congratulations to all finalists for the Pavs 2023!
Here you’ll find the cream of the crop of New Zealand & Australian games for the year – though really, everyone who managed to keep creating in the age of Covid deserves a round of applause! This year we received around 50 submissions from studios and indies across New Zealand and Australia, which our judges and jury whittled down to the below finalists.
To see the list of winners from 2023, click here.
![Pavs2023-Amarantus-500x500px Pavs2023-Amarantus-500x500px](https://nzgamesfest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Pavs2023-Amarantus-500x500px.jpg)
Amarantus
ub4q
Nominated for:
The Guest Plate
Roadtrip across the country. Confront a tyrant. The revolution will be messy—but the relationships will be messier.
PC, Mac | Visual Novel
![Pavs2023-AnimalTracks-500x500px Pavs2023-AnimalTracks-500x500px](https://nzgamesfest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Pavs2023-AnimalTracks-500x500px.jpg)
Animal Tracks
Spookysoft Games
Nominated for:
The Perfect Recipe: Excellence in Design
The Composed Segment: Excellence in Audio
Create sweet tunes out of animal sounds!
Ever heard a tūī, an elephant seal, and a cicada making music together? No-one has... until now!
Create the wildest super-group imaginable and save your tracks to the in-game library.
Browser | Sandbox / musical toy
![Pavs2023-ChaosDungeon-500x500px Pavs2023-ChaosDungeon-500x500px](https://nzgamesfest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Pavs2023-ChaosDungeon-500x500px.jpg)
Chaos Dungeon
Built Different
Nominated for:
The Student’s Slice
PC | Couch-play Hack'n'Slash RPG
![Pavs2023-ChildrenOfTheFlower-500x500px Pavs2023-ChildrenOfTheFlower-500x500px](https://nzgamesfest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Pavs2023-ChildrenOfTheFlower-500x500px.jpg)
Children of the Flower
wombokgames and jermythemystic
Nominated for:
The Guest Plate
You are Daisy — spunky, ambitious, and totally fed up with your town's local cult and their "deity": a giant sunflower. Under the gaze of your powerful father, a gang of anarchists send you on a secret mission with an unspeakable objective... to exterminate the Godflower.
Gameboy, Browser | Adventure RPG
![Pavs2023-ColourClimb-500x500px Pavs2023-ColourClimb-500x500px](https://nzgamesfest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Pavs2023-ColourClimb-500x500px.jpg)
Color Climb
Child Labour Studios
Nominated for:
The Student’s Slice
Color Climb is a multiplayer platformer game where the map is ever-switching between two states - a challenging game to play with friends and family that'll be sure to be fun!
PC | Multiplayer 2D Platformer
![Pavs2023-Dredge-500x500px Pavs2023-Dredge-500x500px](https://nzgamesfest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Pavs2023-Dredge-500x500px.jpg)
DREDGE
Black Salt Games
Nominated for:
The ‘Slice of Heaven’ Grand Prize
The Perfect Recipe: Excellence in Design
The Composed Segment: Excellence in Audio
The Decorative Piece: Excellence in Visual Art
The Accessible Ambrosia: Excellence in Accessibility
DREDGE is a single-player fishing adventure with a sinister undercurrent. Sell your catch, upgrade your boat, and dredge the depths for long-buried secrets. Explore a mysterious archipelago and discover why some things are best left forgotten.
PC, Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4 / 5, Xbox One / S / X | Adventure, Lovecraftian, Fishing, Mystery
![Pavs2023-EpicoolKaiKarting-500x500px Pavs2023-EpicoolKaiKarting-500x500px](https://nzgamesfest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Pavs2023-EpicoolKaiKarting-500x500px.jpg)
Epicool Kai Karting
Watermark Creative
Nominated for:
The Decorative Piece: Excellence in Visual Art
The Diverse Delight: Excellence in Representation
Epicool Kai Karting features our favourite characters from the Vloggingtons in a crazy parkour food fight to see who can get the most likes!
Play on your own or with a mate, as each character flings, flies, flails and fails their way to victory against everyone else!
Browser | Action
![Pavs2023-Falsepine-500x500px Pavs2023-Falsepine-500x500px](https://nzgamesfest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Pavs2023-Falsepine-500x500px.jpg)
Falsepine
Voyager Softworks
Nominated for:
The Student’s Slice
Join a long lineage of Hunters as you run and gun through the wild west in this action rogue-like. Take on Bounties, Unlock powerful weapons and come face-to-face with a gallery of terrifying monsters.
