PAX AUS 2023

PAX Aus has come and gone once again! Here's a list of the top things I covered at PAX Aus 2023:

Tavern Keeper

The lovely team at Greenheart Games were kind enough to invite me to their booth first thing Friday morning to try out their upcoming release Tavern Keeper. I sat down with the demo for around 15 minutes and was very excited about what I saw.

Tavern Keeper is a Fantasy Business Sim where you'll build and manage your own Tavern. If you're a fan of the sim genre, especially if you're looking for something that feels like The Sims and Rollercoaster Tycoon combined, you should definitely add this game to your Steam Wishlist. There were so many details to explore in the demo alone, that I'm not sure I even opened every customisation menu!

You can build storerooms and decorate customer areas, hire and fire staff, buy fantasy brews, search for hidden coins and so much more. One of my favourite details was the sarcastic narrator who helps you set up shop.

Given Tavern Keeper's fantasy charm there was also a little storytelling to be done; in the demo a hero arrives at the bar and you must persuade them to stay for a drink. After all, we know the most important role in any tale is that of the Tavern Keeper. 

I'm looking forward to seeing what other storytelling elements await us in the full release.

Indie Rising / Showcase

The Indie Rising and Showcase floors are among my favourite parts of PAX and of course, they were once again filled with some amazing upcoming titles. Here are the ones that especially caught my eye:

Detective Ridelle - a cozy murder mystery game featuring escape room style puzzles. Find clues, interrogate suspects, solve the mystery - before it's too late.

The Godfeather - A mafia pigeon roguelike saga full of danger, adventure and poop! Join the pigeon underworld. Take back the old neighbourhood. Discover the dark secret at the heart of the pigeon underworld. Become The next Godfeather.

Ailuri - A hand-drawn, 2D platformer following the breathtaking story of an endangered red panda, named Ailuri. Climb, explore and survive the intricate levels while trying to defeat enemies to restore balance of life in the world.

Nekograms - Help cats get to sleep in this adorable puzzle game! Move the cats and cushions so that every kitty is nice and comfy. But there’s a twist! Cats only move left and right, and cushions only move up and down.

Punchimals - Punchimals is a physics-based 2.5D fighting game set in a world where cute, chubby animals settle their differences by duking it out in giant mechs. Due to a lack of exercise (certainly not caused by overuse of mechs in everyday life), obesity and mech combat has ravaged the globe!

DarkwebStreamer - a psycho-horror RPG streaming sim. Explore the dark web. Buy creepy stuff. Do weird rituals. Stream dangers and demise. Gain subscribers, friends & enemies. Fame or death—what'll come first?

Copycat - A wholesome, narrative-driven game about rejection, belonging and the true meaning of home. It follows the story of a newly adopted shelter cat who becomes the victim of an elaborate plan when a jealous, stray copycat steals her place in the household.

Primordials Legends: Hollow Hero - tells the tale of Brunt, an anthropomorphic wombat on her first adventure in the fantasy world, Eridal. Embark on this epic 3rd person action-filled adventure, uncover how this world came to be, and meet new legends that will help shape the future of Eridal!

Mario Wonder

Nintendo returned to PAX Aus this year and brought with them a selection of new releases. I managed to make it to the Mario Wonder demo just before the weekend wrapped up. This game will once again be a big hit with Mario fans however I found the demo to be severely lacking in tutorial instructions. Anyone else who jumped in and played this find the same thing?

Fortunately, the amazing Nintendo staff on hand were jumping in and providing direction when needed but let's hope the full game has sufficient explanation about what to do when certain powerups fall into our hands.

Escape Room

Not technically part of the PAX experience but at the end of the weekend some friends and I hit up Trapt escape rooms in Melbourne city. We were locked up in The Wayward Wizard room with an hour on the clock. After opening many a lock, we managed to escape with around 8 minutes left.

I definitely recommend checking out Trapt the next time you're in Melbourne, entry to the bar and lounge is free and escape rooms are priced per person!

PAX AUS Haul

If you'd like to check what I bought at PAX this year you can check out my haul video: