Our top mobile games from PAX East 2018

PAX East has come and gone once again, but we had the chance to check out some of the wonderful indie games the conference had on offer this weekend. There was a nice crop of independent games on display, from artful point and clicks, to weird, wiggly platformers. We had the chance to check out a lot of great games, but here are a few of the highlights.

Just Shapes & Beats

This isn’t Shapes & Beats' first go at the conference circuit, but it is the first time we’ve gotten to try out this colorful bullet hell turned rhythm game on Nintendo Switch. Your single goal is to survive the length of each song, dodging obstacles with the game’s simple control scheme—simply move and dodge. The game works great with local co-op, making it a great party treat for Switch owners.

Jenny LeClue – Detectivú Jenny LeClue – Detectivú is a point and click adventure game for the modern world. The game shirks the typical tropes (and sometimes frustrations) of its genre to create a streamlined adventure that uses gameplay to explore character relationships and the mystery at hand. Plus, the artwork is downright adorable.

You can try Jenny LeClue for yourself right now. There’s a demo on the App Store, but you’ll be able to play the full version later this year.

A Fold Apart

Based on the real-life relationship between the game’s designer and his wife, A Fold Apart is an emotional puzzler that has the player folding paper origami-style to bring the protagonist closer to their partner. It’s an exploration of long-distance relationships and all of the ups and downs therein through environmental puzzles, folding scenes together in creative ways to move the story forward.

Semblance

We love to see game designers take classic genres and shape them in revolutionary ways, and Semblance does just that with its delightfully strange playdough mechanics. As a little playdough blob yourself, you’ll shape yourself and the world around you to complete tricky puzzle platform challenges. It’s one of the most creative games we played at the event this year. Expect it on Switch sometime this year.

Pikuniku Pikuniku was the most bizarre game we played at PAX East this year. Travel to a weird 2D world inhabited by an assortment of shapes with some big, dystopian problems. In Pikuniku you’re a red oval with gangly jello legs. Assist fellow citizens with a variety of quests as simple as basic favors to as intense as resisting the corrupt government. Or you can simply run around and annoy people as you flail your legs about.