The independent game scene has exploded over the past decade, with many people now preferring to spend their precious time with indie games instead of AAA releases. This shift has also become increasingly apparent at PAX Aus, because over the last several years, PAX Rising (the indie section at PAX Aus) has steadily been growing each year, with 2025 being the biggest yet. Given this, I would’ve been doing a disservice to myself if I didn’t spend most of Sunday weaving through all the various indie games on display this year. After my extensive research, I was able to find five indie games that absolutely stole the show.
I do enjoy me a good rhythm game from time to time, and I may have found my next rhythmic endeavour with Bits & Bops from Tempo Lab. This is a collection of 20 rhythm games in a similar vein to Wario Ware and Rhythm Heaven, where you cycle through various mini-games all based around following the rhythm. My brother-in-law pointed this game out to me, as he backed the Kickstarter in 2022, and it was a lot of fun.
The mini-game we played was a three-legged race where you had to work together to take the most steps. Sounds easy at first, but when you have to time button presses not only with the beat but also with other players, it gets a tad confusing. I had to close my eyes and just listen to the music to not fuck it up. We didn’t break any of the booth records, but my sister and brother-in-law did get the record for the two-player version with 1933 steps. Tangent aside, I’m very excited to try all the different mini-games when Bits & Bops eventually releases.
Roguelikes have become the new hotness in the gaming world, with every developer and their friend making a roguelike game. I was getting a little tired of this oversaturation, but then I stumbled across Fox and Shadow by Paper Cactus Games. Fox and Shadow is a roguelike, but it’s also a deck builder, and a turn-based RPG, and the art is really pretty. The premise is that you need to salvage scrap from a post-apocalyptic world to maintain your bunker (main base). You do this by selecting a pilot and a drone, each with different uses.
Depending on which pilot and drone you select, you’ll gain access to different cards unique to those characters. In the demo, only one pilot and drone were available, which gave me access to pilot cards all about anger and being impulsive, amongst other things, and the drone had relatively generic cards that covered attack, defence, and buffs. You can then also combine these cards to create even better ones, giving you an edge against some of the harder enemies in the game. There’s a lot more to dig into with Fox and Shadow (that I ain’t got the word count to accommodate), but be sure to keep your eyes on this one.
Who doesn’t like top-down shooters mixed with a tower defence game with a pixel art style? No one that’s who, and that’s why I was instantly interested in Obliterator-X from Armor Games Studios. In this game, you take control of various clones tasked with fighting their way through the mutant hordes as you protect a generator needed for the survival of humanity. You’ll use not only a variety of guns with different rarities and status effects, but you’ll also have access to drone companions who can help you protect the objective, scavenge for new items and weapons, or build defences to hold back the mutants. And with each death, you can upgrade stats, improve your strategy, and even change your clone's appearance before repeating the process.
This is a game I can see myself getting addicted to. The fast-paced gameplay, lots of explosions, and that “one more run” mentality were already beginning to creep into my brain. It was the only other roguelike game I played at PAX that really captured my full attention (the other being Fox and Shadow). And the music just made everything even more enjoyable, with inspiration drawn from the recent DOOM games, and I also heard a hint of Shadow Generations in there as well (always a plus in my book). All of this was made by one guy, Luke Webster, which is just insane. I can’t wait to play more of this game when it releases next year.
When you played Untitled Goose Game (made in Australia), did you ever think to yourself that this type of game would be even better if you controlled a dog instead? The team over at ROTUB Games did, and now we have Doggy Don’t Care, but it's so much more than a Goose Game clone. The demo at PAX had the entire first area to play around in, and it was a blast.
You play as Charlie, a dog who has been left home alone by their owners. And, as all dogs obviously do, Charlie starts to talk with his friend Rocko the Cockatoo. But this bird is a bit of a troublemaker, as he tasks Charlie with absurd tasks that will leave their owners in great distress when they get home. From smashing windows, eating food, to pissing absolutely everywhere, it’s a chaotic time. And best of all, you’ll get badges for doing these incredibly annoying things, so it’s a double win! I love the stupidity on full display in this game, and with the developers saying that there’s more to come in future levels, I can’t wait.
Potions Please by Intr was not on my radar for most of PAX. It was tucked away in a corner of PAX Rising, and I was most likely going to pass it by. But then one of my friends wanted to try it out, and I’m glad she did. On the surface, this game seemed like a fairly generic shop simulator, but that’s not all it is. The game has a twisted sense of humour that had me holding back laughter. The premise is that you’ve inherited a potion shop from your grandmother, who has recently passed away… after failing to create a revival potion and is currently buried in the backyard. You are now tasked with creating said revival potion while also keeping the business afloat.
The gameplay is familiar to anyone who has played these games before and includes gathering materials, making potions, and managing relationships with customers and your grandmother’s ghost (she haunts the building now). But as I was talking with one of the devs, I learnt about so much more. They have plans to create a massive open world with multiple towns,a llama rental service to traverse said world, and even hinted at maybe a cult run by a mischievous goat. All of this to say that I’m very interested in what this game has up its sleeve, and I can’t wait to see more from this team.
The indie games at PAX Aus this year were at a whole other level, and this was the most time I‘ve spent in the indie section ever. That just goes to show how strong the indie game scene is here in Australia and around the world. I’m eagerly awaiting not only the release of these games, but also many others that I got to try and barely missed out on this list. There are just too many amazing games and too little time to play them all (or not enough words in an article).
Did you try any indie games at PAX Aus? Which were your favourites? Did I miss a hidden gem? Let us know in the comments where we can talk all things indie games.
