Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Fresh Tracks
Battle Train
Tunnels
Let Them Trade
VILE: Exhumed
Pigface
Nocturne
The Lacerator
Heartworm
PAX EAST returned to Boston this 12 months with practically 300 exhibitors for 4 days of video video games and gamer tradition. With over 100,000 attendees, it was a weekend stuffed with video games to play, folks to fulfill, and spectacular cosplays to marvel at. Digital Trends attended this 12 months’s present and went hands-on with a number of upcoming video games that must be in your radar. From an RPG about exploring the digital afterlife to a roguelite about exploring trains, listed below are probably the most should see video games we performed at PAX East 2025.
Fresh Tracks
Buffalo Buffalo
Fresh Tracks, from developer Buffalo Buffalo, was a kind of video games I simply couldn’t cease speaking about. At first look it’s a rhythm primarily based, snowboarding roguelite, however you solely want to look at for a couple of minutes to see it’s a lot greater than that. Under beautiful Nordic skies, with skis underfoot and sword in hand, you might be on an journey to cease Mar, the Queen of Terror. As you progress, leap, lean, and slash to the rhythm of all authentic songs it’s simple to get misplaced in the great thing about all of it, although the gameplay was difficult sufficient to maintain me on my toes. As it’s a roguelite, you tackle a number of runs, with and studying the patterns like an professional Guitar Hero participant looks like nice enjoyable. The combine a heavy emphasis on a mythological story with gorgeously intertwined websites and sounds felt prefer it married among the finest elements of Hades and Sayonara Wild Hearts, and put this squarely on my Steam Wishlist. ~ Justin Koreis
Battle Train
Bandai Namco
Battle Train is a turn-based deck builder and roguelite from Nerd Ninjas and Terrible Posture Games the place gamers construct their final practice, all whereas competing on a sport present to turn out to be the Supreme Conductor. In an interview with Digital Trends, Jessica Woodard, producer at Terrible Posture Games, described it finest: “Have you ever in your life felt the deep and abiding urge to take a super-powered steam train, pack it full of explosives, and run it as fast as you can into someone or something?” That’s Battle Train in a nutshell. In every run, gamers are tasked with guaranteeing they’ve sufficient assets to spend their playing cards, correctly place tracks to allow them to destroy their opponent, and save up sufficient cash to buy upgrades. On prime of that, every map can have particular playing cards distinctive to every stage, so it’s at all times a shock what you’ll get. ~ Luis Gutierrez
Tunnels
Nomad Monkey
I’m not an enormous fan of horror video games, however in my protection I’ve a superb cause: They scare me. That mentioned, the thought of Tunnels, a terrifyingly immersive VR journey into claustrophobic caves full of monsters, was simply too attention-grabbing to move up. The demo started with a easy descent into some caves, as I climbed down hand-over-hand from the view of a Meta Quest 3. After a easy tutorial walked me by means of the fundamentals of operating, crawling, and utilizing my flashlight, I used to be quickly squeezing my method by means of slender passages and spelunking by means of the darkness. Suddenly, an odd snarling and crawling form darting out of view set the hair on the again of my subsequent standing. What adopted was a tense cat and mouse sport as I attempted to evade the creature. The solely factor that would maintain it at bay was my flashlight, and simply fascinated by it now the paranoia of listening to it echoing within the distance, and questioning if it was developing proper behind me has my pulse racing. If you may have the structure to deal with that, there will probably be each a full single participant story mode and a free-to-play multiplayer possibility. If you’re going to be eaten by monsters in an deserted mine, could as properly do it with associates, proper? You can discover out when Tunnels launches completely for the Meta Quest 2 and 3 on May 15th. ~ Justin Koreis
Let Them Trade
ByteRockers’ Games
It’s laborious to go unsuitable with a chill metropolis builder and Let Them Trade from Byterockers has coziness in spades. Like an lovable and streamlined Civilization, you’re employed on behalf of your kingdom creating cities and business. Everything drops onto hexagonal tiles in a grid, with an lovable woodcraft aesthetic, and zooming out the digital camera to disclose all of it takes place on a kitchen desk was a enjoyable contact. You work for the king, and every metropolis you assemble has it’s personal economic system that may be largely left alone, or micromanaged in case you are the type that likes to tinker on a granular stage.
