At the end of March I had the amazing opportunity to attend three days of PAX East 2023 in Boston! For those unfamiliar, PAX East is a gaming convention that celebrates gaming of all types. It's got it all: professional gaming tournaments, panels, people walking around in cosplay, food trucks, after parties. The best part? The gigantic expo hall packed with small business vendors, game developers, and publishers.

This was my first time attending a large scale convention and it was absolutely overwhelming to explore! While wandering the convention center, I was on the lookout for games that were either cute as hell, had a unique concept, or games that I had heard about before but wanted to get more information on.

Here are, in no particular order, my top 13 games from PAX East this year!

Go-Go Town | Prideful Sloth | coming soon | wishlist on steam

game summary: As mayor, it’s up to you to breathe life back into this rundown town. Construct shops, hire staff, automate deliveries with couriers, and attract tourists to town, all while managing infrastructure and avoiding catastrophes!

why I love it: It was obvious after playing this demo that Go-Go Town is everything I want in a cozy game. It’s got the town building and decorating. It’s got the quests and tasks to keep you busy. You can farm. You can fish. You can high-five the other townspeople. It’s adorable all around!

Loco Motive | Chucklefish | coming 2023 | wishlist on steam

game summary: On the Reuss Express a passenger has been murdered, and you’re the prime suspects. Uncover a thrilling mystery and solve satisfying point and click puzzles to prove your innocence!

why I love it: I am a sucker for nostalgic point-and-click adventures, especially when the story involves solving a mystery. I played the demo and what I experienced was absolutely hilarious!

Botany Manor | Whitethorn Games | coming 2023 | wishlist on steam

game summary: Welcome to Botany Manor, a stately home in 19th century England. You play as inhabitant Arabella Greene, a retired botanist. Explore your house and gardens, filled with research, to figure out the ideal habitat of forgotten flora.

​why I love it: This game is beautifully relaxing from the music to the manor gardens. I also love that you play from a first-person perspective which makes exploring and gardening feel more immersive.

Mythwrecked: Ambrosia Island | Whitethorn Games | coming 2023 | wishlist on steam

game summary: You’re shipwrecked on a lost mythical island. As backpacker Alex, you must befriend the forgotten gods of Greek mythology and restore their memories. Explore the dynamic island and its story sandbox to build new friendships, solve the mystery and save the gods.

why I love it: The art style is stunning and the mythical gods and goddesses are portrayed as a diverse cast of characters. The island itself is filled with gorgeous detail that I can’t wait to explore!

Roots of Pacha | Crytivo | coming april 2023 | wishlist on steam

game summary: Be a part of a thriving stone age community. Discover “ideas,” domesticate crops, befriend animals, and contribute to the growth of your village.

​why I love it: This game reminds me so much of the Virtual Villagers games I obsessed over as a kid. Mix that with Stardew Valley set in the prehistoric era and you’ve got Roots of Pacha. This game will also have online co-op if you want to play with pals which is siiiiick!

Mineko’s Night Market | Humble Games | coming soon | wishlist on steam

game summary: Mineko’s Night Market is a narrative-driven, social simulation adventure game that celebrates Japanese culture and invites players to craft whimsical items, eat delicious snacks, and ultimately enjoy all the cats.

​why I love it: The setting and art style really is what drew me into this adventure game. Also, there are cats, so no further reasons are needed here.

Paper Trail | Newfangled Games | coming 2023 | wishlist on steam

game summary: Paper Trail is a top-down puzzle adventure about leaving home, set in a foldable, paper world.

why I love it: A beautiful puzzle game with a beautiful soundtrack to match. Using the paper folding mechanics to solve puzzles is equal parts challenging yet satisfying as hell when you figure out how to unlock the path in front of your character. Paper Trail has been on my radar for a hot minute so it was awesome to check out the demo at PAX!

Harmony’s Odyssey | MythicOwl | available now! | wishlist on steam

game summary: Harmony’s Odyssey is a 3D fantasy adventure puzzle game set on mythical dioramas full of riddles, perky creatures and magic.

​why I love it: I’m a sucker for a cute puzzle game. The game looks so vibrant and whimsical which is reason enough for me to be interested!

The Wandering Village | Stray Fawn Publishing | available now! | wishlist on steam

game summary: The Wandering Village is a city-building simulation game on the back of a giant, wandering creature. Build your settlement and form a symbiotic relationship with the colossus.

​why I love it: This is such a unique concept for a city/civilization-building game. It also kind of gives me Rimworld vibes a little bit which only gets me more hyped about picking this up during the next big steam sale.

Tiny Life | Top Hat Studios | coming may 2023 | wishlist on steam

game summary: In Tiny Life, you control a set of people that live together in a household. You take care of their daily needs, build their skills, forge new relationships... or just mess up their entire life in whatever way you can think of!

​why I love it: Tiny Life is like the pixel art spiritual successor of The Sims 1. I am absolutely going to devour this game when it’s released next month. For those interested, there is a demo available on steam that you can try for free right now!

Broombot Battlegrounds | The Cleanup Kings LLC | available now! | wishlist on steam

game summary: Battle to the death as adorable household cleaning robots in this frantic physics-based arena combat game! Compete in 1-4 player cage matches with your friends (or enemies) to be the meanest clean-machine of them all!

​why I love it: This is something goofy that I can play with friends regardless of their gaming experience level. The customization options for your broombot are fun and the number of unique stages and game modes made this a stand out game option for future community game nights.

American Arcadia | Raw Fury | coming soon | wishlist on steam

game summary: Welcome to Arcadia! A retro-futuristic metropolis where the citizens don't know they're contestants on the most watched reality show on the planet!

​why I love it: We love a Truman Show moment wrapped in video game packaging. I’m especially stoked because according to the game’s steam page, the “story will be presented as a documentary with interviews and police interrogations of the characters” which just seems neat as hell.

Amanda the Adventurer | DreadXP | coming april 2023 | wishlist on steam

​game summary: Join Amanda and her pal Wooly on a series of adventures as they explore and learn about our wonderful world! With several NEW play-along, laugh-along, learn-along episodes there's always fun to be had! Just make sure to do everything Amanda says or she might get angry.

​why I love it: Okay, I am not typically a spooky gamer girl BUT something about being forced to watch an evil Blues Clues knock-off VHS tape series speaks to me. Will this game make me pee my pants? Yes. Will I still play it? Duh.

If any of these games sound interesting to you, be sure to add them to your steam wishlist! Wishlisting games on steam is a free way to support the game developers plus you’ll be notified when these games release and if they are ever on sale in the future.

​Happy gaming everyone :)

It’s April 1st which means it’s the start of the second quarter of the year! I’ve got a few gaming goals for the next few months. I think cutting down to three feels more realistic for me to achieve without abandoning my actual life to play my silly little games so here we go!

It has been SO long since I’ve played a game from start to finish and the frog detective games have been on my radar forever, since I watched my pal nerdershewrote stream the first one on twitch awhile back. Since these are short, I should be able to get through all of them by the end of June :)