Top 6 Games Shown Off at PAX East 2022

There were a plethora of games at PAX East that I got to try out! Every game and developer had their own unique flair and provided a different experience compared to everyone else at PAX. However, there are a few games that stand out amongst the rest as clear champions in the near future of the gaming industry. While they aren’t in any particular order, here are my top 6 games that were shown off at PAX East 2022.

1: Writer’s Block

This game created by Tic Toc Games (no relation to TikTok) is a writer’s dream game! In Writer’s Block, you are a sentient pen that is on an adventure that will take you across multiple different paths and encounters. You could find yourself battling monsters or giving money to a beggar on the road all using the power of your handy typewriter!

The way to get past these obstacles and make the most out of your adventure is by creating the biggest word possible on the typewriter. However, you have to be careful as some letters are trapped with various effects that will damage or hinder you if they are used or avoided. Writer’s Block is releasing this August.

2: No Place for Bravery

This game is the 2D top-down cousin of Sekiro that puts you in control of a father in search of his daughter in a dangerous landscape. The father’s name is Thorn, a warrior who is long past his prime and haunted by the ghosts of his past. The game heavily focuses on the role of parental figures and the changes that their choices can make to both the world that they see, as well as their children. While Thorn is an experienced warrior, it is clear through the gameplay that players will not be able to slice through foes as easily as some might expect. No Place for Bravery is dropping later this year in Q3 2022.

3: Isonzo

As the third game in the WW1 FPS series created by Black Mill Games, Isonzo is the successor to Verdun and Tannenberg. I fell in love with Verdun when it came out because it was such an outlier within the crowded FPS market, but was a bit rough around the edges. When I heard that Isonzo would be at PAX East 2022, I knew that I had to try out the demo. After playing it for a match and having a wonderful conversation with two of the game developers, Isonzo seems poised to give the FPS market another necessary jolt in a revolutionary way! This game is set to release during the summer of 2022.

4: Elements

One game that has a long development cycle to finish, but shows wonderful promise is Elements. At PAX East, I was able to speak to one of the lead developers who told me about the inspiration behind the game. He told me that he was playing Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild with his two children, passing the controller between the two of them when one would die. He wondered why that game didn’t have a co-op mode.

With that notion in his hand, he brought the idea to the team at Wreckit Games. Since then, they have been hard at work trying to make this become a real and playable game. In the game, two siblings go on a quest to retrieve eight elemental stones in order to fulfill their destiny. The journey of these heroes will begin sometime in 2023!

5: The Day We Fought Space

This game made by Tursiops Truncatus Studios is an outlier in the games shown off at PAX, but that is not the reason why most odd games are. The Day We Fought Space will be coming out only on iOS devices at launch. However, the game is very fun and intriguing as the gameplay is something that I have never seen for a touch screen device. Over the course of the game, you will customize your space ship with different weapons and upgrades as you try to try to reclaim Earth for mankind. This game is coming out on May 26th, 2022 so you better be ready to save the world real soon!

6: Justice Sucks: Tactical Vacuum Action

Almost all of the games that were shown off by tinyBUILD at PAX East 2022 were rather whacky, but none of them seem to have the perfect blend of action and dark humor that is present within Justice Sucks: Tactical Vacuum Action. The successor of the much-loved Roombo: First Blood features a new robot vacuum named Dusty who must save his family from the clutches of the evil FamilyCorp Warranty Squad.

From playing both the previous game and this one at PAX, it is clear to see that the developers at Samurai Punk have taken the elements that worked and amplified them to new heights! This is a game that I can’t wait for and will be “Sucking Soon” to Steam! That is my list of the top games that were shown off at PAX East 2022! I personally can’t wait for each of these games to come out, as well as plenty of others that were not included in this list. There were plenty of other games at PAX East 2022 that I am also looking forward to, but these were the clear standouts for me.