PAX east is a massive yearly show in Boston and this year was better than ever. While there were less big name developers here, there were tons of smaller indie studios that showed amazing experiences across the video game and Tabletop world.

On my first day of PAX East I took a good amount of time to wander the expo hall, grab some merch, check out the vendors and developers attending and of course tried some great games. While I had a chance to see many new games at the show, some truly stood out like Pizza Bandit, Fretless and the Re;Act board game.

Pizza Bandit

Pizza Bandit is a new game from Josoft centering around an ex-mercenary Malik who dreams of becoming a chef. He will take on hilarious bounties to earn money, loot items, learn to cook, and find new recipes,  all in preparation for opening the restaurant of his dreams.

With this setup this could be a million different types of games, instead it is Gears of War meets Overcooked where missions are attempted to gain loot, recipes and ingredients to launch the restaurant. In this demo of the game I was party of a 4 player co-op crew, we had a chance to check out some new features like the barber shop to customize, sample some new weapons and try a fun sushi level.

In the game you lobby up when playing co-op by boarding the mission shuttle, we landed at a restaurant, dispatched some hordes of enemies on the way and then prepped sushi in some simple cooking mini games. Once the sushi started flying to customers we had to protect the restaurant.

Using traps, turrets, grenades as well as melee and ranged weapons the four of us kept the restaurant clear and the sushi moving to the customers. The action was fast and frantic and in a team based situation it did get chaotic but was fast based and fun.

I enjoyed Pizza Bandit but would like to see a little more of a weighty feeling to the guns and it felt very easy for us to wipe out the waves of enemies and pass the level. The concept is crazy and the action feels very Shadow Warriory which is a good thing when creating an offbeat game like this. Pizza Bandit is Coming Soon To Early Access on Steam.

Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson

I checked out Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson last year at PAX East and was excited to see ho far the game has come from then. While the core experience is very similar key updates to the progression system as well as the instruments (weapons) in the game made the experience fresh and very fun and left me wanting more.

This pixel-art adventure set in the rock-inspired musical universe of Rob Scallon and his friends. In this turn-based RPG, players wield legendary, powerful instruments, unleash devastating riff attacks, and save the world from Rick Riffson, his diabolical minions, and monstrous musical hybrids.

The game itself feels very familiar when it starts, a young hero named Rob is impatient of his life in a quiet village and longs to compete in the Battle of the Bands. Because this is a game, the Battle of the Bands is controlled by Rick Riffson and is how he controls every aspect of music, and in parallel the world.

As I played through the game the Zelda like inspirations hit me right away with maps ripped right out of that genres classic legacy style, but infused with music cues around nearly every corner. Frigs play tunes on Lilly pads, flowers tingle and jingle when walked through (or hacked apart) and enemies challenge you with music and tone based attacks.

Battles are turn based and attacks are queued up in stacks of three based on what instrument, pedals and other accessories you have. When the attacks are unleashed timely button presses augment the attacks or trigger defensive actions. Super attacks trigger a sweet rhythm mini game that is full of great effects and attack animations.

The biggest change in the game was with the second instrument I got, the Bass Guitar, it is radically different than the last time I played. The developer let me know that the last year was about polish, finishing the quests/story and making each instrument distinct and fun. I have to say they succeeded!

Fretless is releasing May 22 on Steam, keep an eye out for a full review later this month.

Re;ACT – The Arts of War and Re;Match

Re;ACT is a highly asymmetric 1 vs 1 dueling game where you step into the shoes of a master Artist/character. Each Artist has a distinct playstyle and look which makes the game very competitive as it progresses.

I had a chance to sit down with Ming of Brother Ming Games and play his masterpiece Re;ACT as well as check out his new title Re;MATCH which I will quickly cover later. In Re;Act I played as the Dancer character against the Painter and while it took a bit to understand the powers and skills I was pulled into the game pretty quickly.

To win the game, be the first to deal 3 damage to your opponent.

​To deal damage, you’ll need to play cards to the React Chain. Some cards deal damage, while others help you maneuver around the board.​

There are 2 type of Card Effects:

• Intentions, which can only be played on your turn to start a React Chain
• Reactions, which can be played on you OR your opponent’s turn to build up a React Chain.

​The React Chain resolves in reverse order (first in, last out).

While it sounds complex, and at first blush it can be the game itself has a cool flow that is enhanced by the inventiveness of the character types and the actions you can take each round. I ended up winning the match as my Dancer character was able to build up a lot of energy to call in creatures they controlled.

Once the multiple enemies were on the board I was able to move across swiftly and deal damage to my opponent as they were rebuilding the ink levels of their painter character. I was able to deploy my my Masterpiece in a give and take battle with the Painter which gave me the edge for a win.

What I really liked was how much chess like thought there is but the movement is reminiscent of checkers as I battled. The art and character are beautifully realized and they nicely gave me a copy of the game for this review as well as the art book which shows off the gorgeous designs. Re;Act is available right now and has an optional Deluxe edition as well as booster packs with new characters.

Re;Match

While the big portion of the booth was the released game Re;Act, Brother Ming also had the incredibly interesting looking Marble based game Re;Match on display for playtests. Using a similar ecosystem but VERY different mechanics this game had me hooked and wanting more.

Essentially it is a 1v1 fighting game using characters as if from a videogame, you clear the physical marbles to trigger fighting moves and get audience support. Once enough attacks trigger support or damage a color path you lose a coin and have limited access to the colored marbles until the token is restored. Lose both coins and the game is over.

This game has a long and storied history involving COVID and some bad business deals but is coming to Kickstarter in November, when he said that date I groaned as I want this game now. It was instantly fun and visceral and I wanted to dig deeper and explore more. Keep an eye on the Kickstarter and throw your support so we can get this in our hands as quickly as possible.