Unveiling the Exciting Lineup of Day of the Devs 2024 Indie Showcase
The presentations keep coming! After the cozy indie games featured in this year’s Wholesome Snack showcase and right before the glamorous triple-A excitement of The Geoffs, Day of the Devs has returned to shine a light on its latest selection of promising indie titles.
As always, it has delivered. This year’s showcase provided us with delightful previews of everything from star-launching puzzles to a musical about sandwiches that includes children reciting Shakespeare. We have spicy mansions, witchy broom races, convenience store management, fascinating felt crafts, and even a retro 1-bit TV house that looks straight from the 80s. If this has sparked your interest, you can check out everything featured in Day of the Devs’ latest showcase below.
Faraway
Faraway, crafted by developer Steph Thirion, is a ‘musical and endlessly replayable’ minimalist puzzle game that invites players to create constellations by connecting stars together – all while collecting valuable life energy and maximizing scores. There’s certainly more to it, with elements like score-multiplying loop-building and additional mechanics that add complexity – plus it even features multiple puzzle modes to get those brain cells working. Faraway is set for PC release next year.
Ultimate Sheep Raccoon
Ultimate Sheep Raccoon, developed by Artful Endeavour Games, is touted as a spiritual successor to the studio’s Ultimate Chicken Horse. This party game features side-scrolling, tumbling, bike-riding action, where up to eight players can collaborate – either locally or online – to create treacherous obstacle courses filled with whirling axes, rotating platforms, and conveyor belts. Once the course is set, it’s a race to see who can reach the finish line first. Ultimate Sheep Raccoon is coming to PC and consoles next year.
Sleight of Hand
Sleight of Hand is a third-person “stealth-action deck builder” that places players in the shoes of Lady Luck as they take on their former witch coven using a cursed deck of cards. Set against the backdrop of the “hardboiled, rain-soaked” streets of Steeple City, developer Riffraff Games promises to blend the “experimentation and expression” of deck builders with the “risk space and environmental strategy” of stealth games. While it doesn’t have a release date just yet, it is confirmed for Xbox, PC, and Game Pass.
Demon Tides
Demon Tides, created by developer Fabraz, is a vibrant 3D platforming adventure featuring a large, seamless open world—comparable to Sonic the Hedgehog with a hint of The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker’s island exploration. At its core is Beebz and her crew, embarking on a journey of self-discovery across the immense oceans of Ragnar’s Rock. The game combines platforming challenges and treasure hunting with a versatile set of chainable, upgradable, and customizable abilities that form a flexible traversal toolkit. It boasts a “cinematic” narrative, multiplayer aspects, ghost challenges, rich character customization, and the ability to place stickers throughout the world for other players to discover. Demon Tides is set to launch next year on PC.
Kingmakers
There’s a considerable likelihood you are already somewhat familiar with developer Redemption Avenue’s Kingmakers; its captivating fusion of third-person shooter and medieval city-building strategy – featuring literally thousands of soldiers engaging at any given moment – has garnered such attention that it’s even being adapted into a film. Remarkably, it hasn’t launched yet. This is a game of time-traveling medieval warfare in which players and their companions must wield a firearm (or tank, or rocket launcher, or motorcycle) to confront sword-wielding foes in a bid to save a future Earth. Its showcase at the Day of the Devs presented additional visuals, and it will be available for PC early access through Steam and Epic Games next year.
Recur
Excited dogs, adverse weather, countless frustrating doors; these are quite high on the list of annoyances faced by postal workers. Additionally, you may now add an apocalypse to that list, courtesy of developer Kaleidoscube’s Recur. What you have is a side-scrolling narrative puzzle platformer where an “ordinary postman” abruptly encounters the end of the world. This disaster is brought to life through striking artwork and some truly apocalyptic scenarios that feature massive objects hurtling across the screen. Bridges collapse, vehicles fall from the sky, bombs detonate – but our postal friend can escape (or cleverly utilize) the chaos by manipulating the flow of time. There are puzzles to solve, platforms to navigate, and secrets to uncover – all of which will be available when Recur launches on Steam in 2026.
Blue Prince
This first-person “immersive architectural adventure” from developer Dogubomb has already excited puzzle enthusiasts. It challenges players with an ever-evolving environment they must explore in search of the elusive Room 46. Each of the manor’s intriguing chambers – arranged on a 9×5 grid – promises mystery, strategy, puzzles, and secrets, but players can only take so many steps before the house reshapes itself again. “The deeper you venture, the more you will uncover,” hints Dogubomb. “The more you discover, the further you’ll delve.” I’m incredibly excited for this one, and it’s arriving on Steam in spring 2025.
Incolatus: Don’t Stop, Girlypop!