PC, Steam Deck | Action Roguelite
![Pavs2023-Gubbins-500x500px Pavs2023-Gubbins-500x500px](https://nzgamesfest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Pavs2023-Gubbins-500x500px.jpg)
Gubbins
Studio Folly
Nominated for:
The Guest Plate
Gubbins is a friendly puzzle game where players place tiles to construct words, with the help and hindrance of wildcard modifiers called Gubbins.
Minimalist typography alongside kooky cartoons serve as a canvas for moreish wordplay. Dig through the draw pile and make words on the board with hilarious friends wreaking havoc.
iPhone / iPad now and Android, PC, Nintendo Switch in future | Word / Puzzle
![Pavs2023-Idyll-500x500px Pavs2023-Idyll-500x500px](https://nzgamesfest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Pavs2023-Idyll-500x500px.jpg)
Idyll
Demi Schänzel
Nominated for:
The Perfect Recipe: Excellence in Design
Somewhere out on the oceans of the internet, an island resides.
Best enjoyed after a long day away, Idyll is a small social world designed around kinder forms of online conversation and connection. Wander around a gentle pastoral island, strike up small conversations with other passing players, and even toss out small letters into the wide open blue oceans of the internet.
PC | Social space, Zone
![Pavs2023-InCarmine-500x500px Pavs2023-InCarmine-500x500px](https://nzgamesfest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Pavs2023-InCarmine-500x500px.jpg)
In Carmine
S Murphy Games
Nominated for:
The Accessible Ambrosia: Excellence in Accessibility
The Tactile Taste: Excellence in Physical Games
According to official records, Carmine is a dusty, distant, unremarkable planet with no recorded human habitation. It is merely another speck on the canvas of the infinite void of space. But those who know what Carmine truly is would tell you a different story.
Tabletop Roleplaying Game
![Pavs2023-KinderWorld-500x500px Pavs2023-KinderWorld-500x500px](https://nzgamesfest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Pavs2023-KinderWorld-500x500px.jpg)
Kinder World
Lumi Interactive
Nominated for:
The Guest Plate
Kinder World is an emotional wellbeing app designed to help users build resilience and explore their own emotions. Take care of virtual houseplants in a judgment-free environment by completing scientifically-backed wellbeing activities for just a few minutes at a time, twice a day.
iPhone / iPad, Android | Wellbeing
![Pavs2023-LittleRoboClimber-500x500px Pavs2023-LittleRoboClimber-500x500px](https://nzgamesfest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Pavs2023-LittleRoboClimber-500x500px.jpg)
Little Robo Climber
Alley Rock Games
Nominated for:
The Perfect Recipe: Excellence in Design
The Decorative Piece: Excellence in Visual Art
Little Robo Climber is a 2D action arcade platformer. You'll ascend the procedurally generated ship avoiding traps and enemies. No checkpoints or bosses. Just climb to the top... Oh and look out for the fire.
PC, Mac | Action Platformer
![Pavs2023-NeonKnives-500x500px Pavs2023-NeonKnives-500x500px](https://nzgamesfest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Pavs2023-NeonKnives-500x500px.jpg)
Neon Knives
Cookiecrayon
Nominated for:
The Perfect Recipe: Excellence in Design
The Decorative Piece: Excellence in Visual Art
Blend into the crowd, and take out the other. Trust no one.
Local multiplayer with a friend on the same keyboard.
PC, Mac, Browser | Multiplayer Action Stealth
![Pavs2023-Ovation-500x500px Pavs2023-Ovation-500x500px](https://nzgamesfest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Pavs2023-Ovation-500x500px.jpg)
Ovation
Looking Glass Workshop
Nominated for:
The ‘Slice of Heaven’ Grand Prize, The Tactile Taste: Excellence in Physical Games
Ovation is an engine building game in which you become one of the greatest classical composers of all time!
In Ovation, 1 to 4 players become real Western European composers from the late 18th and early 19th century competing to achieve the greatest legacy. As you gain experience, the single action you take each turn becomes more and more effective, helping you to build your legacy, allowing you to perform even greater pieces of music, and leading you to become a Maestro.
