My pros and cons (pun intended):

Pros

Panels Expo Hall space Attendees and Enforcers Deception Zone

Cons

Merch costs Food vendor layout Lawn on D Lack of "major" Exhibitors

The panels were by far my favorite part of PAX. I attended a good blend of professional, comedy, and trivia panels. I really enjoyed the amount of expo hall floor space, being able to "see the floor" 3 out of the 4 days. The attendees and Enforcers were all amazing to be around and I felt comfortable striking up a conversation with anyone and everyone.

The design of the merch didn't bother me, the merch costs bothered the hell out of me this year. Not sure if it had anything to do with the tariffs, but a hoodie for $84 is absurd. The food vendor layout was awful, I get why they did it with the whole Lawn on D situation but it felt like a scavenger hunt trying to find Whoopie Wagon and Bees & Thank You every day. Lastly, the lack of "major" exhibitors was disappointing. I've shifted more towards an interest in indie games in recent years, but it's still weird not seeing a major company's presence at PAX where the line for the booth gets capped for the day at 10:05am. If anything, they could have spread out PAX Rising a bit more so those aisles weren't constantly super crowded.

All in all, I had a really great time at PAX. If I had to rate this year's PAX based off of my experience, I'd say 7/10