Melbourne-based developer Powerhoof has cleaned up at the 2025 Australian Game Developer Awards, winning four trophies, including Game of the Year for its point-and-click banger The Drifter.
Thanks to The Drifter, the studio also took home awards for Excellence in Art, Excellence in Sound Design and Excellence in Narrative, highlighting the game’s quality across the board.
But none is as sweet as Game of the Year, and it is a much-deserved victory against some tough competition. I scored The Drifter a 9.5 in my review, writing that “The Drifter has everything you want from a modern point-and-click adventure – a banging story, excellent characters that are unabashedly Australian, and expertly designed puzzles. It’s one of the best adventure games you’ll ever play and it feels like an evolution for the genre, and Powerhoof deserves all the acclaim about to come its way.”
The #AGDAs25 Winner For Game of the Year is…The Drifter by Powerhoof
— The Australian Game Developer Awards (The AGDAs) (@agdas.bsky.social) 2025-10-08T09:38:51.100357055Z
Other notable winners were Mars First Logistics (Excellence in Gameplay), Tempopo (Excellence in Music and Excellence in Accessibility) and Massive Monster (Studio of the Year). The full list of winners can be found below.
-
Game of the year: The Drifter by Powerhoof (VIC)
-
Excellence in art: The Drifter by Powerhoof (VIC)
-
Excellence in gameplay: Mars First Logistics by Shape Shop (VIC)
-
Excellence in narrative: The Drifter by Powerhoof (VIC)
-
Excellence in sound design: The Drifter by Powerhoof (VIC)
-
Excellence in music: Tempopo by Witch Beam (QLD)
-
Excellence in accessibility: Tempopo by Witch Beam (QLD)
-
Excellence in mobile: Feed the Deep by Luke Muscat (QLD)
-
Excellence in Extended Reality: Shattered by PlaySide Studios and Meta (VIC)
-
Excellence in Impact: Copycat by Spoonful of Wonder (VIC)
-
Excellence in Debut: PROXIMATE by Cain Maddox (VIC)
-
Excellence in ongoing: RISK: Global Domination by SMG Studio (NSW)
-
The Rising Star: Aiden Gyory (ACT)
-
The Adam Lancman: Antony Reed (VIC)
-
Studio of the Year: Massive Monster (VIC)
What do you make of all the winners? Did the judges get it right? Let us know in the comments or on social media.
Despite a childhood playing survival horrors, point and clicks and beat ’em ups, these days Zach tries to convince people that Homefront: The Revolution is a good game while pining for a sequel to The Order: 1886 and a live-action Treasure Planet film. Carlton, Burnley FC & SJ Sharks fan. Get around him on Twitter @tightinthejorts
