Directly after today’s Summer Game Fest showcase came Day of the Devs 2023. This showcase focuses on smaller, indie titles – and so if you’re into games a little outside of the mainstream, this is the one for you. In case you missed the livestream, we’ve rounded up everything that was announced during Day of the Devs below.
Don’t want to miss another stream? Check out our Not-E3 games showcase schedule.
Beastieball
This is the next game from Chicory developer Wishes Ultd. It’s quite a departure: this is a volleyball-like ball game. But it’s not all about sports: your cute beasties will forge friendships with their team mates, and by building friendships they’ll unlock various skills and perks. It’s super cute, that’s for sure. It’s coming in 2024.
Hyper Light Breaker
This is the follow-up to Hyper Light Drifter from developer Heart Machine. It’s an open world action game that sees you explore a crumbling world while you tackle brutal enemies. It’s super stylish, just like its predecessor, and it’s launching into early access later this year.
Simpler Times
From Stoneskip and iam8bit, this is Simpler Times. In the words of the developer, it “sheds light on the ordinary”. It looks a little like Life is Strange meets Unpacking: in the trailer we see the female protagonist pack up her childhood bedroom into a suitcase. There’s a range of puzzles to engage in, like building a bird house and a string-based puzzle. Honestly, this is absolutely our jam and we can’t wait to try it out. It’s coming in 2024 to PC and “other platforms”.
Viewfinder
If you’re a fan of first person puzzle games, you absolutely want to keep Viewfinder in your, er, view. We previewed this earlier this week, and absolutely loved our time with the game. Solving puzzles revolves around taking and finding photos, and using them to manipulate the environment. It’s coming to PS5 and PC on 18th July. If you can’t wait, there’s a demo available now.
Hauntii
Hauntii is a super-stylish adventure game from developer Moonloop. Players take control of a ghost who has the power to haunt things in order to steal their abilities. Looks like simply exploring the world and experimenting with your powers will be a lot of fun. There’s also some twin-stick shooting to be done. It’s coming in 2024.
Cart Life
A super-retro styled game, Cart Life is a retail simulator game with a lot of personality. It focuses on three different vendors, all with their own stories to tell as you help them run their businesses. The premise sounds wonderful – balancing everyone’s personal life and needs against their businesses – and we can’t wait to try this one out.
Helskate
From developer Phantom Coast, this is Hellskate. And, as the name suggests, it’s a skating game set in hell. Tony Hawk style, you’ll earn a score by pulling off various tricks, and a lot of inspiration has been taken from the Tony Hawk’s series (and, indeed, at least one of its developers has history working on Tony Hawk Underground). There’s more than just scoring combos, though: you’ll also be killing demons as you skate around. Looks good fun.
Henry Halfhead
This curious puzzle game sees you playing as Henry, who is, uh, half a head. But he also has the power to take the form of various objects: jump into an alarm clock to turn if off, for example. Or possess your pillow to move it into the right place on your bed. This is the type of quirky game we love. No release date, but it’s coming to Steam.
Cocoon
Here’s a new puzzle game from Jeppe Carlsen, the lead level designer of Limbo and Inside. Cocoon is a stylish puzzle game where players use orbs to jump between worlds. Each world is uniquely designed with plenty to be explored. There are boss battles to engage in too, against mighty foes, all with attack patterns to be learned and overcome.
Été
From developer Impossible, Été (which means ‘summer’ in French) is a beautiful-looking game that casts you as a painter. Originally monochrome, the world around you can be painted with colour as you explore it. And exploration is key here, with player-led discovery being the core focus of Éte. We’re looking forward to seeing more.
Summerhill
Summerhill is from Land & Sea, the developer of the Alto series, but this one is something a little different. It’s the studio’s “most ambitious project yet”, apparently – and it’s not hard to see why. Forget endless running, Summerhill is a puzzle game that casts you as a shepherd. It’s a narrative-led adventure that presents players with a coming-of-age folktale, told with beautiful visuals that remind us of Rime. Can’t be a bad thing, surely?
Eternights
Eternights somehow fuses together an action game with a dating simulator. And honestly, that description is more than enough to pique our interest. It’s brought to life with beautiful anime-style visuals and fully-voiced characters that we can’t wait to get to know better. It’s out in September 2023 on PlayStation and PC.
Retro Gadgets
If you like fiddling with things and building your own gadgets, then Retro Gadgets might be for you. You can make your own gadgets, or jump into experience other people’s gadgets – including portable game devices that can actually be played. It looks great if you’re creatively minded.
Mars First Logistics
Here’s another game that has you creating and building your own things – this time, vehicles. You’ll need to create the right congraption in order to transport an object from A to B. You’ll unlock new pieces of equipment as you go, allowing you to get more and more creative with your vehicles. We’re not sure we’re quite technically-minded enough for this one, but we can admire it from afar. It’s launching into early access on 22nd June.
Salt Sea Chronicles
This is from the developer of Mutazione, which instantly excites us because we love Mutazione. Salt Sea Chronicles is something a little different, though: you play as a full crew of a ship. Alas, your captain has gone missing, and so you’ll have to set out on the water to search down clues to find out where she’s gone. As you explore, you’ll meet new communities, engage in different narratives, and even play a bit of cards in your downtime. It looks lovely, and we’re looking forward to seeing more.
