The indie games at PAX Australia in 2024 were, as always, an assortment of alluring treats. My younger son (aged 14) travelled to Melbourne with me for the first time, and it was interesting to note which games captured his attention, especially where his interest diverged from mine. (He generally likes fast-paced, multiplayer experiences, whereas I want to use more of my brain.)
We had conversations with the developers of 136 PAX indies, although we definitely didn’t meet all of the student developers this year (they were sharing booth space and showing at different times). We played a lot over the weekend, but I did also play the following games at home, via their publicly available demos.
I hope you will enjoy these previews of PAX indies – including games from Australia, India and New Zealand – and find something special that catches your attention to try now.
PAX Indies you can play right now
Hexaquest
Hexaquest was one of the first PAX indies I noticed, because it looked a bit like Rolldown (which I reviewed here). In both games, ‘putting your best pips forward’ is a matter of life or death.
If you’ve landed on a 1, but the situation requires a 6, you’ll have to approach from (and into) a more powerful position. Luckily, you are the die so this is a matter of deliberately tipping left, right, forward or backward, rather than being thrown onto a random face.
It’s a puzzle game, but also kind of a rhythm game, like Dungeons of Dreadrock. Pieces move, mostly when you move, or sometimes on a timer, like the disappearing floor tiles. The dominoes go, ‘quiver, splat (left), quiver, splat (right),’ and the whole experience becomes a metric dance, as you avoid the ‘splat’, or advance with a weapon that is attached to one of your conveniently placed faces.
Hexaquest would be a great, and difficult, game to speedrun. It’d also be fun to have a movement counter, because I could definitely be motivated to observe levels and play optimally, if not necessarily fast.
Much as I love the gameplay, and the level design inspired by it, there’s also a fun story about the die remembering former roleplaying campaigns, and getting to be the hero for once, rather than a random number generator. Roll decisively, my little friend, away from danger and towards glory.
Play Hexaquest’s demo on Steam.
Daemon Masquerade
Wow, teleportation is disgusting. Weird opening statement, I agree. But, everything about Daemon Masquerade’s tiny demo hooked me. There’s so much about this world that I don’t understand, but am desperate to.
Why am I completing puzzles, testing my memory and practising the solving of hypothetical crimes? Why did the doctor call me ‘honey’? And why is she so scary? The demo ended when I got ‘erased’ by a large, golden fish and I am none the wiser about any of this …
I’m guessing that this demo is adjacent to the game, rather than merely being its opening. It is a tiny story to introduce you to a dark and mysterious world. The Steam page is even more compelling. What even is a Daemon Masquerade? There are also screenshots, beyond the demo, to show how the player can draw notes on evidence, and use thread to connect their investigative ideas. So, the gameplay looks fun, too.
I had a chat with the developer at PAX, and they said that the protagonist is agoraphobic and must solve everything from their apartment; a detail I now can’t stop thinking about. I mean, having witnessed how teleportation is conceptualised in this world, I kinda never want to leave my house again.
Play Daemon Masquerade’s demo on Steam.
Read: PAX Aus 2024 reminded me why video games are good
Fishbowl
Exploring multi-generational family relationships can be great. Where parents are sometimes busy, or fussy, a good grandparent will make time to listen, affirm and play. Fishbowl is told from the perspective of a young woman who has taken a job and moved out, but it is also the story – or memory – of Jaja, her grandmother.
The demo comprises conversation-based cutscenes, lightly branching dream sequences, ambient storytelling on interaction, and minigames. The aspect I found most compelling, however, was a box containing meaningful items to shuffle around. By touching and reading about these items, I got a sense that Jaja really loved, believed in, and shared her most important traditions with Alo.
I was surprised by how much this experience made me miss my grandmothers, and their chill attitudes. It also made me feel slightly guilty for making my son work, playing all these PAX indies when we could be outside picking flowers, which I will have to keep in mind if I ever become a grandmother.
Fishbowl combines the reflective vibe of A Bird Story with the ambient storytelling of Unpacking. If I have one criticism, at this early stage, it’s that the developers have explained context that they could have left to player interpretation. This is a thought-provoking experience.
Play Fishbowl’s demo on Steam.
Peebi
Following the poignancy of Fishbowl, Peebi’s demo put a big, stupid grin on my face in an ‘exactly right’, adventure game kind of way. Australian voice acting perfectly delivers the genre’s weary, exasperated non-sequiturs like, “How else could I mail people cooked spaghetti in a timely manner?” Peebi’s low-stakes, but relatably frustrating, journey, is told via flavour dialogue that weaves in obscure clues.
