PAX Aus 2026 was a welcome chance to explore a fresh array of new and upcoming games. While the longest lines were for booths from international guest studios, PAX Rising and the PAX Aus Indie Showcase were popular attractions during the event, as attendees popped in to experience the latest and greatest locally-made games from Australia and New Zealand.
Taking time to explore this portion of the show, you could discover cosy, innovative, adventurous and interesting games charting many genres and gameplay styles.
PAX Aus 2026 played host to cool cooking simulators, bright-eyed 3D puzzlers, adventure games and so much more, all crafted by eager and talented hands.
While there was far too many demos to play them all, the ScreenHub team got hands-on with a bunch of them and came away very impressed by everything on show. Local game developers make incredible games, and there were so many with charming, fun ideas to discover.
Here are all our highlights from the PAX Aus 2026 show floor.
PAX Aus 2026 demo highlights – quick links
The Isle of Lost Bees
The Isle of Lost Bees is an entirely sweet management simulator where you run an island and must attract bees by placing flowers, plants and other goodies around.
Bees get a bad wrap as menaces to society, but when you actually learn more about these creatures you’ll note they’re the real hard workers of the animal kingdom and effectively keep nature together.
Here in Australia, we have so many wonderful native bees, all working to pollinate and keep the environment thriving. The Isle of Lost Bees actually features many of these bees in cutesy cartoon form, with idle gameplay allowing you to collect them on your island and look after them in bee hotels. This game is small, cosy and entirely lovely. It was a charming highlight at PAX Aus 2026.
Buru and the Old People
Buru and the Old People is a warm and charming adventure game starring a retired thief ibis who must embark on one final job to reach the peace he hopes for. During PAX Aus 2026, a short demo of the game revealed a lush fantasy world reminiscent of exploration through early internet websites like Neopets or childhood storybooks.
It’s sweet and charming, with a menagerie of funny characters to meet and butt heads with – but there’s also much running beneath the surface.
Buru, as an ibis, is frequently discriminated against. The game also features a semi-realistic world where animals are out of work and desperate to survive, with bits of dialogue that may feel familiar to anyone who’s been challenged by the modern economy recently. While couched in an anthropomorphic world, there are elements of reality that creep in to add impact to this adventure.
Playing the demo multiple times through Melbourne International Games Week also revealed something fun: the game operates on a Dungeons & Dragons-style gameplay system where dice rolls can lead you down alternative pathways. Sometimes, you’ll manage to find the a pair of budgie smugglers for a budgie. Other times, you’ll end up tearing them to bits and delivering sad news to your bird friend. It adds a sense of higher stakes, and plenty of funny moments.
My Arms Are Longer Now
My Arms Are Longer Now is looking better each time we see it.
This game follows a sentient arm which feels compelled to cause chaos at every turn. The demo on show at PAX Aus 2026 was a funny, slapstick showcase of this intent, as the arm must travel through a train carriage using its stretchy powers and pinching ability to steal items like bikes and briefcases, as well as slap strange gremlins off the train.
My Arms Are Longer Now is completely silly and whimsical, and an absolutely wonderful time. We can’t wait to see this arm ascend to greatness as the full game continues in development for a 2027 release.
ScreenHub: Toot Games is pursuing fun, creativity and silliness with My Arms Are Longer Now
Burger Bois
Burger Bois, back at PAX Aus for another year, remains a delicious-looking slice of fun. In this game, you’re running a burger truck and must fulfil the demands of all of your visitors. Instructions for creating the perfect burger for each visitor are vague enough that there’s room for interpretation, so you can spend time really working on the art of burger creation and serving your customer’s needs.
Beyond the fun mechanics of building burgers, what is most compelling about this game is its cartoon art style, with lovely food-inspired artwork defining each character and giving you a sense of their personalities. Burger Bois is wonderful, and we hope for more news about its incoming release soon.
Dungeon Pizza
Dungeon Pizza, second of three cooking-themed games I loved at PAX Aus 2026, is a layered pizza-making simulator. Now, I love pizza and that’s part of what drew me to the game. What kept me playing was its fun and funky pizza building and its layers of fantasy adventure over the top.
In Dungeon Pizza, you open your very own pizzeria deep inside a dungeon, where travellers of all kinds roam. Everyone is having a grand adventure and you play a key role as the maker of strange, esoteric and delicious pizzas to keep everyone fed and strong. With a lovely, cartoon art style and intuitive pizza-making mechanics, this game is shaping up to be a delight.
Tiny Transit
Tiny Transit was a very popular game on the PAX Aus 2026 show floor, to the point where it was difficult to actually get hands-on. Each time I walked around, it seemed there was a larger number of folks crowding around this demo station – which was great to see! With its cutesy, toy-like aesthetic, there’s a lot to like about this game.
Eventually getting hands-on, it was the speed and frenetic nature of Tiny Transit that appealed. You play as a tiny seal driving a car, working to deliver packages across a mysterious island. Your vehicle shoots across stages at a pace that feels bonkers, the world whizzing past as you roam. The game is a blast of fun really elevated by its aesthetic and its ideas of cuteness and whimsy.
Cooking for MA!
Cooking for MA! is another food-themed highlight from PAX Aus 2026. In this game, you must save your grandma by cooking, using skills to create dishes that satisfy an array of beings, including spirits from another world. While the light narrative surrounding this game is interesting, what most appeals is its cooking mechanics.
As rove through Cooking for MA! you’ll be delivering artful, delicious-looking dishes in the style of Cooking Mama – chopping onions, cooking noodles, adding spices and more. It might make you hungry, but that speaks to the fun of its cooking-adventure gameplay.
Plonk! A 4D Puzzle
One of the most delightful games to watch and play at PAX Aus 2026 was Plonk! A 4D Puzzle. This is an in-development VR puzzle game where you must ‘plonk’ clay-like objects together to solve various puzzles. Using your two VR controllers, it’s all about manipulating tiny little blocks and figuring out how they fit together.
With an aesthetic reminiscent of crafting as a kid, complete with wonderfully textured clay, this is a bright sandbox that evokes all sorts of nostalgia. While simple in approach, Plonk! A 4D Puzzle is very charming. We’re looking forward to seeing more from this game in future.
