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Last week at PAX Australia, we were treated to a great many things.
We enjoyed great company at our live podcast and trivia extravaganza, we survived the second day’s great fire alarm evacuation, and, more importantly, we got to look at the countless labours of love from the independent teams on the showfloor.
As a team, we’re a varied bunch in terms of interests and, generally speaking, you could find us in just about any corner of the event. However, one area we spend a lot of time with is the indies, which we feel is one of the few avenues of innovation the medium has left. It was wonderful to see how busy the booths were this time around, as it seems the average gamer’s appreciation for creative, bespoke experiences is at an all-time high.
Here are some of the games we got to see and play during our time on the PAX Aus showfloor in 2025.
Pro Jank Footy
Pro Jank Footy is going to launch itself into gaming so hard that the game of Aussie Rules footy will have to go in for a concussion test. We haven’t had a good footy game in so long, but where Pro Jank Footy shines is the absolute absurdity of adding card battle and roguelike elements to a sports game.
Your opponent kicks a goal? Your goals are now worth double points. You snag one back? Your opponent can summon Dad’s Car to the field as a player, running over your team. Pure, unbridled Aussie chaos, all commentated by Aunty Donna’s Broden Kelly.
Click here to wishlist the game on Steam.
Trivia Deal
Trivia Deal had one of the longer waiting lines of this year’s PAX show floor, and for good reason. On the heels of a game like Balatro, which provides a warped perspective on poker, people have been experimenting with unique ways to implement roguelike systems. This year alone, we’ve seen a slot machine roguelike in Cloverpit, and there’s a blackjack one coming too.
As someone who does the Herald Sun quiz every day at work, I’ve got a deep-seated appreciation for general knowledge, and Trivia Deal scratches that itch, mixing risk and reward with its deck-based gameplay, where lifelines are key and where one wrong answer can torpedo a run. It provides a trivia thrill on par with grasping that most sought-after Trivial Pursuit wedge.
Click here to wishlist the game on Steam. There’s also a demo you can try now.
Enter the Chronosphere
While we’ve seen the “time moves with the player” trope in other games like SUPERHOT and Boomerang X, Enter the Chronosphere filters it through the lens of a turn-based tactics game set within a procedurally-generated world, and, honestly, the results are spectacularly weird and fun.
Although no two chronospheres are the same, time and space begin to crunch and contract, leading to a coalescence of realities. Suffice it to say, Enter the Chronosphere plunges to strange territory, which is shouldered by its irresistibly psychedelic art design, and we’re here for it.
Click here to wishlist the game on Steam. There’s also a demo you can try now.
Bits and Bops
Although at first blush I thought Bits and Bops might be a WarioWare-like game, I feel its rhythm-based mini-games appeal to a far more casual audience. Bits and Bops gorgeously springs to life through its hand-drawn animation, which combines with an upbeat soundtrack that serves as the bedrock for each of the game’s over twenty vignettes.
If you’re someone who got through “Through the Fire and Flames” on Guitar Hero, Bits and Bops is unlikely to challenge you; however, it will warm you down to the cockles of your heart with its cutesy, snappy, and wholly original games.
Click here to wishlist the game on Steam. There’s also a demo you can try now.
Lone Pine
Set in a national park and with a band radio mechanic, this game felt like Ewan bait considering his adoration of Firewatch. Lone Pine, though, is a different beast altogether. Its protagonist, Izzie, is an aspiring photographer who travels to the titular Lone Pine National Park to catalogue and create concrete evidence of the existence of cryptids, pulling from real-world mythology.
After a storm upends your expedition, exploration and puzzle-solving will crack open the mysteries of the mountain and ultimately lead you home. Of course, with a cryptid-naming feature tied to the photography mechanic, I’m more than eager to introduce the world to some crudely named beasties.
Click here to wishlist the game on Steam.
End of Ember
This game feels like the cobbling together of The Binding of Isaac’s dungeon-sprawling roguelike sensibilities and a true love for horror cinema, of which the game’s ultraviolence and referential humour is evidence of. With an art style that’s reminiscent of Adult Swim, the game juxtaposes its cute, animated exterior with the extreme gore and viscera that floods every arena.
