Ahead of the Summer Game Fest, once again, I joined the people running Day of the Devs to see all the hubbub in the world of video games. Tim Schafer kicked off the event in a 90s-themed infomercial, which will feel familiar for any child who woke up at 2 am and couldn’t fall back asleep.
Day of the Devs began in 2012 as a collaboration between Double Fine and iam8bit to showcase indie games. It is a carefully curated collection of indie games, showcasing diversity worldwide through various in-person and virtual events featuring musical performances. Day of the Devs has always been and will continue to be free, with no costs to developers or attendees. Last year, it became a 501(c)(3) non-profit and works with sponsors.
Snap and Grab
Lauren Scott from Double Fine Productions introduced Annapurna Interactive and No Goblin’s Snap and Grab, a game where you can case a place, gather intel, and pull off heists as a mysterious thief.
Cessia and Jamie from No Goblin broke down the premise: you’re in the 1980s, “nestled between high fashion glamour and high ticket crime.” As Nifty Nevada, you’re the world’s most excellent photographer tasked with visiting a variety of locations with one question on your mind: “What will you steal tonight?”
The trailer shows a ton of locations, including a neon-drenched night club where you have to snap a photo of an apartment key, a painting of a corgi, a giant robot dog, a chandelier, and more as people dance around you. You’ll visit venues and use your crew to steal high-ticket items, and this is done by assembling your photos to create a plan outline. Nifty is being chased by Rio, a detective who has been on her case for some time now and is often a nuisance.
Snap and Grab is launching for Xbox Series, PlayStation 5, and PC early next year.
Big Walk
Untitled Goose Game developer House House revealed Big Walk, an upcoming co-operative multiplayer adventure game made to play with friends. The key premise is to talk and walk using proximity voice chat, which is intended to feel natural.
You sound different if you’re up close or if you’re in a tunnel or over a walkie-talkie or behind soundproof glass. In situations where you can’t hear each other, you need different ways to communicate, like with gestures, with tons of ways to point at things. If you prefer not to use voice chat, proximity text chat is also available for chatting with others.
Big Walk is set in an open world filled with things to see and do, and you’ll be doing a lot of walking and exploring as part of a group. The world presents challenges that require teamwork to complete, and many are even amusing and surprising.
Sword of the Sea
Greg Rice, the lead curator for Day of the Devs, introduced Sword of the Sea, a new game from Giant Squid and Matt Nava, art director of Journey.
Sword of the Sea is an atmospheric adventure game where you surf on a sword, and the idea behind the game is that you’re supposed to feel like you’re snowboarding, surfing, or skating. Journey is a clear inspiration, given the talent behind Sword of the Sea, with many elements appearing in the game.
You’re supposed to get into a flow state, and the game is about movement and moving quickly. Nava says when you’re in these extreme sports, there’s an almost meditative quality to them and how you move. You understand nature in a way you don’t see otherwise, and that’s reflected in the gameplay.
Austin Wintory returns to score Sword of the Sea, and gameplay is inspired by classic skateboarding games like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater.
Sword of the Sea launches on August 19 for PlayStation 5 and PC.
Escape Academy 2: Back to School
Coin Crew Games returns to Escape Academy! The sequel, Escape Academy 2: Back to School, is an open-world escaperoom where, between escape room classes, you explore an open world campus functioning as one big escape room.
Games like Animal Well and The Legend of Zelda are the inspirations behind Back to School and how they leverage free-roam exploration. Using feedback from the first game, Coin Crew Games addressed the one big piece of feedback: adding more of the academy.
You can explore the grounds, meet students, attend classes and explore rooms to lock yourself in. The sequel no longer features a 2D map and is now a fully explorable space, filled with unique environments such as archives and hidden rooms.
Additionally, you can embody the life of a student and discover new lore, unlock quests, and deal with puns (yes, puns!). Puzzles are woven throughout character-driven quests, and campus challenges are placed throughout the grounds.
Mixtape
What happens when you have Devo, The Smashing Pumpkins, and Lush? Well, you get Mixtape!
Beethoven & Dinosaur return with their next project, Mixtape. It isn’t a game about music or a music game; instead, it’s a game about life, friends, and the music that helps us get through it.
The coming-of-age tale is about three friends on their last night together, listening to curated mixtapes using a psychedelic retrospective musical journey. The stop-motion graphics help tell this tale of friends and music, and it’s one of the standout games being shown today because of it.
The whole game is a mixtape. The music is a mixtape. There’s a mixtape of mechanics, from skateboarding to pulling slushies —a mixtape of eras, media, and going back to the teenage wasteland.
The music includes Joy Division, Devo, The Smashing Pumpkins, Portishead, Roxy Music, The Cure, Silver Chair, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Stan Bush, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Iggy Pop and more.
Mixtape is coming to Xbox Series, PlayStation 5, and PC. It is also coming to Game Pass.
