The PAX West 2022 Experience

Attending PAX West 2021 was my first in-person experience of the fabled event, and I was sadly underwhelmed. While I had heard stories of the show’s glory days and held out hope, the expo floor turned out quite grim. Of course, this was due to the ongoing pandemic. Many PAX veterans did enjoy the smaller show though, since it was a nice change of pace with a focus on indies that may have otherwise gone unnoticed. This year, I can report that PAX West was much more lively, with many big names like Sega, Nintendo, tinyBuild, and The Pokémon Company returning.

It felt like the show floor was double the size of last year’s, but with around the same crowd levels. This made it quite easy to get around, and not impossible to check out booths of interest with some determination. Of course, there were long lines for the larger studios, but they weren’t unreasonable. Games and demos that had recently released like Saints Row and Anger Foot didn’t have any lines at times — being able to walk right up and start playing was surprising. There was also a varied selection of indie games to check out, and it was easy to strike up a conversation with the developers about their creative process. Every indie dev I interacted with was extremely passionate about their projects and the industry, which is always a highlight of PAX.

The Splatoon 3 exhibition definitely caught my eye, with a few photo ops and a large area blocked off for gameplay demos. To play, you needed to claim a free Warp Pipe Pass from Nintendo’s website beforehand. Other notable exhibitions included One Piece Odyssey with a large, pirate-themed setup; a mini-castle dedicated to Baldur’s Gate 3; and tinyBuild’s carnival zone complete with Whac-A-Mole, a punch machine, a crane game, and more. Probably the strangest booth was from McDonald’s, which offered a couple of arcade games where you could win exclusive McDonald’s-branded merch (not food).

Free swag was pretty limited, especially anything that was guaranteed and not a raffle or challenge — the days of taking home a boatload of merch are long gone. However, paid merch offered a solid selection across the board that fortunately didn’t sell out right away. I was able to snag a couple of Unpacking t-shirts from Humble Games, which cannot be found anywhere else. Limited Run Games brought several physical Switch titles that haven't shipped for online orders yet, including Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2.

For gaming fans, the most notable panels were a Team Fortress 2 reunion, Reggie Fils-Aimé with Rogue Games, and Gearbox’s showcase. The Team Fortress 2 panel included guests Ellen McLain (the announcer), Gary Schwartz (Heavy and Demoman), John Patrick Lowrie (Sniper), and Robin Atkin Downes (Medic). Reggie offered interesting insights about the indie scene and his experience at Nintendo, and Gearbox focused mainly on the upcoming New Tales from the Borderlands.

In summary, I enjoyed attending PAX West 2022, as it was a nice balance of both crowds and visiting studios. Indies were well represented and several large titles took centre stage. There were enough panels for everyone to find something interesting, and certain guests like Reggie Fils-Aimé and Ellen McLain boosted the guest lineup. I’m looking forward to next year’s event and many of the upcoming games I was able to preview!