Here we are, folks. Another year, another cool intro to Day of the Devs (2025), and once again the showcase delivered a packed lineup of inventive, charming, and downright surprising indie games. If you missed the stream or just want a quick, no-nonsense recap of everything that was announced, we’ve got you covered. From standout reveals to clever genre mashups and heartfelt passion projects, this year’s event had a little something for everyone, and we’re breaking it all down for you below.
Escape Academy: Back 2 School
Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School is the upcoming sequel to the puzzle game Escape Academy. The game is a fully reimagined escape-room experience set on a sprawling, open-world school campus. In it, you (solo or with a friend) explore a living campus, solve handcrafted, high-stakes escape-room puzzles (with exaggerated, over-the-top hazards), and unravel a dark mystery surrounding the academy’s founding. The game blends traditional escape-room logic with exploration, comedic vibes, story-driven quests, side-missions, and both online and couch co-op support.
Sounds interesting, right? Well, there’s a playable demo on Steam, so go give it a try.
Sleep Awake
Sleep Awake is a horror thriller that we currently reviewed previously. However, Robin Finck, who serves as the co-creative director of the game and also served as the composer of the music in the game, who talks about a bit of the creative process of creating the music that keeps you on edge while playing the title.
Oh, and there’s on OST currently available!
Check out our Sleep Awake review.
Awaysis
Awaysis is a chaotic, physics-driven action-adventure dungeon brawler from 17-BIT, set inside a mystical floating relic under siege by dark forces. The game mixes fast, momentum-based combat with reactive physics, turning every jump, slide, and hit into unpredictable mayhem. Playable solo or with up to four players in co-op or competitive modes, Awaysis blends retro-inspired visuals with modern gameplay to deliver a stylish, high-energy dungeon-crawling experience.
Lucid Falls
Lucid Falls is a surreal, atmospheric survival-horror game where you’re trapped inside a shifting lucid dream filled with warped environments, gravity-bending puzzles, and nightmarish creatures. As reality twists around you, you must navigate impossible spaces, uncover the truth behind the dream world, and survive encounters with terrifying beings that blur the line between imagination and nightmare.
Rock Beasts
ROCKBEASTS is a narrative-driven rock-band management RPG where you guide a chaotic, up-and-coming band from dingy basement shows to ’90s-era fame. You’ll book gigs, juggle the band’s mood and finances, make career-defining choices, negotiate record deals, and jump into rhythm-based performance segments as your group grows. With a branching story, dozens of characters and locations, and a fully voiced cast that even includes Iggy Pop, ROCKBEASTS blends music, drama, and strategy into one loud, stylish rise-to-stardom adventure.
Stretchmancer
Stretchmancer is a delightfully weird first-person puzzle adventure that hands you the power to twist reality like taffy. As the elastic hero yourself, you’ll stretch, squash, and distort the world to solve clever physics puzzles and break through levels in ways the developers probably didn’t intend. Wrapped in a vibrant sci-fi setting full of oddball characters and playful humor, Stretchmancer thrives on experimentation, creativity, and pure chaos — the kind of game that keeps surprising you every time you think you’ve seen it all.
Virtue and a Sledgehammer
Virtue and a Sledgehammer, developed by James Rordan, is a psychedelic first-person physics brawler where you smash through surreal environments using a sledgehammer that doubles as your only weapon and your moral compass. The world constantly shifts between strange dreamlike spaces and chaotic combat arenas, pushing you to break obstacles, fight twisted enemies, and uncover the meaning behind the game’s offbeat narrative. Stylish, weird, and unapologetically destructive, it blends puzzle-solving and action into a uniquely trippy, hammer-swinging adventure.
Beastro
Beastro is a cozy-style cooking and management RPG where you run a magical restaurant staffed by beast companions, each with unique abilities that help you dish out meals and manage the café. You gather ingredients, craft recipes, and serve customers while exploring a charming, whimsical world full of quirky characters and fantasy vibes. The game blends lighthearted simulation, cooking mechanics, and creature companionship for a warm, relaxing , engaging gameplay experience.
UN:ME
UN:ME is a first-person horror game where you play as a child exploring a mysterious world filled with eerie beings and unsettling nightmares. As you wander through nightmarish environments, you must solve puzzles, avoid danger, and uncover secrets that slowly reveal the truth behind the strange world you’re trapped in. The game emphasizes suspense, psychological horror, and immersive storytelling to draw you deep into its unsettling atmosphere.
Soundgrass
Soundgrass, developed by The Sheep’s Meow, is a relaxed, music-driven farming and community sim where you grow fields of magical grass that respond to the melodies you play. As you nurture your crops, your music directly shapes how they develop, blending rhythm, creativity, and cozy farming mechanics into a soothing, harmonically driven experience.
The Dungeon Experience
The Dungeon Experience is a comedic first-person adventure where you enter a bizarre fantasy attraction run by an eccentric cast of characters who constantly derail your journey with absurdity. What starts as a “guided dungeon tour” spirals into a chaotic blend of puzzles, narrative gags, weird lore drops, and unexpected twists. It’s a satire of fantasy tropes and theme-park experiences alike, delivering a charming, unpredictable ride built around humor, surprises, and intentionally over-the-top dungeon theatrics.
Scramble Knights Royale
Scramble Knights Royale, developed and published by Funktronic Labs, is a fast-paced, top-down multiplayer brawler where knights battle in chaotic arenas using a variety of weapons and abilities. Matches are quick, frantic, and skill-driven, pushing players to adapt on the fly as they clash in free-for-all and team-based modes. A Steam playtest is currently available, giving players an early chance to jump into the action and experience its energetic, arcade-style medieval mayhem.
