There’s a lot to see and do at PAX Online—much like an in-person PAX, it can be difficult to know where to begin when it comes to which games to check out, what might be relevant to your preferred mode of play, and so forth.
To assist you in the week ahead, we’ve gone ahead and compiled a list of demos you can download and play in the “Expo Hall.” Almost all of these are available on Steam, with several titles via the Microsoft store or direct from the game’s website. We’ll be posting this in chunks for sake of manageability!
Please note that while some of the listings in the Expo Hall mentioned a demo for a particular game title, if we visited the linked “demo” page and we unable to find a demo (on the Steam page for the game, for example), we did not include that title here. That’s not to say the demos won’t be available later this week (rumor is more are being added throughout the show!) but we won’t be rechecking hundreds of game pages every day. Sorry! So if you know of a game you were hoping to check out but don’t see it in this list, please check out the Expo Hall listing yourself just in case right here (https://www.paxegx.com/).
SKYBOLT ZACK
- Available on PC / Nintendo Switch
- Genre Arcade / Platform
- ESRB Rating Everyone
- PEGI Rating PEGI 7
- Release date Out now
- Exhibitor Green Man Gaming Publishing
Skybolt Zack is a full on, fast paced frantic arcade experience, requiring equal parts dexterity and quick thinking. Using Rocket Punch, Air Dash, and Charge Attacks, smash your way through an enemy infested world and bring down the ruthless Dr Kaz and his robot army.
Skybolt Zack delivers a unique mix of a fun and exciting arcade platformer married with the feel of a precise rhythm game. It has been designed to prioritise gameplay above all else, featuring 48 frantic, colourful, and challenging levels.
https://www.paxegx.com/games/skybolt-zack
SPINCH
- Available on macOS / Microsoft Windows / Nintendo Switch
- Genre Action & Adventure / Platform
- Release date Out now
Spinch is a visual 2D platformer created by award winning Canadian cartoonist Jesse Jacobs, developed by Queen Bee Games, with audio composition by famed Canadian artist Thesis Sahib (James Kirkpatrick). A Spinch is a hyper-agile organism consumed by the quest to rescue a litter of its missing offspring from an endless kaleidoscopic invasion of misshapen and malformed offbeats and oddities. Dash, dodge, jump, and even launch your own children as projectiles to take down six eccentric bosses in six vibrant worlds.
https://www.paxegx.com/games/spinch
STRINGS THEORY
- Available on PC / Nintendo Switch / Xbox One
- Genre Arcade / Platform / Puzzle
- Release date Q3 2020
- Exhibitor Indie Games Poland Foundation
Physical “Theory of Strings” with a grain of salt.
Freaky, tricky logic game, with abstract concept and touching heroes.
“String Theory – physical string theory describes the world as vibrating miniature energy strings in a 10-dimensional space.”
The same physical string theory is a pretext for us to create a logic game with a broadly expanded story in which we place great pressure on the individual character of the protagonists.
https://www.paxegx.com/games/strings-theory
SUCHART: GENIUS PAINTER SIMULATOR
- Available on PC / Nintendo Switch
- Genre Kids & Family / Simulation
- Release date Q1 2021
- Exhibitor Hypetrain Digital
SuchArt is a painting sim game with realistic paint mixing, physics, and numerous painting tools. Upgrade your studio, complete tasks, sell and expose your art, buy instruments, and get famous!
https://www.paxegx.com/games/suchart-genius-painter-simulator
THERE IS NO LIGHT
- Available on PC / Nintendo Switch / PlayStation 4 / Xbox One
- Genre Action & Adventure
- Release date 2021
- Exhibitor Hypetrain Digital
There is no Light’ is a brutal open-world action-adventure game set in a grim future where human civilization has fallen. Embark on a journey through a world ruled by an all-powerful cult to rescue your child from their clutches!
https://www.paxegx.com/games/there-is-no-light
THE SURVIVALISTS
- Available on PC / Nintendo Switch / PlayStation 4 / Xbox One
- Genre Action & Adventure / Role-Playing
- Release date 9 October 2020
- Exhibitor Team 17 The Survivalists
A game which allows you to build, craft and explore in a procedurally generated sandbox world set in The Escapists universe. Hunt (or be hunted by!) animals for food and an array of mythical enemies, who aren’t necessarily pleased to see you. Get quests from a Mysterious Stranger or find them washed up on the shore. Prepare to trek into a procedurally generated wilderness, with a variety of biomes, for an adventure that’s unique to every player. Complete joint adventures, gain loot, trade and ultimately survive together and as you and up to three fellow castaways explore fantastical islands.
https://www.paxegx.com/games/the-survivalists
TOHU
- Available on Microsoft Windows / Nintendo Switch / PlayStation 4 / Xbox One
- Genre Action & Adventure / Puzzle
- ESRB Rating Rating Pending
- PEGI Rating PEGI 3
- Release date 2020
Get lost in TOHU, a brand new adventure game set amongst a world of weird and wonderful fish planets.
