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The /v/GAs at PAX West 2026
Note: Our editorial coverage at events is separate from our awards coverage, which is determined by our voters. We were not provided any discount or review copies of any video games featured below.
Intro written by beatstar
After going coast to coast with the Summer of Gaming (1 and 2), and shore to shore with the Gamescom trip, the /v/GA Outreach team take on Seattle in this brand new adventure.
I said it last year, but I just realized — the “three years” of doing this convention coverage were actually three PAX Wests. This time, it actually is three calendar years now, with three years down and four PAX Wests attended. Woo-hoo!
It’s fun coming at this from an outsider perspective. And our reporting, small as it may seem, is reaching the right people. Big names are starting to take notice: some have good stuff to say, some bad — yet all ultimately constructive. I’m glad that, through our coverage, they thought more of the people who make a 4chan award show possible. And just like the awards themselves, we do this entirely for free.
That reminds me. Just like the first PAX West outing, and all PAX events, our badges for the convention are thanks to Stride PR. They handle the media/content creator presence for PAX and have approved our badges every year, every time we’ve applied.
Look — we know this one’s coming out way later than usual. Tokyo Game Show has already come and gone, and that’ll be the last convention we’ll write about before we really start locking in on the show. Though with time on our side, we get to say a few things with 20/20 hindsight.
And much like past years, there’s good and bad in everything. Hopefully they can take this on the chin, because like last year’s episode sponsored by E. coli, we’re gonna let this one rip!
The “Absolute State” of PAX West 2026
written by beatstar and Donny Q
Coming in, there was something definitely… off… about PAX West this year. Many of the AAA companies were simply not there, and for some, that must have been disappointing to not have a giant Nintendo/Pokémon booth, line up for Wizards of the Coast, or seek face-time with the fine folks at Capcom ready to deny their next gaming atrocity.
Being sandwiched between two competitor conventions in oceans east (Gamescom, which happened the week before) and west (Tokyo Game Show, which happened two weeks after), multinational exhibitors are being buffeted on precisely where to exhibit. With floor space costing tens of thousands of dollars at any one of these conventions, one can imagine they would want some breathing room… those poor bastards.
Some blame this on “the other Washington” and its conditions scaring the heebie-jeebies out of devs wanting to showcase here. That might play a part, but there’s also another part of that equation, which is that this shit didn’t just up and happen out of nowhere. Gaming layoffs have been well above baseline since at least 2022, and if gaminglayoffs.com is anything to go off of, we may very well hit 2024’s peak this year.
And it hasn’t only affected consumer events like PAX. The rebranding of the Game Developers Conference (GDC) earlier in 2026 to a more generalist “Festival of Gaming”, complete with dramatically reduced ticket prices, was not enough to stop a 30% drop in attendance from the year prior.
To me, it seems like the more nuanced position is the corporatist, bullshit one, where priorities “shift” and “evolve” with the “changing landscape”. For Ubisoft in 2025, that meant renting out a meeting room in the Hyatt Regency Seattle for content creators and media after going all out at Gamescom with a huge ass booth for the public. For Nintendo this year, that meant shifting their PAX focus to its Australian counterpart.
For what it’s worth, all this “AAA absence” translated to PAX West returning to form in a way, by focusing on the community, and putting indies and vendors more front-and-center. Let’s see how that worked below.
The Indie Incubator
In addition to the PAX Rising Showcase, Penny Arcade’s long-standing competition to reward indies they liked with free booth space at the convention, they introduced the Indie Incubator: it charged reduced rates ($1000 vs $2500) for reduced floor space (48 sq ft vs 100 sq ft). Similar, I suppose, to the amalgamated booths of Gamescom such as the Indie Arena Booth and the Indie Castle.
The developer of Akiiwan: Relaxing Survival praised the concept in a post on Reddit, yet noted the crowding and one-time participation limit.
The Art Hub
Believe it or not, PAX never had an artist alley up until now. While there were exhibitors out there who would sell things like branded clothing, original merchandise, and bespoke jewelry, they had to purchase regular-sized booths on the show floor at fairly uncompetitive rates.
That changed with the Art Hub. The lighting was dark at first, with no stanchions to separate the vendors and their merch from attendees’ feet. By Friday afternoon they’d brightened it up so people could see the merch, and the barriers went up shortly after.
The Indies That Will Save PAX
written by beatstar and Donny Q
Doo-Daa
The Dadaist movement was born over 100 years ago out of poor anonymous commoners who couldn’t afford a 2,000 lb. chunk of marble, and thus weren’t allowed to create what the establishment referred to as “art.” In response, they made their own art with newspapers, trash, blackjack and hookers. Needless to say, we vibed with it immediately.
