PAX East 2024 is underway and I had time to walk the floor, visit some exquisite booths, and get my hands on a lot of indie games coming to PC and consoles.

From retro-style 8-bit platformers to Roguelite card battle strategy games, I enjoyed a lot of what was available to demo at PAX. To make sure this list delivers a variety of genres, I am presenting five games that stood out to me and left me mesmerized after I finished playing.

5. Into The Dead: Our Darkest Days

PikPokGames’ franchise Into The Dead is making its way from mobile to PC. Into The Dead: Our Darkest Days is a side-scrolling shelter survival game that places you in the state of Texas during 1980. You will go out and scavenge for materials and help other survivors make it out from terrorizing situations. You can send out the characters you rescue to scavenge and bring back material to help you survive.

From what I played, the game looks gorgeous and captures the spirit and look of the ’80s. Running with a smooth frame rate, I didn’t encounter any stutters or tears. The demo allowed me to choose one character out of four with three characters being available in the demo. As I started the demo in a disastrous neighborhood, I was led to the right to learn how to play the game through its simple tutorial. I could sneak pass a zombie who was crying in the background, stealth kill another zombie, and make it to the other side where the level ended.

What’s very engaging about the game is the sound such as hearing zombies shuffle, walk in a group, run at you with an attack, and even have a surprised noise alerting them toward you. I was excited that I could be taken over and defeated but surprisingly, I came away with a no-death run in the demo. That surprised the PikPok team as I was the first not to die at any time. 

I came away impressed, hyped, and anticipating this game’s release later this year. Into The Dead: Our Darkest Days is only releasing on Steam so you can wishlist right now.

4. Lucid

At the Apogee booth, there was a playable demo of Lucid by Matte Black Studio. This game is considered a “Celesevania” platformer. In this game, you are set in a crystal-punk world that is torn by dissonance. You play as Oenn and you must absorb powerful abilities that will help you extend your movement and combat.

The fast-paced traversal felt good once you learned the controls or familiarized yourself with the way the game Celeste controls. At no fault of the game, I did have a difficult time because, as a platform player, my hands started to mix modern Super Mario Bros. games and Mega Man X. The button setup isn’t bad but if you haven’t played Celeste, you may have a hard time understanding this game. If it does click, then you will progress with ease to areas you need to go to in order to progress and find new abilities.  

Lucid is planned only for Steam at release but will make its way to all major console platforms sometime this year.

3. Big Boy Boxing

Soupmasters and Joystick Ventures are bringing us this beautifully hand-animated boxing game that took inspiration from Punch-Out and Cuphead. Fight your way to the top by defeating off-beat characters in this boss rush beatdown of a game. With its 16-bit approach to characters’ pixel animations, Big Boy Boxing will have you weaving, ducking, studying your opponents, and giving you that “one more try” feeling when you’re defeated.

I fought against a cute but deadly little girl named Trigger Happy. As sweet as she can be, her deadly pink Tootsie Pop weapon was taking me down because of the way she was swinging. What I love about the game is you can’t fool the A.I. If you move too early and tip your opponent off to where you’re going before you can attack or counter attack, they’ll quickly hit you. I learned this the hard way as Trigger Happy was hitting me quickly which stunned me and gave her the opportunity to damage me again. Luckily, I was able to compose myself and continue the fight.

After many tries, I came out victorious and it left me with a great feeling of accomplishment. Soupmasters seem to have a hit on their hands and Joystick Ventures is going to be name you won’t forget.

You can wishlist Big Boy Boxing on Steam right now and the game is planned for Nintendo Switch, Windows, Linux, and Mac sometime this year.

2. Kamikaze Lassplane

Kamikaze Lassplane is an action visual novel by Polish studio Inky Dreams. With the love of anime and manga, this arcade-style shmup plays delightfully. Since it isn’t score based but rather story driven, you really get into the action by defeating enemies with various powerups while have an agenda like saving a whole town from being bombed.

I couldn’t put the controller down as I was focused on the tight control and flawless execution in movement and fighting enemies set to a minimalist orchestra arrangement. As you move around the analog stick, you have a life bar that you want to be aware of for when it is fully depleted, it’s game over. I was able to complete one level with an “interesting outfit” on my fighter. It nicely captures the shmup experience and with a simultaneous release on Steam and Nintendo Switch, it truly is a game to have in your collection.

1. Pipistrello And The Cursed Yoyo

Without a shadow of a doubt, Pipistrello And The Cursed Yoyo was a big hit at PAX East 2024. PM Studios will publish the game, which Pocket Trap is developing, sometime this year.

I cannot stop talking about this GBA Zelda-inspired 16-bit adventure game. With funky Streets Of Rage-style tunes that will keep your head bopping, Pipistrello fights enemies with a yo-yo. You’ll collect money to buy abilities and you can also find new ones on your adventures and side quests.

I loved the combat in this game. You can hit enemies with special moves and the environment with just your yo-yo. For example, you bounce your yo-yo on these triangular corners to defeat enemies you can’t reach. You can also find your enemies’ weaknesses by watching their funny and painful reactions to what they did, which allows you to attack and take advantage of the situation. It’s a million creative ways to progress through the dungeons and areas you will find and explore.

You can wishlist Pipistrello And The Cursed Yoyo on Steam.

So these are the games I truly enjoyed and walked away from smiling. There’s so much more I got to play and enjoy at PAX East 2024. I can’t wait to share with you all the games I have played.

Have you been to PAX East? Share your highlights from this year or years past in the comments below! You can also join in the conversation on Boss Rush Network’s Discord, Twitter, and Facebook.

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