Next, in a marked tonal shift, we have Don’t Stop, Girlypop – a “Y2K girly-pop arena-style action shooter where remaining stationary is not an option”. The trees are dying and the fairies are escaping, all because of a nefarious mining corporation. That’s where you come in, zipping through the landscape while keeping one golden rule in mind: “the faster you move, the more damage you inflict and the more you heal.” There’s also a dress-up meta game – influenced by 90s CD-ROMs and early 2000s Flash games – and it’s set to release on PC “soon”.
LOK Digital
Drawing entirely from Blaž Urban Gracar’s ebook filled with playful puzzles, LOK Digital is a search-and-discovery game built around a completely fictional language. The more you engage, the more vocabulary you may acquire, with new rules introduced as you progress – which means that by the end, you could become proficient in the LOK language. Beyond its main challenges, players can seek out hidden secrets and face daily puzzles where you can compete against friends or strangers on global leaderboards. LOK Digital launches today on PC and will be available on mobile devices next year.
Neon Abyss 2
Veewo Games’s chaotic 2020 roguelike platformer Neon Abyss returns, vibrant and colorful as ever. Neon Abyss 2 promises the same relentless excitement as its well-received predecessor while introducing some new elements, including a completely revamped combat system that allows players to mix and match fighting styles as they battle enemies with an array of melee and ranged weapons. There is also mention of powerful stackable items that can create “wild combinations” during each run, and if this piques your interest, Neon Abyss 2 is set to launch on Steam next year.
Crescent County
Crescent County, described as a “game about underground street racing and making out with your friends,” is an open-world witch-tech adventure that blends lifestyle simulation with high-speed broomstick racing. When you’re not creating friendships or stealing kisses, there’s money to be earned through delivery tasks, sheep herding, or repairing leylines. But will you use your earnings to upgrade your home or to enhance your broomstick? After all, when night falls, it’s time to hit the streets for some “thrilling, flow-state” racing. Crescent County does not yet have a release date, but it is coming to Xbox Series X/S and PC. Additionally, if you want to give it a try before its official launch, developer Electric Saint is currently hosting a playtest on itch.io and Steam.
PBJ: The Musical
Among the truly unique offerings showcased during Day of the Devs recent event, PBJ: The Musical stood out prominently. Drawing inspiration from Romeo and Juliet, developer Kamibox narrates the “poorly researched tale” of this beloved sandwich’s poignant backstory – all while players guide a strawberry and a heartbroken peanut through ten wildly imaginative levels, each accompanied by a distinct musical number. The stages draw inspiration from whimsical excerpts of classic cookbooks, and the narrative is delivered by children navigating their way through Shakespearean lines, with songs (and remixes!) crafted by Britain’s Got Talent contestant Lorraine Bowen. PBJ: The Musical is slated to arrive on iPhone and iPad next year, and I can hardly contain my excitement.
Curiosmos
Created by Céline & the Foolish Stars, Curiosmos is an enchanting “whimsical space simulator” that gives players the ability to construct solar systems from scratch. This includes collecting stardust to create new planets and moons before diving deep to shape the terrain. You can conjure clouds, rain, rivers, mountains, and volcanoes into existence – even creating flora and fauna that will…be modified by the process of evolution. It’s no longer just a serene cosmic expansion; an unquenchable black hole is encroaching, and players must prevent it from engulfing their solar system. Curiosmos will be available on PC in 2025.
Bionic Bay
Who would want to play a scientist in a video game, right? You’re either being miscast as the villain or fleeing from alien forces following a lab accident. I’m somewhat hopeful that the protagonist of Bionic Bay (developed by Mureena Oy and Psychoflow Studio) falls into the latter category, as he’s trying to escape a vulnerable biomechanical world filled with “inventive technology, perilous traps, and hidden secrets.” Fortunately, he possesses a range of teleportation tools to help him navigate Bionic Bay’s stunning sci-fi landscapes and physics-based puzzle platforming—coupled with time manipulation abilities, gravity-defying powers, and a humorously intense force punch. Additionally, there will be an online racing feature where he competes against other players. All of this debuts for PS5 and PC on March 13th next year.
InKONBINI: One Store, Many Stories
I do appreciate a title that gets straight to the essence. Nagai Industries’ InKONBINI: One Store, Many Stories is a slow-paced, contemplative game about working in your aunt’s small-town convenience store during the early 90s and interacting with its customers. Officially described as a “slice-of-life narrative-driven simulation,” part of your time will be spent stocking shelves and organizing items, but as unique customers come and go, you will gradually piece together details about their lives—and depending on the choices you make, you might even influence their stories. InKONBINI will be coming to PC, Mac, Xbox Series X/S, and PS5 in 2025.
Feltopia
What happens when you take a bunch of fuzzy, handcrafted visuals and transform them into a cozy take on the arcade-style side-scrolling shooter genre? You get “cute ’em up” Feltopia, that’s for sure. Labeled as a “felt-crafted stop-motion video game”—and described by me as “ooooOOOooooooOh” w