Doo-Daa was developed in RPG Maker MZ, but you wouldn’t know from looking at it: Discarded magazines, books, and cardboard all get incorporated into hand-crafted maps, dialogue boxes, and sprites. Its world is populated by rod-controlled, hand-crocheted, and stop-motion puppets like Félicette, a kitty named after the real-life French cat that launched into space.
We got a chance to interview the developer, Bernie. In it, she mentions her interest in Dada was kindled through the 1970s documentary Europe After the Rain, the Marcel Duchamp collection in her hometown of Philadelphia, and research with her art-historian partner. Just as blue-collar, anti-war Dadaists rejected elitist fine-art institutions to make protest pieces out of everyday trash, Doo-Daa puts the absurdism of Dada directly into its story. Players follow Ulysses, an astronaut trying to market Earth to a planet of Dada-inspired aliens. Nodding to the historical Dadaist joke that their movement had hundreds of presidents and no hierarchy, every alien Ulysses meets has a plausible claim to be one — and your colonialist ass gets to pick who that is.
Next on the horizon for Bernie and her partner will be developing a game called Bryophyte, which will take place in a terrarium.
If Doo-Daa were a type of food, it’d be: that candy you get from a float.
Indiepocalypse
We heard about Doo-Daa through Andrew (also known as Pizza Pranks): the mind behind multimedia publisher INDIEPOCALYPSE. He was operating a bit of a “tape market” on the show floor: warez, meet wares.
INDIEPOCALYPSE is the name of the brand, but Indiepocalypse itself is a monthly anthology of ten independently developed games, consisting of one commissioned title, a few invited selections, and the remainder sourced from open submissions. Andrew provides a upfront licensing fee to the devs ($20 upfront, then 5%/8% on the backend), and he also commissions artists for the art, as well as the one-page zine included in these flash drives. The pay for either is also $20.
His intent is that someone buying just one collection gets a sampler of what there is to offer in the indie scene, while someone buying their thirtieth still finds something different… basically, a key bundle without the Steam DRM, or the guilt of wondering how the keys were obtained.
The monthly anthologies include titles such as Captain Forever, a 3D bullet hell, and a 2D survival crafting game titled “I’m Hungry! I’m Healthy! I’m Human!” He also publishes/sells standalone games such as Doo-Daa and the pay-your-rent RPG “I Hate You, Please Suffer.”
Terra Nova: Legend of the Runes
written by Donny Q
Developed by a local computer scientist working in cancer research, Terra Nova: Legend of the Runes tries to replicate that classic JRPG feel that you grew up with as a kid. That is to say, between the various graphical features and game modes, the odds are it has a setup that (You) would be familiar with. It even has a button similar to remasters like Halo: The Master Chief Collection that allow you to hot-swap between 8-bit and 16-bit graphics on the fly.
Most impressive are the two available quests: One is a classic Final Fantasy 1 sort of deal where Shit is Fucked and you build a party of adventurers to un-fuck it. The other is a more SNES-era affair where you have a party of set characters with personalities and motives, unraveling the rich history of how Shit got Fucked in the first place.
While the September Kickstarter campaign did not end up being successful, he plans to continue development. The lead developer, Andrew, also gave my favorite quote from the convention:
“Who’s Geoff Keighley?”
“You know… The Game Awards?”
“…I’m a scientist, man.”
If Terra Nova: Legend of the Runes were a type of food, it’d be: a Mexican Pizza washed down with a Baja Blast.
Politics in my video games: the Washington Secretary of State and JETRO
written by beatstar and Donny Q
We got the chance to talk to both an elected official (WA Secretary of State Steve Hobbs) and people from the Japan lobby — specifically, the Japan External Trade Organization.
Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs
Since Mr. Hobbs is an elected official, we were surprised and delighted with his candor. He openly talked about the current state of US elections and how it affects Washington voters (like Donny). He’s also responsible for foreign relations for the State of Washington — he’s been involved in a previous trade mission to Japan earlier this year for “aerospace, agriculture, shellfish”, and he hosted a Pre-PAX Reception for Japan and Poland. Alongside those duties, he has a personal interest in PAX: He’s been playing DnD since it was the hot new thing for out-of-touch fogeys to call satanic.
Secretary Hobbs says his constituents don’t give him much flak for it, but policymakers do, which is why he’s careful to call the gaming industry a “creative sector.”
On the nexus of gaming… we also got the chance to bring to his attention the Stop Killing Games movement, and he heard us out on that. Considering Washington State is home to Valve, Microsoft, and Nintendo of America, it would be kind of cool to see it take charge on giving live-service games an end-of-life plan.
