The 16 surprising new games that made PAX West an absolute blast ~ USA Latest Games

SEATTLE—We've already had a lot to say about the games we saw at last week's PAX West. Our coverage kicked off with an exclusive Valve studio visit and demo of its new card game Artifact, and we continued with looks at surprise '90s rebirths and Nintendo Switch offerings.

But as Ars' sole PAX West attendee, I needed downtime to genuinely process the remainder of what I saw. And after a week to think on it, I'm ready to identify this year's stand-out games. A fan-first expo may not necessarily be the best place to judge certain game types, particularly deeper, systems- and story-loaded fare, and PAX was missing megaton titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Fallout 76 (although Bethesda was giving out Vault Boy masks). But we think our choice of notable PAX demos says plenty about the surprises and fun the show had in store.

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