Australian indie developers had a cracking year. Across the board, local studios shipped ambitious, polished, and genuinely interesting games. Picking just ten was difficult, but here they are — the best Australian indie games of 2025, in no particular order.

1. Dustbound (House House, Melbourne)

The team behind Untitled Goose Game came back with something completely different. Dustbound is a narrative exploration game set in outback South Australia, with a visual style that looks like a watercolour painting come to life. The story is quiet and deeply personal. It’s not a long game — about four hours — but every minute counts. House House continues to prove they can do anything.

2. Signal Return (SMG Studio, Sydney)

SMG has been making solid games for years, but Signal Return is their best. It’s a co-op puzzle game where two players navigate a space station by communicating through audio signals. The catch is that each player sees different information. The communication mechanics are brilliantly designed, and it’s the best couch co-op experience I had this year.

3. Fathom Below (Tantalus, Melbourne)

Tantalus, usually known for ports and remasters, released their first fully original title in years. Fathom Below is an underwater horror game set around Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. The atmosphere is suffocating in the best way. The reef is rendered with genuine care, and the horror elements feel earned rather than cheap. Easily one of the best horror games of 2025 from any country.

4. Overland Express (Mighty Kingdom, Adelaide)

A management sim where you run a train service across a fictional Australian landscape. The art direction is gorgeous — a stylised take on the Australian bush that manages to feel both cosy and vast. The management mechanics are deep without being overwhelming, and there’s a genuine story woven through the simulation that kept me playing long after I’d “figured out” the systems.

5. Gridlock (League of Geeks, Melbourne)

From the makers of Armello, Gridlock is a competitive tactics game set in a cyberpunk Melbourne. Two to four players compete for control of city blocks using a mix of unit placement and resource management. It’s less complex than something like XCOM but more strategic than most auto-battlers. The art direction is stunning, and the multiplayer meta is already thriving.

6. Paper Trail (Ghost Pattern, Melbourne)

Ghost Pattern’s follow-up to Wayward Strand is another narrative game, but this time set in 1970s Melbourne. You play a journalist investigating a cold case, and the game’s paper-craft art style makes every scene look like a diorama. The writing is sharp, the mystery is genuinely surprising, and the environmental storytelling is world-class.

7. Resonance (Prideful Sloth, Brisbane)

Brisbane’s Prideful Sloth made a rhythm game crossed with a roguelike, and somehow it works. You fight through procedurally generated dungeons where every attack, dodge, and ability is tied to the beat of an original soundtrack. The music is excellent — a mix of electronic and orchestral that adapts to your performance. It’s the kind of game that shouldn’t work but absolutely does.

8. Ember Keep (Black Lab Games, Hobart)

A tower defence game with genuine soul. You’re defending a small Tasmanian town from supernatural threats, building defences from local materials. The twist is that the town’s residents have their own stories, and your choices about where to defend affect which stories play out. It’s tower defence with consequences, and the writing is surprisingly moving.

9. Void Circuit (Prettygreat, Melbourne)

A racing game that takes place inside a computer. Literally. You’re racing through circuit boards, RAM modules, and processor cores, with hazards based on actual computing concepts. It’s visually striking, the racing mechanics are tight, and there’s a surprisingly educational element to it. Great for both racing fans and the tech-curious.

10. Last Light (Samurai Punk, Melbourne)

Samurai Punk went dark with this one. Last Light is a narrative adventure about the final night of a regional Australian town before it’s demolished for a mining operation. The characters are vivid, the voice acting is some of the best I’ve heard in an Australian indie, and the ending hit me harder than any big-budget game this year.

Honourable mentions

Space between us all: Archipelago (Stirfire Studios, Perth) — a beautiful island survival game. Boxcar (Cardboard Keep, Sydney) — a cosy puzzle game about train travel. Neon Drift (Five Lives Studios, Canberra) — an arcade racing game with a killer synthwave soundtrack.

Australian game development is in an excellent spot. The variety, quality, and ambition of these games prove that you don’t need a massive budget or a publisher in Los Angeles to make something special.