Mr. Hobbs was patient and kind, and we thank him for his time. In fairness to him, we’re not quite sure he knows what publication we’re for.
JETRO’s Made in Japan Collection
The Japan External TRade Organization (JETRO) is a branch of the Japanese government, and they were invited to attend PAX West by Sec. Hobbs. Given that many Asian indie publishers were already not present last year (PLAYISM, Toge, HYPER REAL, etc.), it made sense that the respective countries would work to bring Japanese indie games back across the Pacific.
JETRO was also present at other gaming conventions under the “Made in Japan Collection”, such as Gamescom, but also wider consumer events like CES and Anime Expo. They even published a report on attending PAX West this year!
Anyway, JETRO agreed with Sec. Hobbs that knowing everything there is to know about the JP and US economies is a hell of a lot of work, and they very much enjoyed presenting in a consumer space selling video games instead of, for example, presenting at a business-to-business convention covering the finer details of [checks notes] airplane parts and pharmaceuticals.
Finding Polka
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written by Donny Q
Exactly as described in the title: This is a cute hand-drawn adventure about finding your dog. While I enjoyed the hand-animated graphics and how the interactions are presented entirely without dialogue, I eventually had a Game Journalist Moment and couldn’t figure out how to proceed. It was nice to explore, though.
LUNAR PULSE
written by beatstar
LUNAR PULSE is built around short, 60-second rounds reminiscent of a Pokémon match, scaled down to practically single digits. You play as the “Lilith of Heresy,” waking up in purgatory with amnesia and a five-card hand. There are common moves like Strike, Heavy Hit, Dodge, and Parry, which do exactly what they say, but also signature moves that bend the rules and mix up the tempo.
Each of your opponents fights with a distinct personality. Some, like the Lilith of Judgement, will happily let you whale on them for a few turns just before deleting your health bar with a brutal counterattack. Others come right out the gate swinging like maniacs, but you get to parry them to their grave.
And once you beat your opponent, you get to make your choice: punish them and rip out their soul (claiming their signature card for your deck), or absolve them and trade away one of your common moves for a fresh one.
As for my own take: while LUNAR PULSE may seem like a quick burn at first, I enjoyed each minute. Losing to the same Lilith isn’t as devastating in demo mode, since I got to spring right back and try again with a fresh approach. The music they used had a level of devilish mysteriousness that kicked me back to the Yu-Gi-Oh games of old, but the setting and ominous storytelling hit you hard with a majesty anew.
LUNAR PULSE releases 2027. Hope to see you take no prisoners.
If LUNAR PULSE were a type of food, it’d be: a taiyaki.
P.S. Shortly after PAX, Donny got in touch with the developer and interviewed him on behalf of the outlet. The interview covers both his career in gaming and LUNAR PULSE. You can check it out here.
MIXed from two sides
written by beatstar and Donny Q
The Media Indie Exchange (MIX) was one of the first events the /v/GAs ever attended as press. If you’ve never been, their focus is straightforward: getting developers, publishers, and gamers in one room to talk shop about how games come to be.
As you could probably tell from the name, MIX is an industry mixer. But it’s also a great way for devs to demo their games without paying full convention rates or fighting full convention crowds, and it tends to tag along with whatever bigger gaming event is in town that week.
beatstar, The Mousse-y Mixer
Serious Bigness
If I had to pick one, Serious Bigness was the game that seriously made me smile. Imagine you’re a kaiju, but a fuzzy-wuzzy kaiju that has to rip-and-tear the wittle things before you can be a nice, big stwong lizard of deswutshion! Rawrrrrrr…
The sense of destructive scale starts from the very first moment you begin the demo. You’re in what looks like a preschool with dominoes carefully lined up throughout. As you knock over those dominoes, topple those play block structures and menacingly gnaw through those throw pillows over yonder, you absorb their energy (represented in amber-colored orbs) and new areas unlock. Over time, your jump has an effect too and can do damage. Even as you grow larger, the whole look never stops being charming, and the Katamari inspiration shines through in the optimistic gleam of naivete in the face of destruction at your hand.
Rain98
Let me type aloud what we’re all thinking: I unironically want this video game character to crush my balls.
If you want to experience a similar fate, a three-hour demo is now out.
Translator Note: Rei (零) means 0.
Donny Q, MIX newbie
Games Journalism(™) is a complicated field, where the people you know and the scoops you collect can be more important than the actual celebration of human creativity. Given the large ratio of press and industry relative to the proletariat, MIX is one of those places. It is the only time in my coverage of video games that I have felt something close to homicidal, and it boils down to two aggravating factors.
One: The lack of seating. There were a measly 4 bar stools halfway up the staircase for max occupancy in a two-floor building, with additional bodies crowding up the courtyard. For a party that happens directly after a convention that required walking all day, this is a major crime against accessibility.
