Our legs are screaming at us, but we must trudge on, for there are many games to play at PAX West 2026 and we’re almost at the finish line.
Rain98
Developer: C#4R4CT3R | Platforms: PC | Release Date: 2026
Finally, an isekai VN set in the most fantastical of settings: Tokyo 1998. Okay, it’s not ACTUALLY an isekai, more of a time travel tale, but there’s some familiar trappings here. You wake up in a woman’s apartment with no knowledge of how you got there, and hijinks ensue. Hijinks being a deep conversation about the ever-growing divide between the haves and the have-nots, the ills of modern society, and Tamagotchi.
There’s a really great sense of style in this game. The entire game is in shades of blue, and the slow jazz soundtrack blends with the omnipresent sound of rain hitting a windowsill that creates an immaculate atmosphere.
Sure, there’s a slow build towards romance, but I also just enjoyed the talk about destroying the world.
Altered Alma
Developer: 2Awesome Studio | Platforms: PC | Release Date: TBD
I didn’t get too much time with Altered Alma, but the time I did ruled. It’s a search action game set in a cyberpunk-styled planet that feels heavily inspired by Mega Man X and 80/90s Cartoons and Anime. It plays great and looks great. I can’t wait to spend more time with it later.
Inkblood
Developer: Hey Bird! | Platforms: PC | Release Date: 2026
Inkblood is one of the most visually striking games I’ve ever played. Every second you play oozes atmosphere and style, and it just overtakes you.
It’s a mystery-solving game where you’re hermetically sealed in a carriage you can never leave without dying, so instead of traditionally analyzing clues, you peek out at them from the windows of your carriage. Using tools like a viewfinder that can see the past and a camera to note your findings.
It drops you in without much guidance, which makes the experience even better as you slowly piece together both the mystery and the bizarre, grotesque world you find yourself in.
Tanuki: Pon’s Summer
Developer: Denkiworks | Platforms: PC, Xbox, Nintendo Switch | Release Date: TBD
Tanuki: Pon’s Summer might be one of my favorite games of the weekend. In it, you play as the adorable Pon, a tanuki who takes up a job at the local post office in hopes of restoring their shrine before the tanuki festival arrives.
You’ll select your packages, Death Stranding style, by what you can carry on your bicycle, and ride around town delivering said packages for folk. It’s a simple enough concept, but it’s elevated by the fact that there’s a super in-depth trick system for your bike. All throughout the town are ramps, rails, and half-pipes for you to trick off of as you’re exploring or delivering packages. Is there a purpose to it all? Not really, but that’s kind of why I really love it. I could simply leisurely ride my way through the town, casually delivering mail if I so wanted. Or I could hit a sick grind and follow it up with a 360 spin off a building on the way to deliver a camera to someone.
Some of the townsfolk have a little more for you to do to earn cash; however, one person wanted to do a photoshoot with the new camera she got and asked me to perform a handful of tricks for her. Another needed me to help out at their bar, so I got behind the counter and started pouring drinks to thirsty patrons. There’s a handful of minigames to discover in this game, and I didn’t even get to touch the shrine customization that’s in the game.
Tanuki: Pon’s Summer was a complete delight to play, and I desperately can’t wait to play more of it when it eventually releases.
WOLFHOUND
Developer: Bit Kid, Inc. | Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch | Release Date: TBD
The world needs more games about killing occultist nazis, and thankfully we have games like Wolfhound to deliver that.
Setting a nazi base in the Bermuda Triangle is a crazy inspired choice, but one I can get down with. You play as Chuck Rossetti, who’s sent to investigate the island and stop a mad scientist who’s creating a host of nightmarish creatures like zombies, mutated insects, and more.
My demo had me in a short opening section of the game, and since it was a search-action game, I immediately started exploring every inch of the map available to me. Rossetti only had a simple pistol and grenade available to him, but his arsenal will eventually expand to include rifles, shotguns, a jetpack to double jump with, and more. It definitely felt inspired by older Metroid games, as I slowly made my way through the foresty area I was in, taking care to carefully time my jumps across platforms and fighting off zombies that were in my way.
Eventually, I came across a massive spider-like boss that hopped around the arena and hatched smaller creatures that would become a nuisance if not dealt with. I underestimated how tough it’d be, and my cockiness got the better of me, leading to my death.
This ended my demo, but I left pleasantly surprised with Wolfhound. It plays tight, has some great pixel graphics, and the music ruled. There’s no release date for it yet, but if you’re a fan of search action games, you should definitely keep this one on your radar.
Dungeon Lurker
Developer: 13AM Games | Platforms: PC | Release Date: TBD
Dungeon Lurker caught my eye on the show floor with its sword-and-sorcery art style, drenched in a heavy CRT filter. After I sat down with it, I was completely hooked.
The game is an action roguelike, but with the flavor of a game within a game. On the surface, there’s Dungeon Lurker, the roguelike action game where you’ll descend into the earth, fighting swarms of ugly creatures, as you attempt to get deeper and deeper for rewards. After each death, you’ll return to your town where you can upgrade your character with new weapons, armor, spells, or simply chat with the local townsfolk.
Outside of that is the reveal that you’re playing a character who’s playing the game Dungeon Lurker. You can back out of the game to read the physical game manual, which is filled with cryptic clues to the game’s underlying mystery.
That’s about as much as I want to get into with Dungeon Lurker, but there’s a demo out for it that I wholeheartedly recommend checking out.
