clone Hero as well as Yet Another Rhythm Game (YARG). We do not know if it will be compatible with RedOctane’s Stage Tour.
-Stan
While this is not my typical genre of game, I was intrigued by the horror elements. Blumhouse Games has been publishing a nice blend of horror titles and this is no exception. If you are a fan of Stardew Valley and other farming/simulator titles but also interested in a darker take, this is one to keep an eye for. The pixel art was beautiful and the horror elements were interesting.
There is a serial killer in your town and it can be one of several kinds and they could kill your neighbor, spouse, or someone you can’t stand. Lots of twists and a variety of ways the plot can evolve, all while maintaining your town. To add to this your character is a former thief, so you can be just as dastardly. It’s releasing August 14th 2026.
-Benny
Also attached with my Streamlabs showcase was Logitech’s new mouse. The Logitech G PRO X2 Superstrike is a mouse that is actually different from any others you’ve seen or used in the past. It actually doesn’t have any physical buttons beneath the mouse clicks. When you click, it’s reliant on a proprietary conductive trigger system to relay the clicks digitally, then combines a haptic system beneath to “simulate” the click of an actual mouse button. In my time playing with it at the booth, it felt really good. It did not feel like the click was fake, I couldn’t even tell. Because the G PRO X2 Superstrike is fully digital, this also means it’s modular in ways no other mouse has ever been, too.
The G PRO X2 Superstrike has the ability for you to adjust both the click length and the strength of haptics. Since there’s no actual button beneath, the mouse is able to read strength of resistance as you push harder, meaning that you can have the mouse require you to press harder or lighter than usual in order to actually make a click happen. Naturally, in a competitive environment, you’ll want to use the shortest travel time possible, which is basically nothing at all when you bottom it out on the G PRO X2 Superstrike. You can also completely remove the click haptics, but that felt extremely weird in my case of using it, so I can’t say I’d recommend it, but it is certainly neat if nothing else. They claim that this will shave crucial time off your reaction, so you can stay extra competitive until the competition also gets the Superstrike. I only got to mess with it for a minute or two, but found the experience very interesting. Unfortunately, I did not get the opportunity to use it to play any games, so I cannot give any opinion on its actual effects to my times
-Austen
I said I like controllers, didn’t I? Well I certainly wasn’t going to turn down time with CRKD, who shared a booth with sister company Limited Run Games. After I was able to pull myself away from the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: Dragon Pearl of Destruction kiosk and spend money on their convention exclusives, I was able to check out most of the accessory company’s showings on the floor.
There were four products on display, one was already available to the general public, one set to ship soon and two which were announced a day before the event. The one which was already available was the company’s Guitar Controller. Despite being available it garnered the most attention at the booth…what can I say, everyone wants to be a rock star. The item set to launch soon was the Nitro Deck 2, the latest iteration of the company’s multifunctional controller for the Switch platform.
The two new products on display were the Atom+ and the Ult Pro. The Atom series of controllers is a mini-controller which can fit in the palm of most hands. The Atom+ is like the living embodiment of Ian Malcolm quote “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should”, but replace “scientist” with “accessories manufacturers” and you’ll understand my first impression. Why did I think that? Well because the Atom+ adds a pair of analog sticks to an already tiny controller. That said, when I tried to play Ori and the Will of the Wisps which was at the demo station using this hobbit-ish controller I found myself having no problem maneuvering the spirit entity.
As a company whose output has been less than standardized, the Ult Pro is the company’s first attempt at releasing a “normal controller”. At a glance you can probably mistake it for a 8bitdo Ultimate, but that’s because both controllers’ (and many others frankly…) form factor is a derivative of the design used by Microsoft since the Xbox 360. What makes the Ult Pro stand out is that it is packed with features such as trigger toggle, back paddles, customizable d-pad, analog stick caps as well as ability to tweak controller sensitivities via the CRKD app and saved on one of the four profile slots. Besides its wide feature set, the most attractive feature of the controller is its removable battery (or the ability to use AA) and its price…a very affordable $69.99.
