Best Australian Indie Game Developers

There are some amazing and creative developers operating out of Australia. The Australian independent studios produce some of the most unique, innovative, and sometimes downright bizarre games on the market.

Related

8 Best Video Games Set in Australia

Games set in Australia are an unfortunate rarity given the country’s stunning vistas and wildlife, but these games do their best to pick up the slack.

Despite losing amazing development companies such as League of Geeks (on extended hiatus) due to various pressures following the pandemic, there is still fabulous work being done in the Australian video game industry. This list is designed to celebrate the creativity of established and emerging people in video games. Here are some of the most exciting development companies and their recent releases.

7

Spitfire Interactive

Based out of Brisbane

Spitfire Interactive is a Brisbane company that released Capes in 2024. Capes shows an irreverent love for comic book superheroes and XCOM-style turn-based strategy. It is a game that emphasizes teamwork and finding the best way to utilize the unique abilities of each superhero.

Capes is Spitfire Interactive’s first game as a studio and shows a lot of promise for further projects. The studio’s creatives have previously worked on Hand of Fate, which was also a clever take on an established game style, the sinister rogue-like deck builder. It will be interesting to see where they go from here.

6

5 Lives Studios

Brisbane Indie Developer

5 Live Studio’s Cozy Caravan is only in early access but is still creating quite a bit of buzz. There’s no doubt that Australian studios produce some of the best cozy games out there and Cozy Caravan certainly delivers those cozy vibes.

Cozy Caravan received an award at the Australian Game Developer Awards for sound design in 2024. While 5 Lives Studios may be best known for the recognition Cozy Caravan has recently received, their previous game, Satellite Reign, is a wonderfully dystopian strategy game that will appeal to fans of class-based combat.

5

Summerfall Studios

Musically Inspired Melbourne Developers

Summerfall Studios are the creators of Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical, which received a lot of attention from critics and gamers upon its release in 2023. The game has received a variety of awards, including the Australia Game Developer Awards Game of the Year. It’s a beautiful multilinear musical role-playing game that draws on mythology to inform its characters and branching narrative.

Related

7 Most Iconic Australians In Games

Known for their down-to-earth personalities, these Australian mascots are viewed as icons among the gaming community.

The studio includes experienced industry veterans in the game field in collaboration with skilled industry newcomers. The new Stray Gods DLC ‘Orpheus’ shows a continuing commitment to continuing the legacy of the complex, clever, and inclusive title.

4

Massive Monster

Melbourne Studio Gone International

Massive Monster is an independent game studio based primarily in Australia and the United Kingdom. Massive Monster’s most popular release by far is the exceptionally brilliant Cult of the Lamb, released in 2022 and published by Devolver Digital. In Cult of the Lamb, players must spread their cult as far and as fast as possible, aiming for world domination.

Massive Monster’s earlier games, The Adventure Pals and Never Give Up, are platformers with a delightfully mischievous visual style. They are also fiendishly difficult at times, particularly Never Give Up, which has some insanely punishing levels and grizzly deaths. It’s unclear what Massive Monster are working on next, but they seem dedicated to fostering the fan culture around Cult of the Lamb as well as fostering support and inclusion in the video game industry in general.

3

Jordan Mochi – Catchweight Studio

Solo Developer Out Of Melbourne

Your changes have been saved

My List

My Favorite Games
My Played Games
My Games Wishlist

Conscript

Systems

Released

2024-00-00

Developer(s)

Catchweight Studio

OpenCritic Rating

Strong

Jordan Mochi is a solo developer responsible for the award-winning game Conscript. Conscript is an amazing top-down survival horror game. If Amnesia: The Bunker and Darkwood had a baby, this is what it might look like. The terrifying setting of the battlefields of World War One is perfect for an exploration of the cruelty of humanity.

Conscript is Jordan Mochi’s first game and shows a love for the subject and a keen understanding of visual design despite his lack of experience in the industry. If his output thus far is any indication, he is definitely an Australian developer to watch in the future.

2

House House

Honk! Honk! Honk!

House House is a small development team based out of Melbourne and is definitely best known for their delightful break-out hit Untitled Goose Game (which was recently featured at ACMI). The player is a “terrible goose” who menaces a quaint village in various fun and inventive ways. Its popularity was further bolstered by the addition of a multiplayer mode, allowing for double the chaos.

Their characteristic cartoon visual style was already established in their first game, the strange multiplayer spatial puzzle game Push Me Pull You. The characters of the village in Untitled Goose Game have considerably more clothes, and feet. Their upcoming game Big Walk looks to be blending that cartoonish aesthetic with real-world footage.

1

Witch Beam

Small Development Team From Brisbane

Witch Beam is probably best known for their game Unpacking. Players who have experienced the beautiful exploration of home and belonging that was Unpacking will be well aware of Witch Beam’s ability to design games that evoke emotion through simple graphics, spatial puzzles, and enacted storytelling.

They are currently working on a new project called Tempopo which has a reveal trailer available now. It looks like it will showcase Witch Beam’s characteristic charm, but this time with transformable environments and adorable character models. Tempopo is yet to have an official release date on Steam but is available to be wishlisted now.

More

Unpacking: 10 Cool Details You Might Have Missed

Puzzle game Unpacking has tons of hidden details and secrets players may have missed. Here’s what little secrets the indie game has.