Explore beautiful environments and solve intricate puzzles as a little girl, joined by her mechanical alter-ego, Cubus. Together they will discover the truth about themselves and the mysterious Sacred Engine that powers their world.
TOHU is brought to life through gorgeous handcrafted artwork, with a musical score from Christopher Larkin – the award-winning composer of Hollow Knight. Whether you’re searching for critters or learning how to operate a cannon that fires moles, TOHU is packed with all manner of crafty puzzles, eccentric characters and wacky conundrums.
https://www.paxegx.com/games/tohu
TOPPLEPOP : BUNGEE BLOCKBUSTERS
- Available on PC / Nintendo Switch
- Genre Kids & Family / Party, Music & Dance / Puzzle / Sport
- Release date 2021
- Exhibitor PAX Indie Showcase
Welcome to the Jumble! TopplePOP is physics puzzle eSports with bendy animal acrobats on bungee cords. For 1-4 players in solo, co-op & PvP. Master deep skills to dominate team battles & racing leaderboards! -Or don’t! With assist-modes, bouncy couch parties & chill zen puzzles.
https://www.paxegx.com/games/topplepop-bungee-blockbusters
TRASH SAILORS
- Available on PC / Nintendo Switch / PlayStation 4 / Xbox 360
- Genre Action & Adventure / Arcade / Party, Music & Dance
- Release date Coming Soon
- Exhibitor tinyBuild
Trash Sailors is a hand-drawn sailing action with co-op up to 4 players. Control the group of castaways by local or online multiplayer, and create the trashiest sailing team in history! Make your slapdash raft, fight with mutants, and trash your friendship!
https://www.paxegx.com/games/trash-sailors
TUNCHE
- Available on PC / Nintendo Switch / PlayStation 4 / Xbox One
- Genre Action & Adventure / Arcade / Fighting / Role-Playing
- Release date 2021
- Exhibitor Hypetrain Digital
Fall in love with hand-drawn world of Tunche, a beat ’em up action game, as you tear through hordes of enemies in search of a mythical beast
https://www.paxegx.com/games/tunche
UNBOUND:WORLDS APART
- Available on PC / Nintendo Switch
- Genre Action & Adventure / Platform / Puzzle
- Release date Q2 2021
- Exhibitor Sergiu Craitoiu
Explore beautiful, hand-crafted Metroidvanian worlds by conjuring different magic portals. Each portal gives you unique abilities to solve puzzles, outsmart abominable creatures, and unravel mysteries.
https://www.paxegx.com/games/unboundworlds-apart
UNTO THE END
- Available on Microsoft Windows / Nintendo Switch / PlayStation 4 / Xbox One
- Genre Action & Adventure
- Release date Q4 2020
Unto The End is a hand-crafted cinematic platformer about a desperate journey home. Master combat through improvisation and observation in intense sword fights. Spot opportunities to use artifacts and trade items. An adventure told through your actions, how will you make it home?
• Read-React Combat: One of a kind combat system focused on skill and mastery, designed from the ground up specifically for 2D. Fight intelligently and strike tactically with your sword and range weapons in one-on-one and group battles
• Handcrafted Encounters: The adventure unfolds through carefully crafted encounters, each featuring intelligent, worthy opponents
• Player-skill Focused: A challenging single-player experience with minimal handholding. All the father’s abilities are available from the outset and mastery of those skills are key to survival and success
• Unforgiving Terrain: From cavernous underground ruins to harsh mountain peaks, overcome environmental challenges and deadly traps as you travel through a world of meticulously crafted landscapes
https://www.paxegx.com/games/unto-the-end
YESTERMORROW
- Available on Microsoft Windows / Nintendo Switch / PlayStation 4 / Xbox One
- Genre Action & Adventure / Platform / Puzzle
- Release date Coming Soon
YesterMorrow is a single-player time travelling 2D platformer, mixing action sequences with puzzle elements, all wrapped up in an engaging story about our young hero, Yui, who must save her family and to change the fate of a world that has been plunged into endless night. This can only be done by journeying into the past and repairing the mysterious Clocktower controlling the cycle of time.
