While many use the early weeks of the spooky season to prepare for that fabled night of Trick or Treating, the team at MKAU Gaming prepares for the annual celebration of all things gaming at PAX AUS, held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Of course, there are plenty of other nerdy celebrations across the different capitals throughout the year, but nothing comes close to celebrating gaming culture like PAX does.

So, what is a ‘PAX’?

Originating in America as the famous ‘Penny Arcade’, in 2004, and having been on the golden shores of Melbourne for a few years, it is one of Australia’s biggest gaming conventions. This 3-day celebration of anything in gaming culture has everything, from retro appreciation, tabletop play, cosplay, up-and-coming new releases, tournaments, and panels.

For the media team, events kick off early at 9 am Friday morning.

Although the exhibition didn’t open until 10 am on all three days, the first morning offered persons holding Media, Creator, and Medical Assistance passes an opportunity to run around before the masses swarmed in. As Media or Creators, it gives us a chance to get our bearings and organise some last-minute interviews and tours, while those with Medical Assistance passes can skip the queues and enjoy the hour of peace and quiet while they browse merch.

With that in mind, we darted between booths, quickly capturing some clean shots of the booths before setting up at the main entrances to capture the growing excitement as they prepared to cut the tape acting as a barrier.

Once the floodgates open and the masses pour into the halls, we typically use the rest of the day to browse through the exhibitors a little more. It’s usually a day of taking photos or video fans as they check out their favourite brands, however, Melekharn had lined up an interview with Allard Laban, the Chief Creative Officer of Jackbox Games, which you can listen to on our YouTube channel.

TypicalCambieAU spoke with several developers, including the people behind Beyond These Stars, a neat top-down game centred on growing a settlement on the back of a space whale, and yes, you heard that correctly. Next was Planet Action, a first-person building defence shooter that piqued my interest, and with plans for the game, I’m excited to see what they bring. Next was Super Bawk! Bawk! Chicken, and let me tell you, it is so fun to play. Imagine playing Temple Run on a completely new level, with a future release date for computer and mobile devices, so be on the lookout.

Saturday is when we tend to focus on the media side of the event, and being the only day that completely sold out, it was also the busiest in general.

Our first tour was with ASUS Republic of Gamers, one of our favourite brands to visit, and we had the chance to look at some of the new and improved models in their ranges. These included the range of fabled ROG STRIX systems, the durable TUFF Gaming range, the sleek and elegant ZEPHYRUS, and the newly improved ROG ALLY X.

A little later in the day, we were returned to the ASUS ROG booth, however, this time it was to catch up with the Intel team to discuss the new 15th Generation Intel I-Series processors. The tour took us through several other exhibitors, including Umart and MSI, where these new CPUs were up and running in custom-built PCs, one featured a top-secret motherboard that we may or may not have at the office.

While not attending tours, TypicalCambieAU spent most of his day viewing and chatting with local developer institutes that teach students how to develop their first games. In his words:

The first one I checked out was Ribb Eats. It is a frog simulator where you attempt to work together driving a car that supports 2 to 4 players, and I found it quite fun to sit down, jam out, and have a good laugh, ideally with friends, but randoms at PAX are fun too. Next, I chatted and played with Bearers, early in the development phase. They gave a lot of games a run for their money, and it was one to keep an eye out for.

Next is a top-tier title that I’m super excited about, Death Of A Partisan, a personal narrative survival game set in the eastern front of WW2. Although the game is still in early development, the demo showed some significant aspects of the game, proving that anything is possible, even with a small team. The last game I checked out was Blood Vow, a top-down survival builder. It’s based around a day and night cycle where monsters attack your people at night and turn to stone once the day comes but be careful as they will turn back to monsters at night. It’s a must-play in my books.

We also browsed the range of custom-built PCs at the AFTERSHOCK booth, including a very impressive PC built into a case that looked like a segmented shark, as well as a PC that pivoted within its case and was protected by a single piece of curved tempered glass. Samsung and LG had their range of gaming-focused devices on display, showing off some gorgeous TVs and peripherals.

Square Enix focused heavily on Final Fantasy Online, with computers set up in what resembled market stalls so that players could create new characters and sample the game. Likewise, Ubisoft had several systems, offering gamers the chance to sample some of their recent titles, such as Prince of Persia and Star Wars Outlaws. There was some disappointment after the announcements delaying the latest Assassin’s Creed.

Sunday is usually a day for relaxing…

Traditionally, con-goers use the day as an opportunity to snap up some last-minute bargains and freebies as the exhibitors try to reduce how much stock they need to take back, or in our case, snap as many pictures of cosplayers as we could.

While Melekharn focused on the photos, TypicalCambieAU had his first official scheduled meetings, the first being Mist Forge, a unique game using tiles to explore a world covered in mist. Using your abilities, you can move around the map, clearing mist to explore more areas, and creating tiles to explore new places. The game plays like a turn-based simulator with monsters hiding in the mist. Once your turn is over, the mist will recapture tiles, depositing more enemies and using existing ones to attack you. It’s a complex strategy simulator title that piqued his interest.

He also mentioned that between tours, he checked out Soul Devourer and Fables of Fur.

The former is a side-on animated survival game where you collect souls scattered around the game’s world, but it’s filled with many monsters and ten bosses to fight. “It’s not hard to see why it’s so fun to play. It’s one on my watch list,” he commented.

Fables of Fur, at this stage, is a top-down animated furry creature, and as a very early demo, many of the planned features were unavailable for PAX. The title showed great promise, especially given the game is only being developed during spare time. “It’s one to keep an eye on,” he mentioned.

His final booth tour was for a title he previewed in February, Which Way Up. At the time of the preview, it had very few features and game modes available, but at PAX, it was near completion. It now has roughly 12 game modes and a variety of characters to choose from. It can also be played by up to four people, and it turns into a fun and competitive space for family and friends to enjoy.

Love is in the air…

The weekend was filled with whispers and rumours about the mysterious Cult of the Lamb Temple proudly standing next to the Twitch Kappa Café.

While it spent the majority of the weekend as a photo opportunity and merch store, ritualistic chanting and the scent of cute animals being sacrificed made way for some very unexpected events, and the crowd was buzzing with excitement. After processing nearly one hundred applications, the Cult of the Lamb Temple stood as a beautiful backdrop for two dedicated couples to commit to their significant other in unholy matrimony. The ceremony was open for all to watch with barely a dry eye in the crowd, though tears of happiness would soon erupt into celebratory cheers as the couples were officiated.

So how was it this year?

In my eyes, PAX AUS 2024 didn’t feel as big as it has in the past. There didn’t seem to be as many big exhibitors as in previous years, and some offered very disappointing experiences for fans. There were several disgruntled murmurs that they had bought passes because their favourite company was listed as making an appearance, but all that was there was a backdrop for photos.

The reduced number of big exhibitors allowed more space to celebrate smaller developers in greater numbers, offering more space for convention-goers to move between the displays. It was a great weekend, even if many of us are moaning about our old bones aching and being down with post-PAX Pox.

With everything from hardware to in-development games, tables to play trading card games or role dice in role-playing games, and libraries of boardgames to borrow and play with friends, there is something for every kind of gamer. As Australia’s greatest celebration of all things gaming, it’s something you need to experience at least once.