Once once more, non-profit Day of the Devs formally returned Wednesday with an indie showcase that includes almost 20 impartial video games throughout a number of genres, platforms, studios, and types as a part of the run-up to The Game Awards. The present featured every thing from a stop-motion recreation that’s fully manufactured from felt, a recreation the place you have interaction in medieval warfare with fashionable weapons, the return of an unreleased puzzle recreation first introduced over a decade in the past, and one thing to do with altering channels on a one-bit TV.
You ought to actually return and watch the entire thing, however should you’re skimming the highlights, right here’s a rundown of every thing we simply noticed at Day of the Devs:
Faraway
The presentation opened with Faraway – a single-player, one-button, procedurally generated arcade recreation about drawing constellations within the evening sky. Faraway has been a scorching rumor for a very long time, having been proven round at indie showcases all the way in which again in 2011 and initially billed as an iPad recreation. But it missed its deliberate launch date then, and disappeared for years. Faraway is developed by Steph Thirion of Little Eyes studio, and is being printed by Annapurna on PC in 2025.
Ultimate Sheep Raccoon
Ultimate Sheep Raccoon is strictly what it says on the tin. A religious successor to Ultimate Chicken Horse from the identical group, Clever Endeavor Games, it’s a multiplayer aggressive platformer the place gamers construct wild platforming programs and race via them with pals. This time, everybody’s on bikes. No launch date but, but it surely’s deliberate for Steam.
Sleight of Hand
We’ve seen Sleight of Hand, from Riffraff Games, at an Xbox Partner Preview occasion earlier this yr. In it, you play as Lady Luck, a witch detective working to take down her former coven utilizing darkish magic by way of a cursed deck of playing cards. In Day of the Devs at present, we watched a pattern of how a gameplay state of affairs may go, with Lady Luck utilizing a drawn hand of playing cards to cover, lure her enemies, and in the end lure them so she will go by unseen. Sleight of Hand is coming to PC and Xbox at a later date.
Demon Tides
By studio Fabraz, Demon Tides is an open world 3D platformer that provides off “Wind Waker however hip and trendy” vibes. We bought a glance at present at a number of the platforming and the participant’s means to customise not simply their character’s look, but in addition their skills, giving them various completely different choices for easy methods to cross the identical gaps. Demon Tides is deliberate for launch in 2025 on Steam.
Kingmakers
Developers Redemption Road, makers of, uh, Road Redemption, appeared in Day of the Devs to point out off Kingmakers, a recreation we’re already fairly stoked about right here at IGN. It’s a recreation with an idea that’s…form of pleasant? You play as a part of a group of fighters with fashionable weapons – weapons, bombs, tanks, and so forth – who return to medieval England to vary the course of historical past. So you’re combating in medieval occasions…however with weapons. Kingmakers mixes metropolis simulator parts with first and third-person shooter mechanics and large, destructible environments. You can blow up something you may see, or stage a struggle on high of it, or drive a automobile via it. The entire factor appears to be like form of nuts, and you may play your entire marketing campaign solo or with as much as three pals. Kingmakers is coming to early entry on Steam and the Epic Games Store subsequent yr.
Recur
Recur is a puzzle recreation from developer Astralogical the place you play as an unassuming postman who all of a sudden finds himself with the flexibility to pause, rewind, and quick ahead time itself. From what we noticed, it appears to be like such as you’ll be working your approach via ranges the place the postman has to make use of his time powers to keep away from obstacles and hazard, akin to collapsing platforms, a shifting practice, attacking canine, or perhaps a entire automobile almost smashing into him. Recur is deliberate for launch on Steam.
Blue Prince
Blue Prince (Get it, like Blueprints?) appears to be like attractive and mysterious, an atmospheric “architectural journey” the place you’re exploring an “ever-changing home of shifting rooms.” There appears to be some form of thriller to unravel, the place you’re attempting to find “Room 46” in a 45-room home, and also you’re utilizing the home’s blueprints to form your exploration and construct the construction as you go, daily. The vibes are form of like Edith Finch meets Mist, and the entire thing is popping out on PC in spring of 2025 from developer Dogubomb.
Incolatus: Don’t Stop, Girlypop!
It’s proper there within the title: don’t cease. Incolatus is a Y2K-style girly-pop motion shooter the place you actually can not cease shifting. The extra you progress and the quicker you go, the extra harm you do and the extra you heal your self, so that you simply should preserve going. It’s a first-person enviornment shooter, the place you’re taking pictures elaborate, colourful, and typically huge weapons that blast cutesy girly hearts and stars at enemies (an evil mining company destroying the setting) to a boppin’ soundtrack. The weapons get larger the quicker you go. More scope. More harm. More motion. Oh, and there’s a dress-up megagame the place you may costume up your arms and customise your weapons. Incolatus: Don’t Stop, Girlypop! is coming to Steam “quickly”.