The CRKD Guitar Controller is available now, the Nitro Deck 2 is expected to ship Spring 2026, the Atom+ and Ult Pro has an estimated ship date of June 2026.
-Stan
From new indie dev, Team Crescendo, Memoria Wake is an interesting souls-like isometric game. Main character Nilo fights his way through his dreamscape against manifestations of various stages of his real life up to this point. My understanding is that Memoria Wake takes place 100% within this dreamscape and it is up to player interpretation to piece together the narrative being spun from the outside world (with some light handholding to ensure you get it). Each stage of Memoria Wake represents another stage within the life of Nilo, and you will battle through surprisingly difficult bosses, if what I played of the game is to be retained at release.
Actually, in my time spent at the booth, I was told of a challenge they had within the demo of Memoria Wake: a boss that, up to the point that I’m sitting down with them, they’re telling me only one other person has managed to beat in all their time demoing at various shows. So I took them up on this and offered to challenge the boss myself. It was certainly challenging, but I proudly proclaim my victory here, as I did it on my second try. It did capture that essence of euphoria only a souls-like is able to do. Pushing against a wall until you somehow find just the right way to topple the whole thing, walking away excited and proud that you did it.
-Austen
A cute game with slightly dark undertones, Cat Secretary is an interesting one. You play, as the name might obviously imply to you, as a cat.. who is hired as a secretary. Literally, you are employed by a mega corporation to do all the jobs a secretary might be found doing in real life, but with all the elegance you’d expect that comes with having no thumbs. Refill the coffee machine with water while holding the water hose dangling from your mouth, reset the router by swatting at the buttons, or sort the files by swatting at them (and maybe losing a few papers, but what do you care? You’re a cat, you can’t read!).
You are employed by the DOX corporation, which is a media megaconglomerate that dominates the world of commercial culture. Working to replace all human workers with AI-generated content, you work your way through the ranks to take them down and bring real creativity back to the industry! By day, you’re just a normal cat working as a secretary and pleasing your (human!) coworkers. But by night, you and your mouse friend will work together to overthrow the soulless DOX corporation. It’s a cute game, so even though this sounds very heavy handed as I’m writing it, it’s all very casual in execution.
-Austen
We’ve certainly covered this lightgun platform in the past on this site, but it wouldn’t be shocking to say that PAX East is the biggest convention which this platform has exhibited (not throwing shade at you LIRetro.). For the uninitiated the platform consists of a receiver free lightgun and a micro console which contains Time Crisis, Point Blank, Steel Gunner and Steel Gunner 2, players can further enhance their G’AIM’E experience by purchasing an additional gun and foot pedals to complete their Time Crisis experience.
The initial Kickstarter exceeded its goals, users have received their units and now they are just selling units directly. Recently the company behind the platform Tassei Denki announced a global competition to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Time Crisis. The G‘AIM’E World Championship 2026 challenged players to either beat Time Crisis or beat the first level as quickly as possible. Obviously owners of the platform will be able to compete in both, but Tassei Denki mentioned that there will be demo setups where players can compete in the shorter track. PAX East would end up being one of those events where players can try to beat the first level of the game in hopes of winning prizes and amazon gift cards.
Attendees at the show were certainly impressed with the platform as the saleable stock of hardware the team brought to the show was sold well before the show ended. Could we have the 1st G‘AIM’E World Champion amongst these convention purchasers? We’ll find out when the competition concludes on April 12th.
-Stan
A rather simple idea executed cleanly, Rackpunk doesn’t care to put much in the way of a story beyond just enough to be a funny excuse to justify the gameplay. It’s a pool game, but as a rougelike. In the style of so many newer releases, they’ve taken an existing bar game and turned it on its head in an interesting way. Balls have a wide variety of effects such as leaving ice trails, cracking other balls, absorbing eachother, and more. There’s also a bunch of items and runes to modify your gameplay. In a nutshell, it’s really just a basic idea played out in an addictive way that, once you get it, you will feel pulled in to continue.
