Here's All The Upcoming Aus Indie Games We Reckon Are Totally Worth The Hype

More than half of 2019 is done, dusted, and in the recycling bin. This makes death feel imminent and new video games feel 2,000 years away. However, you can’t always trust your own feelings. There are a plethora of rad video games coming out. In fact, a bunch of them are being made by Australian indie developers. 

Untitled Goose Game

Have you ever wanted to be a goose that steals hats and sandwiches from the bourgeoisie? Well, thanks to House House, this desire can become a reality. In this top-down stealth game, you play as a goose in a quaint UK village. You waddle into yards, ruin gardens and flap to your heart’s content. House House, a Melbourne-based studio, has a brilliant idea on their hands. After all, who doesn’t want to honk at their enemies? 

Michael McMaster, one of the game’s creators, generously lets us know us his favourite item to swindle as the goose. For him, it’s a glass bottle, because “if you honk while it's on your beak it makes a lovely resonant ringing noise”. He also says the game’s UK setting was filtered through an “Australian experience” and was influenced “by a lot of children's TV”. McMaster’s comments make this game even more tantalising. We cannot wait to terrorise the Postman Pat countryside. We cannot wait to steal every glass bottle, and become a formidable goose. 

Way To The Woods

Here’s another game in which you play as an animal trapped in an unforgiving world. However, in Way To The Woods, you’re playing as a deer. And instead of travelling around a village, you’re trekking across a post-apocalyptic landscape. This game appears to be foreboding and surreal, yet gentle and calm. Fish swim in the air and antlers can glow in the dark. It’s the textbook definition of ‘mesmerising’. Anthony Tan has been developing this game since 2015, and you can tell that his work has paid off. 

Moving Out

Moving Out is a game about the most difficult activity of all time: moving furniture. But in this adventure, you’re not just delivering couches. You’re moving items across pools of lava, past dangerous lasers, or while dodging tumbling boulders. This is without a doubt going to be a challenging action puzzler. 

Ashley Ringrose, founder of SMG Studio, tells us that the story has a “morning cartoon vibe” and a “Scooby Doo-style of storytelling”. He also says that his team was making some ridiculous in-game furniture. His favourite piece is called the LOOONG couch. “That’s it’s official name” Ashley states, “and it’s all wobbly and stretchy.” This game seems exceptionally silly and that is its greatest strength. 

Spin Rhythm 

Super Entertainment’s Spin Rhythm looks like the hoot of the century. It has a vaporwave aesthetic, EDM bangers and the trappings of a brilliant rhythm game. You tap and spin, down a highway of notes, to travel through hyperspace. If you’re into rhythm games, then this one is hand-tailored for you. 

Projection: First Light 

Projection: First Light from Shadowplay Studios is a sidescroller with a shadow puppet art style. What a genius concept for a game. Shadow puppetry is an under-represented artform and Projection: First Light wants to shine a light on it.

According to its Steam page, this game will take “players on an inclusive voyage through the history of shadow puppets as it evolves through Indonesia, China, Turkey, Greece, and 19th century England”. So, not only will you get your puzzles and platforming shenanigans, you’ll also be learning! And what could be more fun than that? 

See, our local indie scene has got your back. There will always be something new and amazing to play. There will always be something to distract you from the year closing, or your inevitable death.