The winners of the PAX Aus 2026 Indie Showcase have been announced, with a dozen projects across the world of video games and tabletop games earning a supported place on the show floor.
Each year, game developers submit their works for consideration in the annual showcase for the chance to show off in their own dedicated booth spaces supported by the PAX Aus team.
Each winner represents the bright, creative future of game-making within Australia. For audiences, visiting the Indie Showcase area is a chance to discover something new and exciting.
‘The developers behind these games are taking big swings that push technology, creativity and connectivity further every day,’ Paul Tyler, CEO of this year’s Indie Showcase sponsor Superloop, says.
‘They’re builders, innovators and challengers by nature. Supporting the Indie Showcase is about backing the next generation of creators and showing up for a community that shares that same ambition to challenge what’s possible.’
PAX Aus 2026 Indie Showcase winners – quick links
PAX Aus 2026 Indie Showcase: video game winners
The six video game winners of the PAX Aus 2026 Indie Showcase are:
- Cozy Game Restoration (Parasol Corp) – ‘A soothing simulator where you gently bring forgotten video game cartridges back to life. Tear packing tape, 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 (Owl Machine) – ‘A hand-drawn, pacifist, folkloric, bullet-hell. Grapple and dance around monsters to collect their shattered stars, weave your way through twisting paths, encounter strange folk, uncover ancient magic and evade forgotten gods in this frenetic 2D action-adventure.’
- Finch & Archie (Octarine Arts) – ‘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 (Ironworks Games) – ‘A 90s action blockbuster shooter filled with over-the-top action, corny humour and explosive set-pieces. The look and feel of the game is both authentically retro and immensely accessible thanks to a custom games engine built in-house by Ironworks Games.’
- Mission Delta (Polarity Games) – ‘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 and bring the whole operation crashing down.’
- A Real Life Party (Silakka) – ‘A comedy game where you play as Anton waiting for his friend Henry to arrive at his own flat warming party. You are forced to meet and endure his peculiar roommates alone: Ben smothers you with affection; Zora, paranoid, monitors your actions; and Kat simply takes joy in deceiving you.’
PAX Aus 2026 Indie Showcase: tabletop game winners
The six tabletop game winners of the PAX Aus 2026 Indie Showcase are:
- Thrive (Avant-Card Games) – ‘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!’
- Aqueducks (Corkscrew Games) – ‘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.’
- Deathbed (Devil Juice) – ‘A symmetrical hand management card game with simultaneous selection, card tracking and player prediction mechanics. Players all have identical starting hands of cards and must secretly choose a card to play each round. Once chosen, cards are revealed and any matching cards clash are discarded. Afterwards, cards are resolved from lowest to highest.’
- Drago’s Dreamland (Emily Dallwitz) – ‘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. The history and back story of the land progresses through the levels.’
- Caught in the Rain (The Ravensridge Emporium) – ‘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.’
- Wireburn (Wireburnthegame) – ‘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. Catch lethal damage and ricochet it to other players out of turn using the 5-colour NULL shield.’
All of these games will be showcased on the PAX Aus 2026 show floor.