Blighted
Drinkbox Studios revealed its next project, Blighted, which is a hardcore Metroidvania set in a western nightmare. Filled with mysteries, one of the standout features of Blighted is the dynamic difficulty system that changes enemies, players, and the world around you.
When someone dies, a seed is planted in their brain, and a tree grows over time and bears fruit. By eating the fruit, you gain knowledge and experience of your ancestors, and that’s how this world was for generations until one day Sarcisto defiled the ritual.
Instead, by eating the brains raw, he gains immense power and destroys the trees and devours the community. This event releases a reality-altering disease known as blight. You play as the lone survivor and now must hunt Sarcisto down to reclaim the memories of your community.
Your character is afflicted with blight, and it’s constantly taking over enemies, making them aggressive and unpredictable, changing your perception of the world around you. You can suppress it and harness it to fight back by defeating enemies, devouring their brains, and using memories to fight. As you eat brains and unlock blighted memories, you begin to see new layers of reality to reach hidden locations, as well as new gameplay mechanics. The game also supports full co-op and features music from Jim Guthrie.
Dosa Divas
James Spafford from Double Fine Productions introduced Dosa Divas from Outerloop Games. It’s a narrative-based RPG set against a colourful backdrop of villages where you battle corporate enemies, saying goodbye to loved ones before moving on.
Combat is turn-based, where every attack packs “heat,” which means nailing the timing down amplifies attack damage and strengthens your blocks against enemy attacks. You can also use boost points at the start of your turn to multiply damage on attacks, and by matching enemy flavour cravings, you can break down their defences to leave them stuffed.
Dosa Divas will be out in early 2026.
Possessors
Devolver Digital and Heart Machine are working together on Possessors. Described as a search-action game set in Senzu, a corporate-run city overrun by demons. The short animated clips previewed during the showcase detail how the city’s inhabitants deal with the demon attacks.
You play as Luca, a teenage injured by the attacks. In a deal with the demon Rhem, Luca is now tasked with climbing a skyscraper to fight demon hordes and discover the truth behind the events of Senzu.
Possessed is set to launch later this year, and the demo is out today.
Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault
Digital Sun returns with Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault, and the shopkeeping RPG is now fully 3D with ever-changing dungeons filled with relics and enemies to defeat. Once you’re finished, you can head back to your shop and sell your loot to unlock better gear with your money.
Will is stuck in Dresna, a new area filled with dangers. It is here that old and new friends will help Will on his journey.
Heading to Hodule or Hioleah, the new biomes include new enemies, which range from melee to ranged specialists. Clearing a room means potentially finding a perk, in-run effects to bolster Will’s power and add new abilities, or you might find a chest with a relic inside, which comes with an assortment of effects. You can use the backpack to see how much profit you can make. In your shop, you can haggle with customers to get a fair price, and just like dungeon perks, you can unlock special attacks each time you open your shop, which leads to profits potentially skyrocketing.
Please, Watch The Artwork
Thomas Waterzooi returns to reveal Please, Watch The Artwork, a psychological spot-the-difference game where you are the night watch at the Museum of Animated Modern Art. Your job is to watch the painting and report any anomalies.
The paintings are alive, and a mysterious, sad clown is spreading sadness over the painting. You’ll need to focus, have some coffee, and have a good memory to spot the differences. Waterzooi mentions Edward Hopper, an American realist painter known for his painting Nighthawks. He depicted themes like loneliness and urban isolation, so it made sense to create a psychological horror game that allowed people to look at paintings without jump scares or monsters to worry about.
Please, Watch The Artwork doesn’t have a firm release date; it is expected to launch around Halloween this year.
Marvel Cosmic Invasion
Tribute Games revealed Marvel Cosmic Invasion earlier this year, and it returns to Day of the Devs for another look. The retro beat ’em up is set in the Marvel universe and features Annihilus attacking the Earth.
So far, Captain America, Spider-Man, Venom, Wolverine, Storm, Nova, Phyla-Vell have been joined by She-Hulk and Rocket Raccoon. Each hero has been designed around their unique strength and powers. Some of them can take on airborne enemies, while others can deal devastating damage closer to the ground.
Tribute Games is also introducing the Cosmic Swap mechanic, which sees an attack team system allowing for instant switching to create combos. Some of the levels we see include Genosha and a SHIELD helicarrier, with each location filled with references to the Marvel universe.
Neverway
A horror fantasy life-sim co-directed by the pixel artist behind Celeste, featuring music from Disasterpiece, Neverway is developed by Coldblood Inc.
You play the game as Fiona, who, after quitting her dead-end job, tries to start over on a farm, a place where you can escape from all her problems and finally start fresh. But it gets darker, Fiona will find herself facing an immortal herald of a dead god.
Fiona can fight and take on enemies while also balancing her life during the day. She can shop at the market, pay her mortgage using the Luna OS PC at home, and find friends, even romance, with more than ten characters. As you get closer to these characters, you unlock special cutscenes and routines, plus special combat abilities that change how you fight enemies.