Tabletop game
![Pavs2023-PleaseBeHappy-500x500px Pavs2023-PleaseBeHappy-500x500px](https://nzgamesfest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Pavs2023-PleaseBeHappy-500x500px.jpg)
Please Be Happy
Studio Élan
Nominated for:
The Accessible Ambrosia: Excellence in Accessibility
Born as a fox in the forest of Korea, Miho carries with her the memory of a traveler who showed her kindness and spoke of home. Now more human than fox, Miho has spent a long, long time searching for her person. She arrives by airship to Wellington, one of the jewels of the floating island of New Zealand.
PC, Mac, Linux | Visual Novel / Romance
![Pavs2023-Pneuma-500x500px Pavs2023-Pneuma-500x500px](https://nzgamesfest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Pavs2023-Pneuma-500x500px.jpg)
Pneuma
Panda Egg Studios
Nominated for:
The Student’s Slice
Pneuma is a first person action, roguelike game with creative mechanics and a unique art style. The player will have to fight their way through ‘dungeons’ using elemental attacks to make their way through to the next level.
PC | Shooter, Action
![Pavs2023-SmallTownEmo-500x500px Pavs2023-SmallTownEmo-500x500px](https://nzgamesfest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Pavs2023-SmallTownEmo-500x500px.jpg)
Small Town Emo
Fnife Games
Nominated for:
The ‘Slice of Heaven’ Grand Prize
The Poetic Serving: Excellence in Narrative
The Decorative Piece: Excellence in Visual Art
The Diverse Delight: Excellence in Representation
A story-driven GameBoy game about an emo teen in 2007 with a HUGE gay crush on his best friend! Explore, puzzle-solve and button mash your way through gratuitous dialogue in this GameBoy adventure about awkward teens!
PC, Browser, Gameboy Color | Walking Simulator, Adventure, Narrative Game
![Pavs2023-SubVerge-500x500px Pavs2023-SubVerge-500x500px](https://nzgamesfest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Pavs2023-SubVerge-500x500px.jpg)
Sub-Verge
Interactive Tragedy, LTD
Nominated for:
The Diverse Delight: Excellence in Representation
You are the silent driver of the SubVee. Your deep-sea vessel is discovered by rebel divers who guard a submerged base. They don’t trust you, or each other. You must uncover the secret alliances and fractures of this diverse crew before your SubVee fills with water. Conversation is a dangerous game. Don’t get too deep.
PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, Android | Narrative Puzzle
![Pavs2023-TheUglyClub-500x500px Pavs2023-TheUglyClub-500x500px](https://nzgamesfest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Pavs2023-TheUglyClub-500x500px.jpg)
The Ugly Club
Aspic Studios
Nominated for:
The Poetic Serving: Excellence in Narrative
The Student’s Slice
You have just transferred to the University of Otago.
The Bird of the Year Ball -- the biggest night of the year -- is in three days.
Who will you bring as a date?
PC | Dating simulator, Education
![Pavs2023-Uiui-500x500px Pavs2023-Uiui-500x500px](https://nzgamesfest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Pavs2023-Uiui-500x500px.jpg)
Uiui
Jacob Duncan, Cookiecrayon, Wolf Horse, Kararaina Te Ira
Nominated for:
The Composed Segment: Excellence in Audio
The Accessible Ambrosia: Excellence in Accessibility
“uiui” is a quiz game created for all ages to teach and test your Te Reo Māori vocabulary.
iPhone / iPad | Quiz
![Pavs2023-VikingGods-500x500px Pavs2023-VikingGods-500x500px](https://nzgamesfest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Pavs2023-VikingGods-500x500px.jpg)
Viking Gods – Idle Tap Game
PikPok (in collaboration with Altitude)
Nominated for:
The Composed Segment: Excellence in Audio
Restore glory to the Nine Realms as you fight in an endless Ragnarok! Join forces with the goddess Freya to recover sacred relics stolen by Loki and scattered across the realms in this epic incremental clicker game.
iPhone / iPad, Android | Idle Mobile RPG
![Pavs2023-WaywardStrand-500x500px Pavs2023-WaywardStrand-500x500px](https://nzgamesfest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Pavs2023-WaywardStrand-500x500px.jpg)
Wayward Strand
ghost pattern
Nominated for:
The Guest Plate
Wayward Strand is a heartfelt story told in a curious way. Hop aboard an airborne hospital and meet its fully-voiced cast of eclectic characters. As time passes for everyone on board, explore the interwoven lives of the patients and staff; discover something new on each and every playthrough.