Day of the Devs 2024 - some of our favourite games from the big indie showcase
Including new games from Capy, Spry Fox, Furi devs, and more.
Geoff Keighley's Summer Game Fest showcase might have all the glitz, glamour, and triple-A brand recognition, but you can always rely on Day of the Devs to follow things up with a cracking indie-focused showcase of its own. And its latest smorgasbord of fresh looks and reveals - which aired immediately after Geoff's offering - was no exception, featuring everything from surreal Orwellian dystopias to adorable time loop adventures, as well as new games from the studios behind Haven, Grindstone, Cozy Grove, Road 96, and more. Oh, and Spelunky studio Mossmouth's long-awaited UFO 50 got a release date too.
Day of the Devs managed to pack in a lot over its hour-long runtime, but to help ease you into the festivities we've pulled out some of our favourites from tonight's show below. And if you want the full, unexpurgated experience - including a lot more developer insight on each game - just point your browser toward the complete stream.
Cairn
The latest project from Haven and Furi studio The Game Bakers, Cairn is another entry in the burgeoning rock-climbing genre. Unlike the daffy physics-based flinging of Surmount or the streamlined fantasy of Jusant, however, Cairn - described as a "survival-climber" - is leaning harder on realism for a rather more terrifying ascent. Players, in the role of story protagonist Aava, can climb the mountain freely as they try and uncover its history and hidden treasures, reading the rock face to determine their route and using their pitons and equipment wisely. And as the altitude becomes more unforgiving, they'll need to forage for food and water, or set up a bivouac. Cairn is due to launch for PC and consoles sometime next year.
Battle Vision Network
If you've been wondering what developer Capy Games has been up to since the release of its superb 2019 puzzler Grindstone, here's your answer. Battle Vision Network is a live-service game of "intergalactic battle spectacle" and fast-paced PvP, blending colour-matching puzzle action and turn-based tactics. Each 1v1 round lasts five minutes and sees competitors colour-matching on their grids to form attackers and defenders, as well as using their chosen Captain's special abilities to turn the tide. There's talk of new units to unlock, expansive customisation options, plus seasonal twists, characters, rankings, and challenges - and if that sounds like your kind of thing, it's out on PC and mobile (via Netflix) next year.
Cozy Grove: Camp Spirit
After being gobbled up by Netflix back in 2022, Triple Town and Alphabear developer Spry Fox returns with a sequel to its well-received Animal-Crossing-esque life-sim Cozy Grove. Cozy Grove: Camp Spirit, as the follow-up is known, strands players on a mysterious island populated by ghostly bears, where, this time, they'll need to bring a beautiful campsite back to life. There are new animal companions to befriend, new stories to uncover, plus ample room for customisation via the likes of crafting, decorating, and furniture building. Cozy Grove: Camp Spirit launches for mobile via Netlfix on 25th June.
Fear the Spotlight
Last year, Blumhouse Productions - the movie company behind the likes of Paranormal Activity, Sinister, Insidious, The Purge, and Get Out - announced it was getting into games, and Fear the Spotlight, from developer Cozy Game Pals, is its first release as a games publisher. It's being described as a creepy love letter to classic 90s teen horror stories, and follows two protagonists - Vivian and Amy - as they sneak into school after hours. One seance-gone-wrong later, players will need to solve the mystery behind a decades-old school tragedy (plus a few puzzles) if they want to escape. "And whatever you do," Blumhouse adds, "stay out of the spotlight". Fear the Spotlight launches later this year on Steam.
While Waiting
While Waiting is the latest project from Optillusion - the developer behind 2021's acclaimed diorama puzzler Moncage - and is described as a "transformative adventure exploring the art of waiting". This one's all about patience, presenting a "comprehensive exploration of life's waiting moments" from birth to death, where doing nothing is the key to resolving its "meaningless" challenges. There's humour to be found in all this deliberate mundanity, however, with hidden elements and other surprises bringing the adventure to life - and if the strange promise of While Waiting has you intrigued, a Steam demo is out now ahead of its eventual launch on PC, iOS, and Android.