This very building hosted Polish Party the next day and had no shortage of seating. This isn’t a “didn’t have it” decision, this was a big neon “fuck you” by its organizers for whatever that happened to be worth.
Speaking of suffering,
Two: There was a mystery afoot that beatstar and I couldn’t get to the bottom of. When signing up to present at MIX, developers were asked if their game was made in Unity. Anyone who said “yes” had their booth visited by a guy who stuck a “Made With Unity” sign to the front of their table. He never introduced himself. Because of the suffocating social atmosphere, not a single developer we spoke to had asked who this guy was, how he knew their game was made in Unity, or why he felt the need to stick the sign there. What made it even worse was when we were speaking to a developer and the sign un-stuck itself and fell to the ground. The developer, obediently, tried to stick the sign back on. As the tape had already failed, it fell again, and he fruitlessly re-attempted to stick it on, feeling some strong obligation to please a person he had never met who vandalized his booth without his consent. Not soon after, we watched it fall again in mournful silence. Why not introduce yourself, Unity Guy?
This desire to please, this uneasiness, this rancid vibe, permeated almost every conversation. Even the games I genuinely enjoyed faced guarded responses from nervous developers, uncomfortable with the thought of somehow offending a Games Journalist(™) lest their future be compromised. I don’t need this shit in my life. Perhaps this was not how MIX was designed, but this is the result. While I appreciate being treated like a Games Journalist(™) and given a meal and drink ticket, I did not use them, and using them would not have convinced me otherwise about my overall experience at MIX.
Anyway,
4x4 in a Furniture Store
Walaber was also at PAX, but I got to have an extended conversation with him at MIX about 4x4 in a Furniture Store, his next outing after Parking Garage Rally Circuit had already successfully stolen a weekend or two from under my nose. Just like PGRC and his previous title, JellyCar Worlds, he’s foisting another precision driving game onto an unsuspecting public.
As it says in the title, you pilot a 4x4 vehicle from the 1st floor of a furniture store up multiple levels through a variety of platforming challenges. Parts of the store unlock Dark Souls-style so if you fall down, it’s easier to climb back up again after you’ve completed a challenge to unlock a specific platform or bridge.
What really got my attention was that both driving AND steering have a lower gear. Driving very slowly is possible, as is using the control stick to make minute steering adjustments during difficult climbs. If the truck rolls over, you can pop open the doors to right it.
Despite my obvious enthusiasm, I never actually played the game at MIX. Walaber was playing the whole time while we discussed both it and his previous work. I think he might have been waiting for me to ask, but I knew which one of us could play and carry a conversation at the same time. Also, as a Hard Games Enjoyer, it’s cool to see a developer chasing that same perfection.
SIX — Seattle Indies Expo
written by beatstar and Donny Q
Vibe-wise, SIX was night and fucking day compared to MIX, because every booth was built as a sit-down, and also, they had a shit ton of space. It felt more like a community event — because it was. This is the grassiest of grassroots: local developers that are here for the convention and stick around long after it packs up for the year.
This is perfect for an indie dev’s first showcase, whether you think you’re ready or not, and whether your game is good or not. This is where you meet the people behind the itch.io accounts, and from what I’ve found, they’re really receptive to feedback.
Oh, and it was free, ran all day, and was a perfect place for a guy who lost his badge. Can’t complain about that!
Here are some “gaems” beatstar played, sadly, because of time, he couldn’t elaborate further:
Oh, and we got a chance to put one more interview in here. Scroll it!
Cooking Fist
written by beatstar
Cooking Fist is an upcoming 2D fighting game for PC with a twist: instead of beating your opponent with your fists, you out-chef them.
Indeed, the goal in Cooking Fist is not to kill one another, but to steal ingredients from each other. Once a fighter collects enough ingredients to make something, they gotta cook, and do so fast and accurately enough so as not to get hit or burn the meal. More intricate meals require more ingredients, but also earn you more stars from the judges.
There’s still a timer that deems the person with the most stars the winner once time is up, but you can also beat your opponent by maximizing your time and serving fresh combinations one after another.
If Cooking Fist were a type of food, it’d be: the everything bagel.
That’s a WRAP!
written by beatstar
Given the circumstances, some of us were feeling an agony hearkening back to a year long past. But it’s one thing to whine, and another to own it, so let’s call it what it is: the PAX West of all time.
That leaves Tokyo Game Show as our final convention to cover for 2026, and I hope we’ll get that out in short order. If you’ve got time to kill, feel free to check out our other written and video coverage to hold you over until then.
Thanks for checking out this installment, and we hope to see you reading the next one.
