A COLLECTION ASIDE

PAX Australia in 2020 was about as different for MEGHANN O’NEILL as it could get. Her usual routine involves travel, a hostel bed, lunches at the Casino, drinks with other reviewers, a cheeky panel here or there, her son melting into a beanbag and seeing more than a hundred, local, indie games. This year, even finding thirty Australian, PC games showing at PAX Online proved a challenge and this is why you will see more games from overseas studios, yet still published by Blowfish and Fellow Traveller, among the collection. With the help of JAMES ELLENDER, PC Powerplay conducted Zoom interviews over three weeks. Many less hands were shaken. Interestingly, almost every pre-release game has a demo this year, and it is nice to be able to link them to you, so that you can experience them for yourself.

DAP

DEVELOPER Melting Parrot PRICE TBA RELEASE STATE Q1 2021

WEBSITE https://store.steampowered.com/app/1372210/Dap/

My PAX Online coverage started with a dap. A bang? No, a dap, and lots of them. Picture the bobble headed tree spirits from Princess Mononoke, gather them into a little group and listen to them saying, “Dap dap dap.” I wish you could hear it. The dapping is innocent, ancient, cautionary, beautiful, accompanied by male singing, like a cathedral choir, sustained, second intervals, leading notes that never resolve, falling, crystalline arpeggios, soft rain on water. This is a gorgeous game to listen to, at least until it all fades into an oppressive drone.

Incredibly, when I spoke to Dap’s designers, they didn’t mention music and sound