Currently there’s a Playtest that you can request access to on Steam.
Mirria
Mirria, currently in development by Mografi Games, is an upcoming atmospheric casual puzzle game where players navigate a strange cryptic world that blurs the line between dream and reality. Using inspection and memory, uncover hidden anomalies between mirrored worlds.
Big Hops
Big Hops is a fresh 3D platformer, in development from Luckshot Games, that is built around creativity and exploration: you “tongue-swing,” free-climb, and build your own path using tools like veggie bounce pads, tightropes, hookshots, and more. As you traverse expansive Desert, Ocean, and Mountain worlds in search of a way home, you collect bugs, upgrade your backpack, and befriend quirky animal companions. With its mix of open-level platforming, customization, and friendly, exploration-driven mechanics, Big Hops aims to deliver a playful, adventurous, and player-driven journey.
Corgispace
CorgiSpace, developed by Adam Saltsman, is an indie anthology of playful 8-bit games intentionally designed with “short legs,” meaning each adventure is compact, quirky, and easy to finish in a single sitting. The collection features more than a dozen action, adventure, arcade, and puzzle games, each fully explorable in under an hour, offering a charming mix of bite-sized retro experiences with plenty of variety and creative twists.
Into The Fire
Into The Fire is a cataclysmic survival-action game where you face nature’s wrath and fire-spirits unleashed by an erupting volcano. You’ll use extinguishing weapons and retro-punk gadgets to fight off supernatural hazards, expand your base, collect relics, uncover legends, and rescue both people and animals. Blending survival, exploration, and rescue missions, the game challenges you to navigate chaos, restore hope, and survive under extreme volcanic threat.
Dogpile
Dogpile is a chaotic action platformer where you dive into fast-moving levels packed with enemies, hazards, and split-second challenges. The game leans into playful mayhem with tight movement, quick reflexes, and a focus on stacking, bouncing, or scrambling through obstacles as everything erupts around you. Designed for short, energetic bursts of fun, Dogpile rewards momentum, creativity, and the ability to stay calm when the screen fills with chaos.
Dogpile is currently available on Steam!
Unshine Arcade
Unshine Arcade is a retro-inspired arcade roguelike that delivers a mix of fast-paced action, nostalgic visuals, and short-form gameplay sessions designed for quick bursts of fun. The game features classic-style gaming and action challenges that are easy to pick up and replay, with tight controls and lively, old-school presentation. Unshine Arcade is the creation of solo developer Mark Snijders, giving the collection a personal, handcrafted feel that channels the spirit of classic arcade gaming.
There’s a demo of Unshine Arcade available on Steam!
Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth
Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth, developed by Hyper Games, is a cozy, atmospheric adventure inspired by the whimsical world of the Moomins, where you explore a wintery landscape and embrace the warmth of friendship and comfort. Expect gentle exploration, heartwarming scenes, and a peaceful, story-driven experience designed to evoke nostalgia, calm, and a sense of home. The game blends charm, character-driven storytelling, and seasonal ambiance to create a soothing winter journey.
Demon Tides
Demon Tides is an open world 3D platformer where you explore the vast seas and unravel the kingdom’s dark secrets through expressive movement and fluid platforming. You’ll journey across dozens of unique locales, uncover hidden lore, and upgrade your gear as you push deeper into a world touched by mystery and danger. With a focus on exploration, agility, and discovery, Demon Tides blends open world adventure with stylish platforming to create a sweeping seafaring quest.
Check out the Demon Tides demo on Steam.
FrogSqwad
Storm The Sewers for the glory of the Swamp King! Swing, jump, catapult your friends, and eat eat EAT until you grow into a humongous Megafrog. A co-op extraction puzzle-platformer for up to 8 players. Squad up with your frog friends for a friendslop party in this slapstick physics adventure!
Astromine
Astromine is a co-op survival game about scavenging fully destructible voxel planets. Land on planets and gather enough materials to fight off alien creatures, build structures and spaceships, and conquer the solar system
Find Your Words
Find Your Words, developed by Capy Games, is a short, cozy summer-camp adventure where you build friendships one moment at a time. You can stroll through the woods, relax on the beach, dance with friends, and enjoy a breath of fresh air as you explore a warm and welcoming community. Created by two dads as a celebration of their non-speaking children finding their voices, the game focuses on connection, gentle exploration, and heartfelt storytelling.
Xcavator 2025
Xcavator 2025 is a restored and completed version of Chris Oberth’s long-lost NES SHUMP game, revived through a partnership between iam8bit, the Video Game History Foundation, Mega Cat Studios, and Retrotainment Games. Originally developed in 1991 but never released, the game was rebuilt from Oberth’s archived source code and finished using era-accurate tools.
Find out more about Xcavator 2025 by heading over to iam8bit.com.
People of Note
People of Note is a turn-based RPG musical that follows Cadence as she recruits a band of talented musicians and chases her dream of stardom. Every battle plays out like a live musical performance, with shifting combat conditions, rhythmic decision-making, and wild genre-blending mashup attacks that keep each encounter fresh. It combines theatrical flair with strategic depth to create a stylish and expressive twist on classic turn-based combat.
People of Note is slated to be release in 2026.
So that’s everything revealed and shown during the Day of the Devs 2025 showcase. Here’s the entire video of the event, just in case you want to check it out for yourself.
