ThoughThe Game Awardshave received a lot of attention this week, many of the announcements made during the associatedDay of the Devspresentation deserve a spotlight as well. The hour-long showcase highlighted several indie titles that players can expect to see released in 2025 and beyond, spanning a slew of different genres from shooters and sims to puzzle and party games. The presentation as a whole featured 20 different titles, and while they all looked creative and promising in their own right, there were some that truly stood out.
Day of the Devs was originally founded in 2012 by DoubleFine, the developer behind games like thePsychonautsseries, and iam8bit, a merchandising company known for its products likespecial edition game releasesand video game soundtrack vinyls. It began with the aim of showcasing indie developers at no cost, connecting them with potential collaborators and highlighting new projects, and officially became a nonprofit this year. Since founding, the company has gone on to host dozens of events, and now has an associated showcase at almost every big gaming occasion, including The Game Awards - these were our biggest standouts.
10Ultimate Sheep Racoon - A Sequel To An Iconic Party Game (2025)
A Follow-Up To Ultimate Chicken Horse That Looks To Bring Even More Chaos
The originalUltimate Chicken Horsefrom Clever Endeavour Games was a multiplayer platforming game where players would attempt to reach a course’s end across multiple rounds. Between each round, competitors could add a myriad of obstacles to the course, from ice slicks to chainsaws. Its newly-announced follow-up,Ultimate Sheep Racoon, maintains this core chaotic concept, but has changed from regular platforming to bike racing.
Now players will be designing racecourses, adding in both traps and power-ups as the rounds continue. Pulling off tricks throughout the race will also net bonus points, further inspiring risky behavior from racers.Ultimate Sheep Raccoonwill also feature eight-player crossplatform multiplayer, both locally and online - this is double the amount of the original, giving it even more potential as agreat party game.
9PBJ: The Musical - An Absurd, Shakespeare-Inspired Journey About Sandwiches (TBD)
This Interactive Musical Reimagines What A Game Can Look Like
While the entire Day of the Devs presentation was full of aesthetically interesting titles, the design ofPBJ - The Musicalis arguably in a league all its own in terms of unique style. The interactive musical takes part over the course of 10 acts, which follows a rebellious strawberry and peanut on a journey all about the origins of the sandwich. The new project from developer Kamibox is composed by Lorraine Bowen, a comedian and musician known for her success onBritain’s Got Talent.
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The game is entirely handmade in stop-motion with a combination of paper cutouts from vintage cookbooks and real peanut butter and jelly. It even draws some inspiration from Shakespeare - the tale of the peanut and strawberry is a tragedy à laRomeo and Juliet, and the dialogue features children “giving their best to recite slightly-misunderstood Shakespeare quotes.” Players can drag every part of the collages around to advance the story for what looks to be an absurd, one-of-a-kind adventure.
8Sleight Of Hand - A Witchy, Stealth Deckbuilder Mashup (TBD)
Infiltrating A Coven Through A Cursed Deck Of Cards
It’s a rarity that games combine active movement with card play, with a few notable exceptions like2022’sNeon White. The upcomingSleight of Handfrom RiffRaff Games gives the already-unique concept a new twist with the addition of stealth components, with protagonist Lady Luck’s cards being used to sneak around and incapacitate enemies. Set in rainy, noir-inspired Steeple City, players will help Lady Luck investigate the secrets of her former witch coven and take them down after they framed her for a crime she didn’t commit.
The cursed deck she wields has many styles of cards to help in different situations. Everything from teleportation to traps and blinding enemies will be at players’ disposal - so long as they get the right draw.Sleight of Handis a highly-stylized new take on stealth and strategy that reimagines the way deckbuilders can work, and is definitely something for card game fans to keep an eye on.
7inKONBINI - A Charming Shelf Stocking Simulation (2025)
A Slice-Of-Life Title Where Players Can Change Customers’ Lives
inKONBINI: One Store. Many Storiesis a new simulation title all about running a convenience store on a micro level, controlling everything from its stocked products to exactly how they’re displayed. The Nagai Industries game follows protagonist Makoto Hayakawa, a college student who’s temporarily stopped her studies to look after her aunt’s small-town konbini. It’s meant to be a slow-paced, meditative title where Makato’s consistent daily routine is part of the fun.