In our short time seeing the game, we saw a nod to The Exorcist in the form of a mini-boss that turns Regan’s spinning, bile-spewing head into a bullet hell mechanic that’s both gross and hilarious. I couldn’t help but pop at the sight of a Good Guys factory, full to the brim of Chucky dolls. As both a fan of twin-stick roguelikes and horror, End of Ember has shot up my list of anticipated indies.
Click here to wishlist the game on Steam.
Middle Management
It was the aesthetic of Middle Management that initially drew me in, the image of an amorphous pink blob sat at the centre of a sterile, fluorescent office space, which cuts a striking figure. That said, sitting with the game itself revealed a fascinating title where you’re forced to streamline productivity and balance workplace relations in the face of biting corporate satire.
Decision-making and placement of both your workforce and office extensions factor into how productive the office will be, which’ll either please or stress out your corporate overlords. In a game about keeping your proverbial foot on the throats of wandering, distracted workers, you’re even able to edit their cerebral make-up to influence their behaviour. It’s truly some Big Brother shit.
Click here to wishlist the game on Steam.
Courtesy to HookedGamers for hosting the below trailer.
Blood Vow: Survive The Night
Tower defence games don’t necessarily need a re-invention – but sometimes blending them with other genres can make them infinitely more fun. Blood Vow: Survive The Night takes tower defence, throws in a little bit of strategy, and adds hack-and-slash elements to make a really entertaining action-survival game.
As night falls, creatures of shadows attempt to invade and steal the residents of Sodermark, and it’s your job as the champion of the Gods to restore their faith and save them from evil. A game surely set to keep you on your toes for hours.
Click here to wishlist the game on Steam. There’s also a demo you can try now.
Lunars
If you took the jelly beans from Fall Guys and threw them into Mario Party, then took away the standard board-game rules, you end up with Lunars, a game that absolutely thrives on chaos. Blitz Mode allows you to play simultaneously with every other player, leading to unexpected results, strategic advantages, or more as you blast your way through game boards and mini games to become the ultimate champion.
But beware – if your opponents are knocked out, they can come back to cause you even more trouble! With four-player couch co-op or 8 players online, Lunars will be your absolute favourite party game.
Click here to wishlist the game on Steam.
Enfant
No matter how hard they try, so many game developers can’t seem to recapture the simplicity and wholesomeness of 3D action-adventure games from earlier generations, but Enfant looks set to change that. With humanity seemingly long-gone, you are an evolved elephant who seeks to find his herd in a decaying world.
With a healthy dose of puzzle-solving and taking into account the power of being an elephant, Enfant looks to be that missing piece of the puzzle in action-adventure games, without being over the top or too exuberant. Definitely one to watch.
Click here to wishlist the game on Steam.
Cow Chess
The days of crowding around the one computer at a friend’s place, taking turns on games like Worms, are all but a thing of the past. Thankfully, the developers of Cow Chess have found a way to bottle it up and blend it with other genres to make a simple yet insanely fun game.
With fully destructible terrain and powerful weapons, you can fling yourself across stages and knock your opponents silly in a Super Smash Bros-meets-Worms free-for-all. There’s no turn-based strategising here – you have to be ready to outmanoeuvre your enemies in real-time.
Click here to wishlist the game on Steam. There’s also a demo you can try now.
The INDIGO Initiative
Some games capture you by their story, some with gameplay trailers, and some just exude an aura that draws you straight in – and the last point is exactly what The INDIGO Initiative did for me.
A narrative-driven science-fiction puzzle adventure game with elemental manipulation powers, The INDIGO Initiative drew me in purely with its visuals, but kept me interested as your character, Dr Kepler, uncovers details about the Cataclysm that threatens the end of humanity. Already looking highly polished, I’m super keen to see the evolution of this game and dive into its science fiction narrative when it releases.
Click here to wishlist the game on Steam.
