One of the biggest publishers/developers present at PAX South was tinyBuild. I had the opportunity to check out a few of the new releases and in-development games being published by tinyBuild. Below are a few of the games showcased at PAX South.

Punch Club, developed by Lazy Bear Games and currently available on iOS, Android, and Steam, follows the story of a young man as he works to become a stronger fighter and discover the truth behind his father's murder. Players must manage the hero's statistics by diligently training, earn money by working various jobs, and increase their reputation by taking part in sanctioned and underground fights. Players will meet various NPCs along the way who will add story and quests to the game. Proper management of time is also important, as every action from travel to training consumes precious minutes or hours. Equally important is skill management, which is split between the three character statistics of strength, agility, and endurance. Each of the three paths leads to very different fighting styles, making for interesting skill combinations. So far, Punch Club has been very well received and is expecting to launch a free expansion during the first two weeks of March. It is quirky to say the least and is definitely worth a look.

Dungelot: Shattered Lands, developed by Red Winter and currently available on iOS and Steam, is the sequel to the original Dungelot. Basic gameplay revolves around taking different hero classes through unexplored dungeon levels by revealing floor tiles one at a time. Progress is slowed by revealed monsters, which prevent adjacent tiles from being explored. Players are able to either fight the monsters or try their luck revealing other tiles to try to find the key necessary to progress to the next level. Other items such as gold, spells, and combat items can be found along the way to make the hero's journey a little easier.

New in Shattered Lands are the quest modes for each hero that complement the original infinite dungeon delving of its predecessor. Players are also now required to manage hero hunger, which can cause damage when moving to a new floor if starving. Inventory management is also simplified by the addition of a spell book to collect spell charges, instead of taking up individual inventory slots as they did in Dungelot. These new additions to the original Dungelot system make for an even more addicting dungeon exploring experience that can, and will, easily turn a ten minute session into an hours long marathon.

The Final Station, currently in development for Steam by Do My Best Games, puts players in control of a train engineer in a post-apocalyptic, zombie infested world. Using the train as a mobile base, players must ride the train to different stations to collect supplies, find survivors, and eliminate any zombies that may show up in their path. Rescued survivors can offer various perks, but may also give the player hindrances. This, along with managing the scant food and medicine available, makes survivor acquisition an important and complex part of the game. Survival in the various stations is also complicated by the overall shortage of ammunition and medicine, as well as each station having requirements, such as codes or batteries, to depart. While using the engineer's gun is usually the most reliable method of zombie elimination, players can also use objects such as chairs to kill or incapacitate zombies.

The overall tone of The Final Station is subdued and dark. Characters and environments are displayed in grayed hues and full of dark shadows and rooms with zombies eager to make a snack out of the engineer. The demo available for play left little room for hope, giving players scant hope for the successful survival of their engineer. While it is still in development, The Final Station looks like it will be an enjoyable zombie survival game in a genre that is usually seen as overdone and stagnant.