Basically, you’re in the nuclear post apocalypse and the only way to settle your beefs and take down roving gangs is by kicking their asses in pool. Or, well, flex on them at the pool table while they watch I suppose rather. You’re the only one playing, and you just earn points by making successful shots. Miss a shot or make a stripe instead of a solid by accident and you’ll find yourself on the other end of a gun with a swift execution. Should’ve played better, and they wouldn’t have done that. There’s not much more to it to explain, it’s Buckshot Roulette’s visuals and functionality but with a pool table.
-Austen
A souls-like game from developer Astral Clocktower Studios, Kristala has been in early access for the past two years. Releasing out of early access this year, the general premise of the world is basically that they’ve smashed dark souls and sekiro together, but the characters are all anthropomorphic cats. Honestly, Kristala kind of surprised me. As a fan of many a souls-like game, Kristala’s combat and world navigation is very familiar in all the right ways while still feeling very unique. Kristala’s combat felt incredibly polished in my time interacting with it, to a degree that I wouldn’t usually expect to see from a small studio. It honestly doesn’t look or feel any less polished than any FromSoftware release, and they seemed to have gotten a lot of the most important aspects set just right.
Weapons can be swords as expected, or since you’re a cat, just take straight to clawing at your enemies. Very Khajiit. The gameplay is familiar but inventive, and if it gets the attention it deserves, I could see it being another case like Lies of P. Where we suddenly have a non-fromsoft game in the genre that sets the stage for what others should try to do. A lot of that depends on how Kristala shakes out in the long run. If the full game has the level of polish shown to me in the demo time I played, it will be incredibly promising.
-Austen
Wait…is Stan seriously going to opine about rugs? Yes, you know what they say about a nice rug, they “really ties the room together”. So in a sea of blind boxes, pins, eclair hot dogs (I’m quite tolerable of bad convention food, but this takes the cake…er, eclair.) and other forgettable knick-knacks, Drayce Place LLC caught my attention with their variety of rugs based on box or disc art from games of yore. Is proprietor Katherine Drayce the inventor of this nostalgia soaked floor covering? Who knows? But she certainly opened my eyes to a new form of home decor.
Her stock consisted of gaming staples such as Nintendo, Pokémon, Final Fantasy, etc. The disc art rugs even had a spindle hole. However, me being the ever mischievous scamp, asked if she took commissions as I contemplated getting a gag gift for someone, specifically a rug featuring the art of the controversial The Guy Game. Obviously since I revealed this plot in this article, I’m not going to go through with it, but I certainly will reach out to Ms. Drayce for a custom rug down the line.
If you want to take a look at her stock feel free to visit her website linked here and if you can’t find something you like, but want to commission her, you can reach out via her Instagram linked here. Now to figure out what type of disc art rug I really want!
-Stan
Kiln
I was surprised when Double Fine revealed Kiln during The Xbox Developer Direct in January. I was very dismissive of what I thought would be another gimmicky friend-slop multiplayer title. I was very wrong in this assumption.
This Pottery pounder has been quietly in development since 2023 and contains that quirky DNA that is in all of Double Fine productions.
-Brendan
PAX East 2026 Misc Photo Gallery
I told you Troy Baker wouldn’t anchor himself to a dud.
There is a ton to do in Starfield, though it just didn’t hold my interest…
Rebel Wolves and Bandai Namco blow the lid off of their upcoming dark fantasy open…
Billy Kid finally gets the S-Class Glow Up, as Hoshimi Miyabi gets a formal outfit.
Snowpiercer came out in 2013…oh god that’s 13 years ago.
We lost Mara Jade, but gained P0-W2. I guess that’s a fair trade.
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