My first purpose was to construct just a few easy townships, one with a potato farm primarily based economic system, the opposite a lumber business, and join them so they might open up commerce and commerce. I beloved watching the little items rolling their playing cards from city to city, and improve timber to unlock issues like sawmills created alternatives to department into completely different methods, although with out the complexity of probably the most hardcore video games of the style. Another state of affairs requested me to construct a fishing village then, in a shock twist, the king dropped an additional and sudden development undertaking for some form of tower. This got here with an inventory of supplies wanted, however no clear instructions on find out how to get them, creating a pleasant (however cheap) puzzle to unravel to advance. Let Them Trade oozes attraction, with a demo out now and a deliberate full launch later this 12 months. ~ Justin Koreis
VILE: Exhumed
Final Girl Games
I’m unsure if a online game can ever actually seize the struggles that many ladies face day by day, however Vile: Exhumed goals to do exactly that in visceral vogue. Developed by Final Girl Games, Vile: Exhumed has gamers uncovering what occurred to a feminine actress. To uncover it, you’re compelled to discover some darkish elements of the web and work together with actually horrible of us. After I used to be finished with my demo, I felt as if I wanted to take a bathe to clean all of the grime away and accumulate my ideas. That’s exactly why this sport is on our record. Vile: Exhumed goals to impress sturdy feelings in gamers and go away them with a greater understanding of struggles they could not expertise in their very own lives. It’s already had an influence on me after one demo. ~ Luis Gutierrez
Pigface
titolovesyou
Pigface from developer titolovesyou is a dirty throwback to the PS2 period video games that your mother and father warned you about. The setup is easy: You get up in what seems to be an deserted warehouse, whereas a Jigsaw-like voice explains that there’s a bomb drilled into your cranium, and in case you don’t observe his calls for, you die. Your first order of enterprise? Kill the folks coming in to kill you. This first individual shooter appears equal elements Condemned and Manhunt, as my demo had me selecting up any weapon I may discover, like weapons, hammers, and throwing axes, with sprays of blood and severed heads flying as we tore by means of the anonymous enemies. With a large physique rely already, I’m then launched to the large image: Whether I prefer it or not, I’m a hitman, and I can both tackle missions or die. ~ Justin Koreis
Nocturne
Pracy Studios
One of probably the most eye-catching video games at PAX East was Pracy Studio’s Nocturne, a part of the featured PAX Rising showcase. Gorgeous 16-bit impressed pixel graphics harken again to the SNES period on this story heavy RPG. The setup is intriguing: When folks die, their consciousness will get uploaded to Maya, a digital afterlife. As somebody who’s deceased, you arrive in search of your brother. He has been uploaded, however nobody has any thought the place he’s. You’re left looking in a world that appears to be teetering on the sting of corruption as AI takes management, and the few with admin powers struggle amongst themselves in a narrative that has the potential to slot in excellent with the basic fantasy RPGs that so clearly impressed it. In a novel twist, battles play out as rhythm video games, with completely timed button presses serving to you construct up assaults. If you time it excellent you may even interrupt incoming assaults, including a layer of thoughtfulness to the rhythm. Between the catchy beats, beautiful graphics, and considerate story about what it means to be alive, this has all of the makings of one of many 12 months’s most intriguing video games when it releases in early 2026. ~ Justin Koreis
The Lacerator
Games from the Abyss
The Lacerator, by Games from the Abyss, clearly takes inspiration from retro video games from the PS2 period, and that’s nice as a result of I missed out on lots of these video games (I used to be no older than 3 years previous through the authentic PS2 period). You play as an grownup film star who wakes up in some type of horror constructing full of folks and traps ready to kill you. I used to be caught without warning early in my demo when character’s hand was all of a sudden lower off after I reached for a pistol. I didn’t die; the sport simply stored going. The catch was that my intention was off, and I couldn’t throw as many punches, making a hurdle for me to beat. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it far and ended up dying slightly rapidly, however the humor combined with the darkish tone created one thing slightly distinctive. If I hadn’t been enjoying a demo, I might have began over and stored attempting new strategies to get additional. That’s how briskly it obtained its hooks in me. ~ Luis Gutierrez
Heartworm
Vincent Adinolfi
Heartworm is one other sport that takes big inspiration from the PS2 horror period, as evidenced by its fastened digital camera angles. This one stood out to me for one big cause: The major weapon on this sport is a movie digital camera you employ to struggle off static monsters. Whenever you employ the digital camera to defend your self, the sport will instantly swap to a third individual angle so you may correctly intention and snap some footage of those monsters earlier than they kill you. Heartworm isn’t afraid to get bizarre with itself both. There have been a few moments the place I discovered myself strolling by means of a floating road, simply to finish up in a flooded home as much as my knees. Set items like that stored my demo attention-grabbing, however I used to be extra so pleased to have my inventive muscle mass exercised right here. I genuinely needed to take some good footage! ~ Luis Gutierrez
Honorable Mentions
Devolver had a terrific showcase this 12 months, that includes Botsu, a hilarious robot-sports celebration sport with greater than somewhat Gang Beasts fashion, and the Helldivers impressed, fungus planet assaulting first-poerson shooter Mycopunk.
Tanuki: Pon’s Summer is a cute and comfy Paperboy/Tony Hawk hybrid the place you play as an lovable Tanuki on a BMX delivering mail, and taking up all types of challenges like a Sumo Wrestling minigame.
Be My Horde is a Vampire Survivors-like the place you management a sassy necromancer, battling the residing and elevating the useless to create an unstoppable military.
Our Shadow Labyrinth demo actually hammered residence the truth that the darkish Pac-Man spinoff looks like one thing particular.
Fatal Run 2089 is like the right marriage of Burnout and Twisted Metal, and one more in what has been a collection of spectacular titles from Atari.