PAX 2019 was full of amazing indie games and once again Dylan and Ashley played as much as they could. Below are their favourite games from the show floor this year.
Best Friend Forever (Starcolt)
I’ve never been one for dating sims or visual novels, but the art style and the promise of cute dogs made Best Friend Forever catch my attention when it was announced during Nintendo’s Indie World Direct back in August. Getting hands-on at the Next Exhibit, I was swept up in the story of my character arriving in Rainbow Bay with its interesting array of residents and the town’s apparent necessity to own a dog. After arriving, you’re quickly introduced to Cheeseball the Shiba Inu—he steals your belongings and you end up adopting him (there will be more options in the full release). Cheeseball sits in the bottom-right corner of your screen while notifications of his actions pop up in the top-right—alerting you that he has pooped or borked at someone.
The humour really got me; I giggled several times in the demo while sitting alone with headphones on (surely with someone watching me). While only the initial bus trip to Rainbow Bay was fully voice-acted, I’m keen to hear the other characters deliver the amusing dialogue and get to know them better.
Best Friend Forever is scheduled to release February 14, 2020 for PC, Mac, and Nintendo Switch.
— Ashley Hobley
Camped Out (INCA Studios)
You might remember last year at PAX we were talking up a little game called Scout’s Honor, a co-op camping game that required you to complete a series of tasks before nightfall. It was back this year under the new name Camped Out—which means we can talk about it again! #loopholes. You may also remember that Dylan was complaining about having trouble finding important items like the fishing rod or axe in the chaos of four players running around. The team at INCA Studios has added a smart solution: those items now get a white outline when not being held by a player—subtle enough to help in the rush without ruining the aesthetic.
Camped Out remains a fun, chaotic co-op challenge—especially in later levels with falling rocks, thieving squirrels, and other obstacles. We were all fans last year and are looking forward to its full release. Also, they added a bear.
Camped Out is scheduled to release in 2020 for PC, Mac, and consoles.
— Ashley Hobley
Grabimals (Sad & Son)
Grabimals has a very simple premise: move and connect a bunch of blocks to complete tasks like building a certain shape, climbing over a gap, or creating a specific shadow on a wall. The challenge comes in coordinating up to four players, each controlling an individual block, to complete these physics puzzles. You can play solo by switching between blocks, but it’s certainly more fun with multiple people all debating how to solve what’s in front of them. Grabimals is sure to test some friendships.
Grabimals is planned to release on PC and Nintendo Switch.
— Ashley Hobley
Henry Mosse and the Wormhole Conspiracy (Bad Goat Studios)
I laughed out loud several times thanks to the quirky writing in Henry Mosse and the Wormhole Conspiracy and quickly saw something special in this adventure game set in a future “New Melbourne.” The demo I played was the start of the game and, while the full story promises a space-faring adventure, this slice was set at Henry’s home. It’s a classic point-and-click with puzzles; a built-in hint system helped when I was unsure where to head next. A colourful art style and interesting character designs drew me to the booth, and as soon as the demo ended I wanted to see where the story goes—my favourite indie of PAX Australia 2019.
Henry Mosse and the Wormhole Conspiracy is scheduled to release in 2020 for PC, Mac, and iOS.
— Dylan Blight
Nekograms (Hungry Sky)
Nekograms is an adorable mobile puzzle game about solving cat-related nap issues. It’s tile-based: cats (neko) move left-to-right, while cushions move up-and-down; your goal is to get every cat onto a cushion for a cosy sleep. The PAX demo started simple but soon added long cats that need two cushions and obstacles like beach balls. Beating a level under par earns a “Purfect Score.” Extra points for puns.
Nekograms is coming to iOS and Android in 2020.
— Dylan Blight
Squidgies Takeover (Giant Margarita)
From across the indie section I spotted Giant Margarita and, as with every year they’re at PAX, they had a great new game for everyone to try. This time it’s Squidgies Takeover. It’s adorable—that’s your first impression—but the second surprise was hearing it’s a single-player Nintendo Switch game, notable since Giant Margarita’s prior titles were highly customizable party games (Party Golf, Party Crashers, Party Poppers).
Squidgies Takeover was pitched as “a bit like Lemmings,” and it is—kinda. You guide the squidgies to safety by using different squidgy abilities. The first level is easy: turn the lead squidgy into a power-shot to launch the rest along the path to the goal. It gets more complex as other squidgies provide different effects and more obstacles appear.
I had some trouble using a Joy-Con as a pointer on the show floor (chalk it up to PAX signal chaos). I suspect I’ll prefer the touchscreen in handheld mode anyway. However I play, I’m looking forward to 80+ levels of squidgies to save.
Squidgies Takeover is coming to Nintendo Switch November 14.
Quantum Suicide (Cotton Candy Cyanide)
With a distinct art style and a striking poster, this visual novel stood out at PAX—despite being tucked in a corner. At first, I wasn’t sure what the hook was. Then it clicked and immediately reminded me of one of my favourite series, Danganronpa. On a spacecraft in deep space, a rogue A.I. forces you to participate in “The Deletion Game” each week—with death for the loser. The characters introduced in the demo felt unique and avoided obvious stereotypes, and each round appears to feature a new puzzle; the first was a card game for survival.
Quantum Suicide is scheduled to release December 1 for PC, Mac, PS4, and PS Vita.
— Dylan Blight
Unpacking (Witch Beam)
I enjoy unpacking and organising items, so Unpacking definitely scratched a specific itch when I sat down to play it at the Next Exhibit (in its second year, highlighting underrepresented developers). It’s simple: click a box to pull out an item, rotate it if needed, and place it in the room. The demo was a child’s room—dolls, unicorns, books, and more.
One memo I missed: Unpacking is a puzzle game. Once you’ve emptied the boxes, items in very wrong places flash red until you move them. So there’s a light challenge—but no score or timer, keeping it decidedly zen. I hope a free-play mode is in the final build; there’s fun to be had simply decorating rooms.
Unpacking is currently scheduled to release late 2020 on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
— Dylan Blight
Wrestledunk Sports (Team Fractal Alligator)
The game that made me laugh the most at PAX this year was Wrestledunk Sports. Cherie and I teamed up against Ashley and a fourth challenger across three of the four included games to decide bragging rights.
We played Wrestling, Volleyball, and Fencing. Wrestling has you scooting adorable rectangle characters back and forth, dodging dive attacks and trying to belly-flop opponents—cue plenty of hollering. In Fencing, once we discovered you could throw your sword and still attempt a belly-slam, strategies got wild. Volleyball was the tensest, as we tracked the ball across the net until someone failed to spike correctly and one side erupted in cheers.
All of the games take place on colourful maps with several variants, plus character colour swaps. The clincher: it’s not only coming to Nintendo Switch, it also supports online play—making it an automatic must-play for me at launch.
Wrestledunk Sports is releasing for Nintendo Switch sometime soon.
— Dylan Blight