Her world – destroyed. Her family – kidnapped. Join our heroine Yui in a desperate attempt to save everything she loved. Learn how to use Everlight, embark on a journey through four islands (Forest, Desert, Ice and Clockwork island) and use time travel to overcome obstacles and access hidden locations. Free your family from the clutches of Shadows! Find out what really happened to the Sun and whether it can be reversed.
– Learn how to wield Everlight, unlock six special abilities and use them to cleanse your world from Shadows.
– Explore a vast world of YesterMorrow spanning four different islands (Forest, Desert, Ice, Clockwork).
– Encounter dozens of creatures and defeat challenging bosses.
– Use the environment to your advantage and solve puzzles in different ways.
– Traverse the world in two different timelines. Enjoy the serene calmness of the past and battle your way through the corrupted world of the future.
– Discover the rich lore as you interact with the world and its inhabitants. And don’t forget to pet all animals!
– Locate hidden areas and collect power-ups and lore entries.
https://www.paxegx.com/games/yestermorrow
And for the sake of being thorough, here are the games in the Expo Hall that, while they don’t have a PAX demo available, are still coming to (or are already available on) the Nintendo Switch and therefore may be relevant to your interests:
SAD RPG: A SOCIAL ANXIETY ROLE PLAYING GAME
- Available on Android / iOS / macOS / PC / Nintendo Switch
- Genre Action & Adventure / Role-Playing
- Release date Q4 2020
- Exhibitor Indie Games Poland Foundation
SAD RPG : A Social Anxiety Role Playing Game is an experimental indie computer RPG game about social anxiety.
It’s an unexpectedly colourful, weird and full of surprises journey with our own story about dealing with Social Anxiety Disorder.
Features:
– first person perspective
– modern day setting
– skills development
– non linear storyline
– open world quests
– turn based, tactical ani-anxiety combat
– unique graphic
– story about social anxiety disorder
– educational elements
https://www.paxegx.com/games/sad-rpg-a-social-anxiety-role-playing-game
SAVIORS OF SAPPHIRE WINGS / STRANGER OF SWORD CITY REVISITED
- Available on PC / Nintendo Switch
- Genre Role-Playing
- Release date Q1 2021
- Exhibitor NIS America
In Saviors of Sapphire Wings, a fallen hero is reincarnated 100 years after being defeated by the
Overlord of Darkness. Bond with allies, explore dungeons, and vanquish monsters in this RPG gem!
https://www.paxegx.com/games/saviors-of-sapphire-wings-stranger-of-sword-city-revisited
SENTIENT NOIR
- Available on PC / Nintendo Switch / PlayStation 4 / PlayStation 5
- Genre Action & Adventure / Fighting / Platform / Puzzle
- Release date 2021
- Exhibitor Turbulon Interactive
Sentient Noir is set in a dystopian alien City called Night Light City where four factions want the incredible and deadly powers of a Detective Hunter for their own ends. With these powers, you’re able to manipulate, befriend, betray, instill fear and destroy the sentient populous. You are feared the people, but maybe that can change as you discover the true nature of the sentient city.
https://www.paxegx.com/games/sentient-noir
SKULLY
- Available on PC / Nintendo Switch / PlayStation 4 / Xbox One
- Genre Action & Adventure / Kids & Family / Platform / Puzzle
- Release date Out now
- Exhibitor Modus Games
Fate has bestowed Skully with a second chance at “life” and his adventure will take him across a strange paradise.
https://www.paxegx.com/games/skully
SPELLBREAK
- Available on PC / Nintendo Switch / PlayStation 4 / Xbox One
- Genre Action & Adventure / Role-Playing / Shooter
- Release date Out now
- Exhibitor Proletariat
Spellbreak is a multiplayer action-spellcasting game where you unleash your inner battlemage. Master elemental magic to fit your playstyle and cast powerful spell combinations to dominate other players across the Hollow Lands.
https://www.paxegx.com/games/spellbreak
STREETS OF RAGE 4
- Available on Microsoft Windows / Nintendo Switch / PlayStation 4 / Xbox One
- Genre Action & Adventure / Kids & Family / Platform
- Release date Out now
Streets of Rage, known as Bare Knuckle (??????? Bea Nakkuru) in Japan, is a trilogy of beat ’em up games developed and published by SEGA in the 1990s.
