Today, your friends at Boss Rush kicked off PAX East 2025 in Boston, Massachusetts. Metro and graffiti highlighted the PAX East theme, and the expo hall was filled with video games, tabletop games, merch, and more. Here are our highlights for PAX East on Thursday, May 8th, 2025.
The Boss Rush Network team attendance at PAX East 2025: Ed (Vice President), Stephanie (VP Media Relations), Pat (Chief Gaming Officer), Courtney (Social Media Manager), and Block (Senior Writer). We also feature additional commentary by our friend, Nellie. Each day, we’ll share our highlights from all the action at PAX East.
Ed (Vice President)
What an amazing day one of Pax East 2025! I got to catch up with Toge Productions at breakfast and then met up with the Fun’N’Games crew, Asa Greenriver, Helldivers content creators, and the folks over at Gamerheads! Of course, today was also about the sweet and funny game demos I encountered like Royalty: Free for All and Ultimate Sheep Raccoon, which had me howling with laughter with their Nintendo-inspired design. I also got to try out titles from Playism and the captivating Light Haze World.
What made it an awesome day was meeting new creators and media members. We ended the night at Pink Tacos and had a lovely conversation about games, and the scrumptious tacos were worth it. I am excited for Day two and more adventures to come.
Stephanie (VP Media Relations, Copy Editor)
It was full steam ahead on the first day. It was a blend of appointments, shopping (lots of it), spontaneous demos and discussions with devs and gaming community. I was lucky enough to secure an 11 A.M. showing of Eldin Ring: Nightreign. Bandai Namco set up a massive dome, housing several seats for lucky viewers. Even luckier individuals were selected to play the game. However, I’ll stop there and let our other writer, Sofi, elaborate!
I was also able to demo several indie games as well: PickMePickMe, On Any Journey, Strings Theory, Among Us 3D and Fresh Tracks. The cherry on top of the day one cake were all my media friends that I got to see and catch up with (especially my girl, Nellie who was amazing and played many games with me). It felt amazing to share my day with them, and I look forward to spending time with them in the media room.
Courtney (Social Media Manager)
Compared the last year, media hour of my second year at PAX during media definitely felt bigger. I kept seeing massive groups of people in each section of the exhibit trying to figure out why they were there. Given how large the crowds were already, it makes me nervous on what we will see Saturday. Speaking of feeling nervous, the man-myth-legend Sir Duo (from Duolingo) was also here. I felt like he was out to get me for not doing my Spanish.
While on the tangent of animals, I was checking out Limited Run’s booth and Gex was here. I had to say hello to my dad’s idol. The game looked fun and filled with a nostalgia my dad would love to re-live. PAX so far had a lot more space in the exhibit hall that I’m excited to cover more tomorrow. I might stay close to the PAX Rising area…or the pizza line. We will figure that out tomorrow.
Pat (Chief Gaming Officer)
Today was the first day of PAX East 2025. I used our media hour to check out the demo for Crimson Desert from Pearl Abyss. Crimson Desert is an open world fantasy adventure that sports a hefty combat system. The PR team had to shuffle us into a room to watch a tutorial just on how combat works and then sent us to try out one of four bosses. Let me tell you, I got my ass kicked. The boss was so ferocious that I just couldn’t string any combos, let alone defend myself. I’m hoping that the game will have difficulty options because I really want to play it.
I played a few other games, and then we had dinner at a place called the Pink Taco–which is not a strip club–with Jenny Windom of Ivy Road games and face of the Wholesome Games Direct. She is so much fun and just full of video game wisdom.
Block (Senior Writer)
Not only is this my first PAX, but my first major convention. I’ve often steered clear of the massive crowds that my local Lexington Comic Con has hosted, instead choosing to quickly visit on the final day to nab exactly what I want and swiftly get out. At first, I was overwhelmed, intimidated by not only putting myself out there, but simply weaving my way through the throngs of people of all fandoms, all ages, all shapes and sizes and colors. At the end of my first day, I don’t think I even noticed the crowds anymore; I was focused on the experience.
I began my day with media hour. I did not have specific plans for this outing, only to take in what I could before the rush of the public swarmed into the convention hall. I took many pictures, including incredible statues for games like Dune Awakening or displays for companies like Retroware. Appreciating each individual booth and the personalities they emitted has been among my favorite parts of covering the conference. I did finally settle on playing a few minutes of Moonlight Peak at the Marvelous Games / Xseed Games booth. It has an interesting concept of providing farming simulation with a kid-friendly horror twist (you are a vampire and your tutor is a witch), that I think can really stand out in the sea of cozy farming sims. Unfortunately, the title is still two years out, meaning the demo is very barebones that didn’t offer much that I haven’t encountered countless times before.
The Mafia: The Old Country panel was probably the highlight of my busy day, if only because I got some one-on-one time with the esteemed developers and with their promotion team. After the panel, they had an autograph signing, which I arrived 30 minutes into. There wasn’t a line at that time, so I told the developers how much of an impact the previous games had on me, and that today’s presentation left me with a great amount of confidence that this may be the best title yet in the franchise. After only a few minutes of talking, they directed me to talk with their PR team, who excitedly wanted to record my reactions and thoughts on the game. While it was only a few minutes, it made me feel appreciated, valued even, in the gaming world, which is perhaps the things I’ve been seeking for most in my whole content creating journey.
Sofi (Writer)
This was my first day attending any PAX event, let alone as media. Slightly overwhelmed I’ll admit, but I think I found my stride eventually. The biggest highlight of my day wasn’t just getting the chance to play Elden Ring: Nightreign alongside the developers at Bandai Namco and FromSoftware but also building real connections and hearing inspiring stories from all kinds of people in the industry. I couldn’t be more grateful to be here! I’m looking forward to the upcoming days at PAX East 2025 and what it has in store for me.
Are you at PAX East? Come find us and say hi! If not, please continue to follow our adventures (and shenanigans) tomorrow!
The Boss Rush Podcast – A Podcast About Video Games
The Boss Rush Podcast is the flagship podcast of Boss Rush Media and The Boss Rush Network. Each week, hosts Corey Dirrig, LeRon Dawkins, Stephanie Klimov, and Pat Klein, as well as their friends, fellow content creators, developers, and industry veterans come together to discuss their week in gaming, including what they’ve been playing, a randomly chosen rotating weekly segment, the Boss Rush Banter of the week, answer community write-ins, and more. New episodes are released every Thursday. Members of The Boss Rush Network’s Patreon will receive the exclusive Pre-Show at any tier along with other perks.
For episode schedules and more information, follow The Boss Rush Podcast on X/Twitter, Instagram, and Threads.
Email the Show:
podcast.bossrush@gmail.com
Listen to The Boss Rush Podcast:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Overcast | Audio Landing Page | YouTube
Join Our Community:
Discord | Facebook | LinkedIn
Leave a Reply