Another year, another Gen Con down. Gen Con is great—it’s a place where fans of games old and new can come together and celebrate what they love, whether it’s Highlander: The Gathering (a 20-year-old out-of-print card game) or picking up the newest indie alchemy board game. This year, there was a lot of good and bad. Despite increasing the number of available tickets, they still sold out for the third year in a row, with tens of thousands of events over five days. Yes, Gen Con 2026 ran 7/30–8/2. If you think people didn’t start Wednesday, you’re wrong; there were almost 200 events Wednesday night.

Congrats this year to Dungeon Crawler Carl, Palworld, and Daggerheart. There were many others that won big this year too, but these three all have something special to celebrate. With everything good, the bad comes too with every convention has unforeseen issues. This year I didn’t have a press pass, so this is just from my observations as a standard adventuring con goer.

In case you’re a nerd who’s been living under a rock, Dungeon Crawler Carl is a LitRPG book series. No spoilers, but Carl, Princess Donut, and the Princess Posse get wrapped up in a galactic reality show with universal implications. Fun, ridiculous, and gory, the series demoed Dungeon Crawler Carl RPG and Dungeon Crawler Carl Unstoppable. Tickets sold out within the first few days, and every time I went over, everyone showed up so I can’t really give a proper review, not having played it but everyone I met with had a blast. With both Matt Dinniman and Jeff Hay actually at the con, fans were everywhere and over the moon. I personally saw over sixty Princess Donut cosplays and thirty Carl cosplays of varying degrees of success, most of which Princess Donut would not approve of. Too many cat girls, disgusting!

Anyone interested in video games knows Palworld, by Pocketpair, has had some issues. At this point, Nintendo is a dog with a bone. To be fair, Palworld deserved some criticism in the beginning, but they have come to distinguish themselves.  Early on, when Pokémon was starting out, it had many challengers, few of which are still around, like Digimon. Since then, a few have risen up and stuck around finding their own dedicated fan bases, but nothing has really challenged the juggernaut that is Pokemon. Palworld, however, was the first to openly challenge Pokémon on multiple levels, both as a game and in the courtroom. It’s been a wild ride for anyone following that news. With the positive reception of their card game, fans of these two series are seeing a three-front battle between David and Goliath. Palworld’s almost always packed booth at Gen Con is a sign, they should do just fine even in the cut throat world of TCGs. Perhaps Palworld can shake up the stagnant gameplay of the Pokémon games. Competition does wonders for any industry. Good luck, Pocketpair, and thanks.

Last year, Critical Role introduced Daggerheart, and I was at their first live game. If D&D is a fantasy game for math nerds, Daggerheart is the same for drama kids. Daggerheart has far fewer math rocks and more roleplay opportunity for bonuses It’s great if you like to role-play and help build the world alongside your DM. This year they introduced their newest expansion, Daggerheart: Hope and Fear, with new weapons, classes, environments, transformations, and campaigns. They too were sold out at every event I tried to get into, but I got a ticket Sunday morning and had a blast framing my giant guardian as a Canadian lumberjack. A full review will be posted later, but with a solid follow-up to last year, it’s looking like Daggerheart is here to stay.

Every convention has issues. You stick thousands of people in a few city blocks and something is bound to happen. Maybe people are slamming into you while you’re walking down the hall with a heavy bag, or some lady is running over your foot with a mobility cart she really doesn’t need (you know who you are). Most of these aren’t the cons fault—it’s people and business. Much like the convention itself, mobility carts were sold out, and when a family friend with a heart condition came in to attend the con last minute, we were in trouble, no carts and no real alternative left us in a bit of a bind. Long story short, she had fun but left after the second day. Having a few more rest stops in long hallways like the tunnel, exhibit halls or areas under construction that they still need us to walk though. At times almost it seemed like almost a fifth of the people in any given room were sitting on the ground against a wall. this is mostly an issue with the convention center, but it is something to keep in mind. Then there was the storm. Convention staff let everyone know there was a tornado watch, and con-goers actually listened and followed instructions. Vendors at the block party actually praised the staff for staying on top of the weather and letting them know. The storm still trashed the block party Saturday night; a tornado shelter flooded, and rain came pouring in from the roof. No one was hurt during any of this, though several people told me the games and tables probably won’t survive it.

A lot happened and nobody can cover everything. Part of it is time. Some events and pieces deserve their own spotlight later. Others like Starcraft the tabletop game aren’t ready for a full review, although the models were on point not having your games rule set for flying creatures ready for you Gen Con demo is an issue. Gen Con was a blast and well worth going no matter what fandom you are a part of you can find something there. You can look forward to more articles and reviews from Gen Con.

Featured Image: Gen Con 2026 Program Book Cover