PAX Aus is barely a month away, and you know what that means! Among the games attending and other reveals, the 12 winners of the sought-after Indie Showcase have been announced. Six indie games and six tabletop games have been selected, spotlighting a selection of Australia’s premier games being made right here.
The Digital Indie Showcase Winners:
Cozy Game Restoration
A soothing simulator where you gently bring forgotten video game cartridges back to life. Tear wrapping paper, peel old stickers, lift away grime, and transform dusty relics into cherished collectibles. No pressure or failure, just the quiet joy of restoring memories.
Key Fairy
Deep in an ancient forest bound by a bitter spell, a tiny fairy wanders. Wielding a spool of thread and a bladeless sword, weave through twisting paths to unearth enchanted trinkets, evading monsters and collecting stars to free their hearts from hatred in this ink-illustrated pacifist bullet-hell.
Finch & Archie
An episodic co-op noir murder mystery. Play as one half of a crime-fighting duo: the detective Jack Finch and his police dog, Archie. Use your deduction skills and sense of smell to find evidence, interrogate suspects, and catch the culprit in a gritty story set in the Great Depression.
The Last Exterminator
You’re an exterminator. You kill things for a living. When a hostile invasion of alien cockroaches rocks your city, you’ve got a job to do. A high-octane retro-FPS inspired by some of the best games of the 90s.
Mission Delta
Fight your way up Delta Corp’s skyscraper in a co-op action roguelike shooter. As one of its escaped experiments, battle through mutants and corporate atrocities floor by floor. Fuse weapons into powerful combinations, stack upgrades around your build, and bring the whole operation crashing down.
A Real Life Party
Henry is late, as always… Guess I should just go inside. How bad could it be?
The Tabletop Indie Showcase Winners:
Thrive
Cute animals. Deceptively tense. Thrive is a card game where everyone plays as an animal trying to survive in the wild by secretly choosing where to forage and how much energy to spend. Survival is not always enough. Only the player who gathers the most valuable resources will Thrive!
Deathbed
The Old King is on his deathbed. Each day, each kingdom sends a representative to perform a eulogy. Through strategic timing and political manipulation your kingdom could hold the most influence when The King finally passes!
Drago’s Dreamland
The Aim: leave home, collect 20 wisdom points, return home. Players are rainbow pixies who travel the board, hear stories, trade items, collect wisdom points and interact with the mythical, quirky characters.
Aqueducks
The only roman and duck themed deck-builder in history. It is the crux of the Roman Eggpublic and the Pondifex has tasked the players with establishing a new city to lead the ducks of Rome into a new age. Players have the choice to
build their duck-themed city how they best see fit to earn the favour of the Pondifex.
Caught in the Rain
A solo or GM-less TTRPG about
mysteries for any genre. As an investigator, professional or otherwise, uncover the truth as you play through scenes, discover clues and manage the ever-increasing danger and threats that emerge.
Wireborn
A fast-paced, cutthroat cyberpunk card game for 1 to 6 players. Deploy data packets to three docks. Match the math, hijack colours and overload the system. Push stacks to their absolute limit to detonate them and damage your opponents.
PAX Aus 2026 is on October 9 -11 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Badges can still be purchased here!