Building Relationships
Can houses fall in love? Science might not have an answer yet, but developer Tan Ant Games' Building Relationships sure does. It's a game where you, the new house-shaped arrival on an island full of sentient buildings, can seek out eccentric, eligible abodes to romance. It promises realistic movement - "jump and dash exactly like a building" - dating, fishing (with the fish replaced by cars, of course), even multiple biomes, from somber forests and flowery fields to snowy mountains. Building Relationships is coming to Steam (a demo's available now) and yet-to-be-revealed consoles at some currently undisclosed future point.
Karma: The Dark World
Well this one certainly looks wild. Karma, from Pollard Studio, is "first-person cinematic psychological thriller" set in a dystopian East Germany, circa 1984, where "things are not quite what they seem". It follows Daniel McGovern - a Roam Agent for the omnipresent Leviathan Corportion's Thought Bureau - as he investigates a "very specific moment in time", using technology that allows him to step into people's memories. There's a very definite whiff of Bloober Team's Observer to the whole thing - from its memory hopping foundation to its barrage of surreal tableaus - but that's no bad thing, and Karma at least looks to have a vibe of its own. There's no release date for Karma yet, but it'll be available on Steam when it arrives.
Koira
Life is Strange studio Don't Nod is on publishing duties for Koira, a "wholesome tale of friendship and what we're willing to do to defend it" that's being developed by Studio Tolima. Koira begins as players awake deep in a magical, musical forest - and they're soon charged with protecting an eager puppy from hunters as they search for a way back home. It's a dialogue-free adventure built around a singing mechanic players can use to wake the forest and interact with their puppy as they solve puzzles and befriend woodland creatures. Koira launches in 2025, and a Steam demo should be on the way soon.
Phoenix Springs
Phoenix Springs is certainly striking, its wonderfully bold visual style working in service of a point-and-click-style mystery adventure set in the titular (and enigmatic) desert oasis town. It follows reporter Iris Dormer as she searches for her estranged brother, and there's promise of ancient ruins to explore, a rich cast of characters to interrogate, and mysteries that'll connect "the place, the myths, and herself". Phoenix Springs comes to Steam on 16th September.
Screenbound
You might have seen people excitedly sharing Screenbound's launch trailer already, and with good reason. It's one of those games with a immediately alluring premise, challenging players to navigate a pixel-y, platform-y 2D world on a GameBoy-like handheld device in front of them, while simultaneously moving in first-person through a 3D rendition of the same world. It promises mind-bending environmental puzzles, hidden areas, and even a level editor enabling players to build a 2D stage that's then auto-generated into 3D. Screenbound is heading to Steam and currently unspecified consoles at a later date.
Hello Again
Hello Again, billed as the world's cosiest time loop adventure, whisks players away to the tropical island of Mychaea, where - as a shipwrecked postal worker stuck in an endless day - they'll need to befriend the colourful locals and explore ancient, ever-shifting ruins to solve the mystery of the island and break free of their loop. It sounds like there's a touch of Mobius Games' acclaimed Outer Wilds to proceedings, with players needing to learn the quirks of the island and keep an eye on the clock in order to access doors while they're still open, or explore tunnels before they cave in. Hello Again, from developer Soup Island, comes to Steam in 2025.
Tides of Tomorrow
Tides of Tomorrow is the latest project from Digixart, the studio behind enjoyable narrative adventure Road 96, and whisks players away to Elynd, an ocean planet struggling to survive after the Great Flood. There are challenges to overcome and a diverse cast of characters to meet - each with their own perspectives, moods, and goals - but its niftiest feature appears to be its multiplayer element, whereby actions a friend takes in their game can have consequences for your own play-through, shaping the story you experience. Quite how that works isn't entirely clear just yet, but Tides of Tomorrow is coming to PC "soon".
UFO 50
UFO 50, the anthology of 8-bit-inspired games from Spelunky creator Derek Yu's Mossmouth studio, has been a long time coming - but, some seven years after its initial announcement, it now has a release date. UFO 50's irresistible pitch is that it's a collection of 50 complete 8-bit game experiences - ranging from platformers and shoot 'em ups to puzzle games and RPGSs - created as if from a long-forgotten fictional 80s video game company, with sequels and recurring characters creating a sense of shared continuity. More tantalising still, over half have local multiplayer, including co-op and versus play. And Mossmouth has now confirmed the wait for UFO 50 finally ends on 18th September, when it'll be launching for Steam.