Lok Digital
Lok Digital was born of an enchanting collaboration between a puzzle designer who made a intelligent bodily puzzle ebook, and a recreation developer who needed to digitize it in online game type. The outcome, Lok Digital, is a puzzle recreation the place you slowly clear up world puzzles within the fictional language of Lok, which you study as you’re employed your approach via the puzzles. You begin with the phrase “Lok”, and from there’ll uncover different phrases, different puzzle guidelines, and the language of the little Lok creatures the sport is called after. If that sounds intriguing, nice information, you don’t have to attend. Lok Digital is out at present on PC, and it’s coming to cellular subsequent yr.
Neon Abyss 2
We didn’t get a ton of information at present about Neon Abyss 2, but it surely’s protected to say it’s a sequel to Neon Abyss from Veoowo Games. A 2D, pixelated, run-and-gun roguelike, Neon Abyss 2 appears to be like to carry again the brilliant colours, flashy lasers, and bullet hell depth of the primary recreation for an additional spherical. It’s coming in 2025 to Steam, and appears like it is going to incorporate multiplayer, too.
Crescent County
A sci-fi fantasy motorcycle recreation, Crescent County types itself as “curler derby however with homosexual witches” or “Studio Ghibli however with significantly extra crop jackets”. You’re a witch, you trip a brush motorcycle, and thru the day you make deliveries and do different necessary witch duties in your broom, incomes elements that can make your broom quicker, cooler, and extra highly effective. Then, at evening, you exit for broom races. In between all of it, there’s loads of flirting and smooching, as witches do. Crescent County continues to be pretty early in growth, however there’s an early playtest occurring now on Steam and itch.io.
PBJ – The Musical
I briefly thought I used to be taking a look at a Marcel the Shell quick after I glanced at my display screen and noticed this one, however possibly that was simply the googly eye. PBJ – The Musical is…nicely, a musical, telling a romance story of a berry and a peanut, candy and salty, and their final creation of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Through the musical acts, you’ll be guiding these two characters via paper cease movement minimize out from classic cookbooks and retelling the story of Romeo and Juliet…in sandwich type. All the music is written by Britain’s Got Talent’s Lorraine Bowen. Sadly, no phrase on when or the place this hungry journey is dropping for now.
Curiosmos
Curiosmos is a cute little area recreation the place you slowly create a photo voltaic system, at first by bashing asteroids into each other to create a planet. Once the planet’s created, you may experiment with daylight, terrain, water, climate, and different parts to see what occurs…together with whether or not or not life blossoms and evolves. It looks like a reasonably peaceable expertise…till an enormous black gap begins flying at you and your planets, probably inflicting a disaster you’ll should attempt to avert earlier than it arrives. Curiosmos doesn’t have a launch date but.
Bionic Bay
In the platformer Bionic Bay, you’ll be pondering rather a lot about gravity, pace, and momentum. You’re a scientist with unusual powers over time and area, permitting you to teleport, manipulate time, and flip the setting on its head. Using these skills, you’ll flip and launch your self throughout sci-fi themed environments with life like physics. Bionic Bay is deliberate for launch on Steam and PS5 in 2025.
inKonbini
I wrote about inKonbini earlier this yr after enjoying it at an Xbox showcase adjoining to the Game Developers Conference. It’s a soothing organizational recreation about working in a comfort retailer, stocking the cabinets, and interacting with clients who are available and share tidbits from their lives. I discovered the idea interesting and the execution extremely stress-free, particularly the sound results of luggage and packing containers hitting the cabinets and the satisfying approach every thing fell neatly into place on the show. InKonbini is deliberate for launch on Xbox, PS5, Switch, and Steam someday sooner or later.
Feltopia
Feltopia is a stop-motion recreation that’s fully hand-felted. Every piece of the setting, character, enemy, every thing is made by hand, out of felt, recorded, and animated. And the impact is lovely, with fuzzy unicorns, sheep, butterflies, clouds, and extra all puffing up out of the world tender as will be. The recreation itself is a sidescrolling shmup the place you trip a unicorn and shoot rainbow beams at shadowy creatures that can rework them again into their true types. Feltopia is deliberate for launch on Steam in 2026.
Blippo+
I’m undecided what I simply watched, however I suppose it’s Blippo+. This appears to be like like some form of recreation round altering the channel on a one-bit TV and watching all of the completely different, bizarre applications? Whatever it’s, Panic (the Untitled Goose Game and Thank Goodness You’re Here) writer, so that may convey the vibe. No concept when that is popping out, the place, or how. Stay tuned for extra Blippo?
Hyper Light Breaker
We’ve already seen loads of Hyper Light Breaker from Heart Machine, so I gained’t belabor it (you may learn my preview from earlier this yr right here), however at present the group confirmed up at Day of the Devs to announce an early entry launch on Steam on January 14, 2025.
Tankhead
Finally, Day of the Devs closed with Tankhead from Alpha Channel. It’s a sci-fi vehicular journey the place you play as a “sleepwalker” or an individual who uploads their consciousness right into a machine to discover a harmful world. Basically, you’re a literal tank (or typically a smaller robotic) exploring a ruined world, capable of journey over robust terrain, shoot stuff, and transfer quick when that you must. The tank’s customizable, and sure, you drive utilizing tank controls. Tankhead, delightfully, is out at present on the Epic Games Store.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can discover her posting on Bluesky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a narrative tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
