Games I’m Looking Forward to at PAX Unplugged 2025

Welcome to this week’s gaming post! I attended PAX Unplugged for the first time last year, and because we had such a great time, we decided to go again this year. As part of my retrospective from last year, one of my biggest tips was to plan ahead of time, so I thought I’d take my own advice and start preparing a list of games I’d like to check out at this year’s convention. To help build this list, I used the Preview and First Look lists on BGG that highlight the games that will be there. So without further ado, let’s jump into the games.

Recall appears to be the follow up game from the same designers as Revive. I have not played Revive, but I tend to enjoy both civilization and engine-building games. It also doesn’t hurt that the cover for this game is quite striking. There will be copies available to demo in the First Look area, so hopefully I’ll be able to give this one a look.

Lightning Train is the latest game from designer Paul Dennen, best known for designing Dune: Imperium and Clank!. I don’t know too much about the game, but the idea of combining bag-building and route-building is enough to pique my interest.

Ada’s Dream might be the heaviest game on this list. There’s a dice, rondel mechanism, and what appears to be a few different mini-games on the board that are interconnected. This one will also be in the First Look area.

Of the games on this list, Orloj: The Prague Astronomical Clock likely has the best looking cover. I’ve been lucky enough to visit Prague once to see the clock, so I’ll be interested to see how well the theme is incorporated into the design. Gameplay wise, there appears to be a mix of worker placement and plenty of rondels. I anticipate this being another popular game in the First Look area.

Feya’s Swamp is a reimplementation of the 2005 game Kaivai, of which I’d never heard of before; however, one of the game’s designers co-designed Terra Mystica. Although I’m not the biggest fan of Terra Mystica, I’m willing to try any game once. This game will also be available to demo in the First Look section of the convention.

March of the Ants: Evolved Edition is a revised and upgraded edition of the 2015 game of the same name. I never played the original version, but just comparing photos side by side, this new edition appears to be quite the graphical upgrade. I’m generally not the biggest fan of area-control games, but the idea of being able to upgrade my ant species over the course of the game has me intrigued.

Covenant is the latest big box game from publisher Devir and is designed by Germán Millán, who previously designed Bitoku. This game has been getting quite a bit of buzz, so I’m interested in giving this worker-placement game a look. However, considering Devir’s track record, I just hope that everything manages to fit into the box.

I enjoy trick-taking games with The Crew being my favorite of the bunch. Origin Story is a competitive engine-building, trick-taking game with an interesting superhero theme from Stonemaier Games, and it was co-designed by Jamey Stegmaier. There is a plethora of trick-taking games these days, but if this one manages to bring something different to the table, then I could see this becoming part of the collection.

Emberheart is the latest game from publisher Mindclash Games. This appears to fit comfortably in the medium-weight, worker-placement genre, and the theme is also giving off How to Train Your Dragon vibes. I’m curious to give this one a look.  

Pulitzer appears to be quite different from the other games on this list. I especially find the theme of taking on the role of American investigative journalists during the 1970s to be quite unique and fascinating. There also appears to be an element of hidden placement. This game will also be in the First Look area.

With that, those are 10 games I’m looking forward to at PAX Unplugged this year! Are there any games you’re looking forward to at this year’s convention? If you’ve tried any of these games, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Happy gaming!

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