Everything shown at the Day of the Devs SGF 2023 showcase

A whole slew of indies to watch

Today, Double Fine and iam8bit aired another installment of Day of the Devs. It’s a regular celebration of indie games, shining a spotlight on upcoming games and their creators.

The Day of the Devs selections usually don’t disappoint, and this year’s Day of the Devs held after the Summer Game Fest 2023 kick-off stream was solid. Alongside some games we knew of beforehand, there were some exciting new announcements, both from known creators and newer teams in the scene.

From the Chicory team’s latest endeavor to a mind-bending world-moving puzzle game, there’s a little something of everything. If you missed the stream, or are just looking to find that one game you have a foggy recollection of, here’s a recap of everything shown.

Everything shown at today’s Day of the Devs SGF 2023 showcase

• We start the show off with Beastieball, a new turn-based sports RPG from Wishes Unlimited, the team behind Wandersong and Destructoid’s 2021 GOTY Chicory: A Colorful Tale. Rather than music or art, this time Wishes is tackling sports, with a monster trainer twist. Coach a team of Beasties and enhance their teamwork, helping them bond over the course of volleyball-style battles. It looks directly up my alley, and I can’t wait to learn more.

• Heart Machine keeps things going with another look at Hyper Light Breaker, the 3D third-person roguish adventure set in the Hyper Light universe. It’s set “decades” prior to Drifter, and will see the Breaker (you) tackling an open world and tough bosses. The co-op and roguelite elements do seem like they’ll add quite a bit to do for Breakers around the world.
• Life’s tough? Well, let’s head to Simpler Times, a world-premiere reveal from Stoneskip. This story follows Taina, who’s preparing to move out of her childhood home and start a new chapter. Much like Unpacking, it seems to be about the vibes and sentimentality of a home left behind and the changing of seasons in life.
• Viewfinder is one that’s been on my radar for a while now, and Sad Owl Studios is showing some more footage of it here. For those unfamiliar, it’s a puzzle game where pictures can become objects in the world by simply placing and changing your view. It’s a little magical to watch it in motion. For fans of Portal or Superliminal, this one should be on your radar too.

• For a bit of a surprise, here’s Hauntii, a gorgeous top-down action-adventure from Moon Loop Games where players haunt objects and people to solve puzzles. It’s a novel concept, made all the better by a wonderful art style.
• You might remember Cart Life from years ago. It was an indie darling and made quite a splash before disappearing from storefronts. Well, it’s coming back. AdHoc is partnering with original creator Richard Hofmeier to make a new version of Cart Life for modern systems. It’s nice to see a piece of history preserved like this.
• Helskate is a mixture of Tony Hawk skateboarding and action-RPG brawling. Toss in a dash of demonic influence, and that’s pretty much what Phantom Coast is building. It looks like a lot to take in, but for those who want to fight and shred at the same time, it could be a potent combination.
• Ever wondered what you’d do if you were only half a head? Well, that’s Henry Halfhead every day. This puzzle game from Lululu Entertainment sees you hopping into and moving things, like a self-driven Cappy from Super Mario Odyssey. It’s got a fun look and some inventive puzzles, just from what we’ve seen today.

• I’ll fully admit, it took me a second to vibe with COCOON. At first blush, it seems like a top-down action-adventure game. And while its base mechanics facilitate that particular style, it was the world manipulation that really drew me in. Each area is a world, contained within an orb, that can be manipulated and moved between other areas. It’s a Matryoshka doll of worlds. It’s really clever. And Geometric Interactive’s COCOON is now something I’m really looking forward to later this year.
• Été, which is French for summer, is a relaxing game from Impossible about a painter traveling abroad for a summer. Paint the world around you, do commissions, and befriend the locals as you master your painterly ways. This seems like a really good way to chill out with some artsy vibes, and the way you can remember and recreate things around you is a really clever touch.
• We take a brief pause in the games news for some event news: Indie Megabooth is back! I’m very happy to see this after the COVID-19 pandemic took its toll on the events scene.
• Now we return to the showcase with Summerhill, from Land & Sea, which looks like a serene story-driven puzzle game about a shepherd, a dog, and a flock. This is from the team behind the Alto’s Adventure series, and it’s got a great look and neat idea driving it.

• I am up-front about my personal biases, and yes, one of them is social links in games. So Eternights, an action-RPG with heavy dating sim elements from Sutdio Sai, is laser-targeted at my interests. It feels like between this and Loop8, we’re getting a new wave of games exploring relationship mechanics in RPGs. And I just think that’s swell.
• Retro Gadgets is an inventive-looking gadget creation station from Licorice EHF that’s already in Steam Early Access. You can build, solder, and customize little trinkets to do all kinds of things, from the look of it. This seems ideal for people enamored with the idea of retro engineering, but don’t feel ready to start soldering just yet.
• Have you played a ton of Tears of the Kingdom, but still need more physics-driven building in your life? Well, Mars First Logistics looks like it could deliver just that. Build rovers and transports to deal with all the issues of getting things across the planet Mars, and even engage in some co-op action. Shape Shop’s Mars builder will hit Steam Early Access on June 22.

• Die Gute Fabrik, the makers of games like Mutazione and Sportsfriends, bring a big end-of-show reveal for their new game, Saltsea Chronicles. You play as the crew of a ship in search of their captain, managing their needs and expeditions as they search the world over. The art’s great, and I love the card game that has different regional rules. It looks like a story with a big focus on the world and its denizens and should be one to keep an eye on.
• Finally, we close out with a reminder that Double Fine and 2 Player Productions’ PsychOdyssey, a docu-series following the making of Psychonauts 2, is out now. I’m still watching my way through it, but I’ll say right now that it’s an incredible, very real look at the development process of video games. Highly recommended.

That’s all for this Day of the Devs SGF showcase. Let us know what you dug in the comments below!