You can fish, farm, and cook. Time progresses in three blocks: morning, afternoon, and evening, and you choose when to advance by doing things like eating, sleeping, or reading a manual. You set the pace by choosing when to fight or take a break and hang out.
Neverway is a decaying reality slowly bleeding into Fiona’s universe, and you need to know what’s happening in this world.
Relooted
Set in the near future, where a treaty has been signed between the West and Africa, the treaty states that all African artifacts that are on public display must be returned to their country of origin. But museums are using a loophole to avoid repatriation. They begin by exhibiting artifacts in private. The heist crew is comprised of ordinary people who band together to see these artifacts returned to their country of origin.
Part action, part puzzle, once you pick a target, an alarm triggers, and you only have a certain amount of time to get the artifact and get out. The puzzle comes in figuring out how to execute your plan, and the action comes in implementing it. Heists are made up of three phases: the first is casing the joint and gathering intel, the second is roaming the level and avoiding tripping the alarm, and the third is executing your plan and evading security.
Relooted is coming to Xbox Series and PC.
Ratatan
From Patapon series creator Hiroyuki Kotani, Ratatan is in co-development at TVT, with Kemmei Adach returning to score. The project will be on Kickstarter beginning on July 31.
Ratatan will use rhythm and strategy as you control the actions of the cute army of Ratatan. Inputting commands on your controller, each button represents four music phrases and must be pressed in order so that a procession can begin, and instructions are sent to your army. Additionally, characters equipped with musical instruments can unleash special abilities in battles.
Early Access begins on July 25, 2025, for PC.
Thick As Thieves
Warren Spectre’s OtherSide Entertainment revealed Thick as Thieves earlier this year.
Set in a “glittering, gloomy 1910s metropolis,” Thick as Thieves blends industry, magic, and intrigue. Each choice influences and unlocks unique playstyles and strategies to shape your thief character. Your story is told through a “fusion of emergent multiplayer gameplay and dynamic storytelling. ” The world will never have two nights that are the same throughout the campaign.
As an immersive sim, you can hide in shadows, learning NPC pathing and vision cones, and timing movements. The X Factor is learning other players’ movements and trying to figure them out. This could lead to tons of unique experiences because you can rarely understand what another player might do.
Sound design plays a massive role in gameplay. You’ll need to learn to play with your ears and understand your surroundings to know where other thieves are and what’s happening around you. If it’s thundering and raining, you can use it to mask your footsteps.
Pocket Boss
Pocket Boss is a short game about manipulating data and working as a remote worker in touch with your boss. You’ll get messages from your boss via a chat interface and get tons of requests, like finding easy solutions for complex problems. As you complete tasks, the tasks themselves take on a life of their own.
Consume Me
Consume Me won the Seumas McNally Grand Prize at the 2025 Independent Games Festival. It focuses on dieting and eating habits, while exploring the life of a teenager and her transition into her final year of high school. You make decisions for Jenny, including dieting, evading distractions, and scholarly success and do chores for money.
Off
Mortis Ghost appeared to talk about Off. It’s a Japanese-inspired RPG where you control a baseball batter chasing ghosts in a strange world. The project was created as a joke for Ghost’s friends to show he could make a funny game, and it ended up becoming a much bigger project.
Now, it’s heading to PC and Switch later this year. The Batter seeks to purify a weird world filled with ghosts, and a strange cat, called the Judge, guides him, inspiring many indie RPGS over the years, including Oneshot and Undertale.
Off launches on August 15, 2025. A prologue is available now.
Tire Boy
Quebec’s Game Team 6 revealed Tire Boy, a playful action-adventure platformer where you explore various environments, solving environmental puzzles, and taking on enemies in battle. You can help the locals and uncover Tire Boy’s past, who was lost as a child.
Tire Boy was raised by Nestwick, a large owl who doesn’t know much about the child’s past. The story is one about connection and curiosity as Tire Boy helps the locals with their problems while working to repair the radio transmitter that the local community uses to communicate with travellers.
The scale of the world is essentially playful, meant to make you feel small, like a kid, and thus a childlike experience. The premise is silly, but the world feels grounded and genuine.
TOEM 2
TOEM was a standout game for 2021. Now, the sequel, TOEM 2, is transitioning from 2D to 3D, and the main objective is to capture the phenomenon known as TOEM. The sequel is set a few years later, and the protagonist is back for their biggest adventure yet.
Special NPC friends come with questlines you’ll complete and, in turn, grow with them to build deeper relationships with the player, aiding them through fears and difficulties to become friends. Each friend gives the player a camera tool, which allows new and interesting ways of interacting with the world. You can use the scissors to cut things or the hammer to smash things.
The updated visuals allow the developers to reimagine the world without compromising the cives. There’s also a new movement system allowing you to jump and climb, allowing you to feel freer during quests. The camera is also snappier and faster.
