During Labor Day weekend, I had the pleasure of attending PAX West in person since it had been shut down in 2020 due to the ongoing spread of Covid-19. Obviously, the one main concern with returning to a convention in 2021, was safety, and with the Delta variant in full swing and me and my colleague were a bit hesitant to attend.

Covid Saftey Guide Lines

To my surprise, I absolutely loved how the team at PAX West handled safety around the convention. All attendees and anyone working PAX was required to wear a proper face covering while inside the convention center. There were plenty of booths stationed with hand sanitizer and even enforcers on standby with Lysol wipes.

Overall with the safety rules and plentiful space, PAX West felt more enjoyable and intimate and we were pleasantly surprised with how well people were willing to follow the rules.

Booth Variety

One concern that came to mind when returning to a smaller PAX was, which game companies were actually going to be in attendance. It was no surprise, that PlayStation, Microsoft, and Nintendo were all absent, which was no surprise considering they had pulled out of previous events throughout the year. Surprisingly enough Bandai Namco did make an appearance, touting their latest game Tales of Arise.

Disappointment aside, there were still many great booths selling collectibles to check out such as Limited Games, Sanshee, and Fan Gamer. I would have to say the highlight for me was the Limited Run games booth selling all of their very cool collectors editions of a specific games.

Games and More Games

With not many big-name companies there, many small indie companies had the chance to shine. I was originally concerned that there would not be anything exciting to check out. However, I was completely surprised. I got the chance to check out a number of upcoming games before their release one of the highlights for me being, Angry Video Game Nerd 1&2.

Cosplay

Even with all the safety guidelines in place I still did run into a great variety of cosplayers and they did not disappoint. There were plenty of very attendees dressed up in very detailed costumes. It was refreshing to see people still wanting to cosplay in this current environment.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed my time at PAX West and all that the convention had to offer. While I personally felt there was not a strong lineup of games to check out, the convention itself had plenty to offer as a whole, with a huge variety of games to check out, lots of space to move around, Covid safety guidelines, and a great community of people to interact with. I am definitely looking forward to going back this year.