Boss Rush Diary: PAX West 2023, Day Four

This is Tom reporting solo today, September 4th. My Editor in Chief, David Lasby, left PAX West early to prepare for the upcoming school year, and to recharge his social batteries. I don’t blame him. My social butterfly wings need a spa day after these last four days.

Tom: Associate Writer

Today, I went incognito to try soak up as much as possible before I had to leave. I went in as play-tester first, media second. I found this approach to be rather rewarding. I found some passionate Persona fans while waiting in line to demo Persona 3 Reload at SEGA’s booth. As someone who has never played a game in the Persona series before, I’m honored to have played a demo from a remake of what is regarded as one of the best in the series. I think I found my entry point. I can’t wait to check out Reload when it releases in February next year. I got to chat with some fellow Splatoon fans before playing Square Enix’s Foamstars demo. That title is going to change the PlayStation online gaming sphere for sure. Those who have already dismissed it as a Splatoon-clone are dead wrong. I implore you to think again and play it for yourself when it comes out. There is a surprising amount of verticality to the battles because you can build your team’s color of foam up, therefore creating your own vantage points and cover in real-time. But that’s for another article.

I found lots of farm sim fans at Pheonix Lab’s booth where I got to play Faefarm. Their booth was a fun one. They had a mock fire pit that attendees could sit around.

I ended the day with a demo of I Expect You To Die 3. Expect a more in-depth write up of that game from me later.

I left PAX West with a newfound appreciation for demos as a whole. They’re almost an art form in and of themselves. They’re essentially an elevator pitch to the public, only instead of ten seconds, they last ten to fifteen minutes.

As someone who’s end goal is to hopefully end up in this industry, I couldn’t help but think about how I wanted to show off my future games as an exhibitor. Who knows, maybe in a year or two you’ll read a diary entry from a Boss Rush writer who’s excited to report on one of my games! Until next time, this is Tom signing off.

What did you get to play? Will you be attending PAX East or West next year? Share with us in the comments below or join the conversation on the Boss Rush Discord.

The Boss Rush Podcast: The Flagship Podcast of Boss Rush Media and the Boss Rush Network

The Boss Rush Podcast – The Boss Rush Podcast is the flagship podcast of Boss Rush Media and the Boss Rush Network. Each week, Corey, Stephanie, LeRon, and their friends from around the internet come together with other creators, developers, and industry veterans to talk about games they’ve been playing, discuss video game and entertainment based topics, and answer questions solicited on social media and the community Discord.

New episodes of the Boss Rush Podcast release every Monday morning on YouTube and all major podcast applications like Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Patreon supporters gain one week early access.