Famously known for its non stop action and electronic dance influenced music – scored by Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima – the series has gained the status of cult classic throughout the years. It is considered one of the best beat ’em up series of all time. After many years, Axel and Blaze are finally picking up the fight where they left.
https://www.paxegx.com/games/streets-of-rage-4
THE LEGEND OF HEROES: TRAILS OF COLD STEEL IV
- Available on PC / Nintendo Switch / PlayStation 4
- Genre Action & Adventure
- Release date 27 October 2020
- Exhibitor NIS America
The long awaited finale to the epic engulfing a continent comes to a head in the final chapter of the Trails of Cold Steel saga!
https://www.paxegx.com/games/the-legend-of-heroes-trails-of-cold-steel-iv
THIS IS THE ZODIAC SPEAKING
- Available on PC / Nintendo Switch / PlayStation 4 / Xbox One
- Genre Action & Adventure / Horror / Puzzle
- Release date 24 September 2020
- Exhibitor Indie Games Poland Foundation
Dark, fact-based single-player FPP adventure thriller combining stealth & detective modes in a stylized world of California 1970s and based on the story of Zodiac, one of the most famous never-caught serial killers. Play as Robert Hartnell, a San Francisco journalist, who receives a phone call from the Zodiac greeting him with the memorable “Hello, this is the Zodiac speaking”. It’s a thriller with elements of horror, stealth mechanics, detective mode, and several endings to discover. The gloomy atmosphere of the game is achieved with the original, stylized graphics and film-like music. The co-author of the script to This is the Zodiac Speaking is ?ukasz Orbitowski, one of the best Polish writers, laureate of the prestigious Paszporty Polityki award and nominated for the Nike award. Travel to the vintage ’70s and feel the climate of the past! Enjoy the atmospheric, film music! Discover the alternative endings!
https://www.paxegx.com/games/this-is-the-zodiac-speaking
TORCHLIGHT III
- Available on PC / Nintendo Switch / PlayStation 4 / Xbox One
- Genre Action & Adventure
- Release date Q3 2020
- Exhibitor Perfect World Entertainment
In Torchlight III, Novastraia is again under threat of invasion and it’s up to you to defend against the Netherim and its allies. Gather your wits and brave the frontier to find fame, glory, and new adventures!
https://www.paxegx.com/games/torchlight-iii
TRINE 4: THE NIGHTMARE PRINCE
- Available on PC / Nintendo Switch / PlayStation 4 / Xbox One
- Genre Platform / Puzzle
- Release date Out now
- Exhibitor Modus Games
The best-selling Trine series returns to the magic of 2.5D! Join three iconic heroes as they set off on a quest through fantastical fairytale landscapes to save the world from the Nightmare Prince’s shadows.
https://www.paxegx.com/games/trine-4-the-nightmare-prince
WONDER BOY: THE DRAGON’S TRAP
- Available on Microsoft Windows / Nintendo Switch / PlayStation 4 / Xbox One
- Genre Action & Adventure / Arcade / Platform
- Release date Out now
Turned into a half-human, half-lizard monstrosity by the Meka-Dragon, a lonesome adventurer is facing the challenge of a lifetime! In search for a cure, our mutated anti-hero will explore the many traps of Monster Land… and defeat many stuff-throwing, curse-wielding dragons.
https://www.paxegx.com/games/wonder-boy-the-dragons-trap
YS IX: MONSTRUM NOX
- Available on PC / Nintendo Switch / PlayStation 4
- Genre Action & Adventure
- Release date 2 February 2021
- Exhibitor NIS America
While imprisoned in Balduq, Adol is cursed and becomes a Monstrum. With his newfound powers, he must stop the Grimwald Nox from consuming the city.
https://www.paxegx.com/games/ys-ix-monstrum-nox
YS ORIGIN
- Available on Nintendo Switch / PlayStation 4 / Xbox One
- Genre Action & Adventure / Platform / Role-Playing
- Release date Out now
The fast-paced action and epic boss battles will present fans with a unique vantage point of the earliest days of Ys. Newcomers to the series will be able to experience the very beginnings of the cult-like franchise that has been a hit for decades. Explore a deeply involved mystery and unlock secrets through creative puzzles as you trek through a memorable arcade-like platformer and unravel the engrossing story of Ys. How long can you last in the Devil’s Tower? With its captivating story, stirring soundtrack, and epic boss battles, Ys Origin remains one of the best action-RPGs of all time!
https://www.paxegx.com/games/ys-origin
And that’s it! Just a reminder to check on the page listing for any game you see that doesn’t have a demo as it may be added this week; also please check out paxegx.com for all the info about PAX Online and the full schedule for live game demos and so forth. Happy PAX-ing!
