The PAX Aus 2023 Indie Showcase winners were announced today, highlighting the amazing work being done by local developers. Six video games and four tabletop games shared the honours. We here at Roundtable Co-Op love our indie games and we love it even more when we see Aussie indies knocking it out of the park.
The indie space at PAX Aus is always popular. Seeing these games live and being able to experience them is amazing. Be sure to check out these winners and others at PAX Aus 2023.
Digital PAX Aus 2023 Indie Showcase Winners
Copycat
A heartfelt, narrative driven adventure game, Copycat is the debut game from Kostia Liakhov and Samantha Cable. This Australian duo have already received a 2023 Screen Australia grant and has been selected for the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia.
Best described as Stray meets Life Is Strange in The Stanley Parable universe, players enter the role of a newly adopted cat whose place is taken by a copycat. With branching narratives and a unique art style, Copycat explores questions about existence and identity.
The Dungeon Experience
If the trailer is anything to go by, The Dungeon Experience promises to be very funny. Players enter a world of thrilling high fantasy run by a level 1 mud-crab turned entrepreneur. He will guide gamers to achieve financial freedom and uncover the secrets of the mind hole.
The Drifter
In this point-and-click game a murdered drifter finds himself alive again, seconds before his death. Can he unravel the conspiracy surrounding his condition before succumbing to madness?
The Drifter is optimised for the gamepad with unique twin-stick controls.
Crash Course Builder
Like fast paced rhythm games? Crash Course Builder has you covered. Featuring intense, quick twitch controls, this game will have you racing through levels, hopefully avoiding the hilarious rag doll physics.
Crash Course Builder also includes a track edit so players can build their own levels and challenge their friends.
Primordials Legends: Hollow Hero
A personal favourite of mine from PAX Aus 2022, Primordials Legends tells the take of Brunt, a combat wombat on her first adventure in the world of Eridal. Uncover how the world came to be and meet new legends that will help shape the future in this upcoming release from Toybox Games Studios.
darkwebSTREAMER
We Have Always Lived In The Forest
This psychological horror RPG has gamers playing as an occult streamer on the dark web. Trawling the dark web for weird and creepy things for your audience, but the more you engage with it, the more it engages with you. Survive your increasingly haunted apartment and deranged fans on your mission to be number 1.
Being procedurally generated, every time you play darkwebSTREAMER will be different.
Tabletop PAX Aus 2023 Indie Showcase
Along with the fine indie video games mentioned above, tabletop games were also recognised in the PAX Aus 2023 Indie Showcase.
The four tabletop winners are:
Congratulations to all the PAX Aus 2023 Indie Showcase winners!
PAX Aus 2023 takes place from 6th-8th October at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Visit their website for more information and tickets.