Every year, San Francisco’s Day of the Devs event features some of the most promising indie games currently under development. This year’s seventh event was no exception. The dozens of games show how original and artistically indie gaming remains.
“These games are so important to the health of the entire industry,” says Tim Schafer, CEO of Double Fine and Day of the Devs. “You can see their ideas flowing back into AAA games. They ensure that everyone in the industry focuses on new ideas. These are great games that deserve to be seen and played. “
We just picked out a few that look particularly promising.
carrion (Phobia Game Studio)
(embed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-L0_TJ4i-o (/ embed)
Carrion is a Metroidvania-style room crawler in which I find myself as a monster looking for victims through rooms and tunnels. I assume the form of a slippery, amorphous creature that feeds on humans. The game has a nice animation style that feels satisfyingly happy. It comes next year on PC and consoles.
Cloudpunk (Ionians)
(embed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-QQ5R52PZA (/ embed)
Visually and acoustically, Cloudpunk feels like a nice tribute to Blade Runner, and if you’re interested, it just gets better. You play as a courier and distribute stuff in a huge vertical neon cyberpunk city, interacting with human dwellers, androids, and artificial intelligences. It comes early next year on the PC.
Minute of the Islands (Studio Fizbin)
(embed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMruEYKRtxg (/ embed)
Minute of Islands is an exploration / puzzle game designed in a beautiful comic style. It will be released next spring on PC, Mac and consoles, showing the journey of Mo, an experienced mechanic who encounters all sorts of strange machines that need repairing.
Nuts (Joon, Pol, Muutsch & Char)
(embed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaAy3sbH86k (/ embed)
Nuts looks like a unique and entertaining puzzle game about surveillance. I fall into a beautifully stylized forest of blue, green, yellow and orange. My job is to set up, as directed by a boss over a telephone line, night-time cameras that record the movements of a family of squirrels. Every day I check the footage and move the cameras to find out more. There are also helpful things around the world. Platform and release date are TBD.
The other side (Florian Veltman)
(embed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmSma6jqa3E (/ embed)
This mobile puzzle game is about a ghost family who set out to find out who they were. They navigate through a strange world consisting of conveyor belts that also serve as puzzles.
Toy (Niall Tessier-Lavigne and Will Anderson)
(embed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBgNv44cpgc (/ embed)
Toys are best described as Tamagotchi with feelings. I create a creature by contracting different shapes and colors. It is my job to understand the personality of the creature through small interactions such as touching, giving, and playing, while satisfying their basic needs. It’s about trial and error, the creation of a mutual language of mutual trust. Each creature has its own personality and reacts differently to different inputs. For example, some may like cuddling while others are more conspicuous. Like a child in adulthood, the creature will eventually leave you behind. Release date and platforms are TBD.
The procession to Calvary (Joe Richardson)
(embed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yxc7KK-3S9U (/ embed)
The procession to Calvary is Joe Richardson’s successor to Four Last Things. It’s again an animated montage of Renaissance art that has been cut, torn, and pasted to create a chic and fun Monty Python-style joke panel. It is available for Windows PC, Mac and Linux.
The red lantern (Timberline Studio)
(embed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJuZxy65BrM (/ embed)
We liked the look of Timberline Studio’s The Red Lantern when it was shown on a Nintendo Direct earlier this year. Coming to Switch is the survival story of a woman who participates on the Iditarod Dogsled race in Alaska, dealing with extreme natural obstacles such as a bear attack. She has to deal with her meager resources and make wise decisions to survive.
Saturnalia (Santa Ragione)
(embed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kktwk5z_7fc (/ embed)
The art style of Saturnalia is an animated world of haunting pencil sketches. Developed by Santa Ragione in Milan, Italy, it’s a horror game in which different characters try to survive in a deserted village. It looks like a beautifully crafted piece of macabre storytelling. This is a game for those who have the idea of crawling around in the dark. Platforms will be announced next year.
Wayward beach (ghost picture)
(embed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBrp39A2274 (/ embed)
This Australian narrative follows the adventures of a teenage girl exploring a hospital in the air. She uses dialogue trees and her own skills to learn the history of the hospital – and its secrets. It will be released next year on mobile devices, Mac and Windows PCs.
