Our time in New England has come to a close. From checking out the biggest upcoming indie games to exploring the historic streets of Boston, here is the full recap of our PAX East adventure.
As the massive red “PAX” sign in the lobby of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center is packed away for another year, our team is finally heading home to catch up on some much-needed sleep.
First and foremost, a massive thank you to the team at PAX for providing TheBigBois with media passes this year. Having access to dive deep into the convention, chat directly with developers, and cover the event from the front lines is an absolute privilege.
We spent the last several days running across the expo floor, eating entirely too much seafood, and emptying our wallets at the vendor booths. If you missed our individual coverage pieces throughout the weekend, here is the ultimate wrap-up of everything we played, saw, and collected during our trip to Boston.
The Show Floor: Our Favorite PAX East Demos
The energy inside the BCEC this year was electric, with a fantastic mix of massive AAA publisher panels and passionate solo indie devs showing off their passion projects. Here is a quick highlight reel of the games that stole the show for us:
- Borderlands 4 DLC Shadow-Drop: Gearbox took over the Main Theatre for a live podcast panel, showcasing incredible community cosplay (shoutout to the flawless C4SH cosplayer) and giving us a bunch of Golden Keys. The highlight was the surprise launch of Story Pack 1: Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned—though the $30 price tag definitely raised some eyebrows.
- Time Crisis Reborn: We stopped by the G’AIM’E booth again to test out their AI-powered lightgun. Bypassing the need for sensor bars entirely, this plug-and-play tech uses a built-in camera to track your modern LCD TV. It felt incredibly smooth and brought the arcade magic right back to life.
- Testing Friendships: Total Mayhem Games brought a playable demo of We Were Here Tomorrow. The retro-futuristic, asymmetrical co-op puzzler ran flawlessly and immediately proved that it will 100% cause screaming matches and friendship issues when it launches. We loved every stressful second of it.
- Norse Hack-and-Slash: We had a great sit-down with the solo developer of Ragnarök Protocol. The game features a striking, block-made aesthetic to represent Loki’s “pixelation” curse on Midgard, paired with a highly strategic color-matching combat system.
The TCG Hunt: Perfect Order and Ghost Types
The timing of this year’s convention couldn’t have been better for the tabletop gamers on the team. The highly anticipated Perfect Order Pokémon TCG set officially released right in the middle of our time in Boston.
Surprisingly, several of the vendors on the expo floor were completely prepared, having booster boxes and fresh singles in stock immediately. I spent a dangerous amount of time sifting through the display cases, but the hunt paid off. I finally managed to track down a few elusive Gengar cards I desperately needed to round out my personal collection. There is nothing quite like the feeling of securing your chase cards on the floor of a major convention.
Outside the BCEC: Exploring Boston and Beyond
When we weren’t dodging crowds on the show floor, we made sure to get out and actually see what New England had to offer.
Our mornings usually started with massive, hearty breakfast skillets packed with roasted potatoes, bacon, and eggs to fuel the long days of walking. In the evenings, we unwound at local lounges, sipping iced cocktails and getting a few rounds of gaming in on the Steam Deck before calling it a night. We also absolutely destroyed a few decadent dessert platters—including a massive brownie-and-ice-cream sundae and some incredibly rich cheesecake.
Walking around the city was an adventure in itself. Near Faneuil Hall, we stumbled across some charming, quirky bronze statues of a dog and a rabbit reading books on a bench while a giraffe peered over their shoulders. We also took a detour to the Museum of Ice Cream, where we even managed to get our own custom “#THEBIGBOIS” lettering up on their famous pink wall!
We also took two incredible side trips outside of the immediate downtown area:
- The New England Aquarium: A must-visit. Greeted by the massive “Protect the Blue Planet” whale mural on the exterior, we spent a few hours inside, marveling at the marine life and getting fantastic close-up views of the resident sea turtles gracefully navigating the central tank.
- Salem: We couldn’t visit Massachusetts without taking the quick train ride north to Salem. We walked the historic, slightly eerie streets and paid a visit to the famous Salem Witch Museum, soaking in the heavy 1692 history.
PAX East 2026 was an unforgettable trip. Between the groundbreaking gaming tech, the incredible food, and checking off some major bucket-list tourist spots, Boston treated us incredibly well.
We are already counting down the days until next year.