You’ve been locked out of your apartment in a lightly dystopian, future Melbourne, and dealing with this (supposedly) small problem becomes characteristically convoluted. A guy will give you a crowbar if you can fetch him a ridiculous drink, but you’ll have to help a gal make her lips poutier first, steal some expired laxatives, and so on.
There are at least 10 locations in the demo; social venues, recognisable landmarks and other nods to context, like ibises and hook turns. Presently, it’s quite difficult to navigate around (as you experiment, back and forth, with puzzle solutions), because the exit hotspots are not clearly marked, but this criticism really just speaks to how dedicated I was to experimenting with puzzle ideas.
I could have written this entire preview about the thin, yet visceral, humiliating, ‘eeee’ sound the protagonist makes when sliding across the floor on her face. Every detail is funny. It reminds me of seeing Metal Dead at the very first PAX Australia. Thank goodness for funny, local adventure game designers, keeping this laughter alive.
Student showcase: Afterlight, Cube and Whiskey Stones
I love tertiary students (which is good, because I spend a lot of time teaching them). The students that produced this year’s cohort of PAX indies are hardworking and enthusiastic. You will hear exclamations of ‘wow’ and ‘aha’ surrounding them as players connect to their clever ideas, moreso than anywhere else on the show floor.
Because of my vast, internal almanac of games and inclination to teach, I often tell students about the other games that their games remind me of. In the case of Afterlight, it’s a bit like Projection: First Light, because both are platformers that require manipulation of shadows. These Swinburne students are experimenting with cooperative play and a combining of 3D and 2D perspectives.
So, one player is platforming in 2D, on shadows against a wall, while the other is creating the level, by moving and rotating large objects in the room. I was unable to get the demo to work at home, but you can keep an eye on the game’s itch.io page here.
Cube is a geometric journey in which you are a cube who traverses a cubic landscape, collects cubes, completes cubes, smashes cubes, and does various other cube-related things. It’s a coming of age story about growing into a bigger perspective on your surroundings.
These students from AIE’s Adelaide campus are exploring level design and abstraction in a way that sparks my imagination. While playing at PAX, I got stuck and a very young child helped me out, which seems appropriate. You can play the itch.io demo here.
And the final student example captures the excitable terror of last minute Christmas shopping. Whiskey Stones tasks you with collecting ‘whiskey stones’ fast, so your relatives will know you remembered them. My son loved this one, likely because of his experience of racing and track-building games. Observation, optimisation and precision routing are required here.
This RMIT student created an initial version for a ‘game a week’ class, then spent an additional 3 months adding to it. Why does the shopping trolley have a rearview mirror? If you can figure it out, your family might have an even more abundant holiday. Play the demo here.
Ten Thousand Coins: The Golden Merchant
I should have known better than to see the New Zealand booth last, when my shortlist of games for coverage already needed to be mercilessly trimmed. I just have to tell you about Ten Thousand Coins, however. It is a neat genre mash-up, where trading underpins turn-based combat and branching story – and it is excessively cute. Trees pop out of the ground as you travel between places, night falls prettily, even fearsome, wolf-like adversaries have the sweetest little pups in tow.
Every aspect is delicately balanced. You may be able to bribe your way out of combat, like by giving food to a hungry animal. So, if you do give away your food, you may go hungry. Or, if you choose to fight with the axes you were intending to sell to the logging outpost, you may either lose them, or diminish their value.
Bartering is also surprisingly exciting, requiring practice and a feel for the relative value of items across contexts. For example, if you can make a slightly cheeky offer, so that your target is ‘impatient’ but not ‘offended’, you may then be able to successfully pad your offer with ‘junk’.
Trading is your primary engagement with the game, but the story is engaging and detailed. Told across two timelines, you should expect intrigue, betrayal, meaningful branching, and interesting places to explore. I am glad I played this demo last, however, because I spent quite some time with it. Although the release date is yet to be announced, I feel greedy for more.
Play Ten Thousand Coins: The Golden Merchant’s demo on Steam.
Thank you for playing along with PAX Australia 2024 at home! We may have gotten our fill of PAX indies for 2024, but my son and I will be back to see everything again next year – stay tuned to GamesHub for more indie game coverage.