Each day, players will interact with customers through branching conversation trees to find out more about their lives and needs, in turn better learning what items that may benefit from being stocked at the store. While organization is a big part of the game, so is the Japanese concept of human connection known as ichi-go, ichi-e, which means “one time, one meeting.” Even just the trailer itself forinKONBINIwas relaxing, and so far looks to be one of the most promising cozy games coming up in 2025.
6Incolatus: Don’t Stop, Girlypop! - A Y2K-Inspired Shooter
Cute Aesthetics & Arena-Style Combat Where Speed Is Required
Incolatus: Don’t Stop, Girlypop!looks straight out of a Lisa Frank fever dream, and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible. The arena shooter from Funny Fintan Softworks pits players against an evil mining company, Tigris Nix, who are draining the world of The Love, a substance which is keeping everyone alive. They’ll go face-to-face with Ormyk drones, robots meant to enforce the wills of the company, in fast-paced combat where speed is directly correlated with damage and healing.
Guns will literally increase in their number of barrels as movement gets faster, at the cost of increasingly-chaotic combat. The game also boasts a new style of movement called wavehopping, which combines the classic shooter bunny hop-style controls with more modern dash and double jump movements to create a fluid hybrid mechanic built for high speeds. This upcoming title has such a fun tone and look to it, as well as gameplay elements that have a lot of potential for chaotic fun.
5Blue Prince - A Mysterious Puzzler About Everchanging Rooms (Spring 2025)
Map Out The Manor Day-By-Day To Find The Fabled 46th Room
Developer Dogubomb’s Tonda Ros describedBlue Princeas an “atmospheric architectural adventure,” and from the footage shown in the Day of the Devs preview, this certainly rings true. Players will be exploring Mt. Holly, a huge house of 45 rooms that changes daily. Only given a certain amount of steps a day, players must choose carefully in order to uncover more information about the mansion.
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Each day, players will essentially build the house themselves, creating new blueprints as they wander through Mt. Holly. As more of the place is uncovered, the players will be able to venture deeper, with the end goal of the exploration adventure being discovering the mysterious 46th room said to exist somewhere in the home. With Ros teasing that it’s a “game of many secrets,”Blue Princecould be an incredibly engaging mystery title in 2025.
4Feltopia - A Hand-Felted Sidescrolling Adventure (2026)
Shoot ‘Em Up? No - Cute ‘Em Up
Feltopiais taking stop-motion game animation to whole new heights, with a fully hand-felted world. It’s a cozy take on classic sidescrollers, with Wooly Games’ Andrea Love calling the title a “cute ‘em up” as opposed to a shoot ‘em up. Players assume the role of Skyrider, a sheep herder with magical powers on a quest to save their flock.
Each of the player’s five sheep all have different elemental powers, letting players progress as they rescue more of them and in turn gain more abilities courtesy of their flock. Instead of battling bosses to the death, they’ll instead fight to help disinfect them from sickness. The artistry of this game alone is enough to pique interest, but combined with an adorable new take on a notoriously-stressful genre, it holds even more promise.
3Crescent County - A Magical Simulation-Racer Hybrid (TBA)
Quaint Daily Deliveries, Hardcore Witchy Racing, & Lots Of Crushes
InCrescent County, players have just moved to a witch-tech-based island, which is exactly what it sounds like - a sort of sci-fi fantasy blend of fancy gadgets and magical powers. Developer Electric Saint’s Anna Hollinrake described much of the core gameplay as “underground motorbroom street racing and kissing your friends,” which in itself I personally find to be an incredible concept, but there’s even more for players to do in the upcoming title. Though they’ll race at night, during the day they’ll travel around the open world making deliveries, performing chores, and earning money for their errands.
This money can in turn be spent on new parts and special sigils for players’ motorbrooms, giving them various performance boosts. It’s also a title about finding a sense of home in a new place, where players will also get to know their fellow residents as they continue to do favors and race with them, and can even form romantic connections with many characters. With a blend of social simulation, laid-back errand running, and fast-paced racing,Crescent Countyis a truly unique hybrid worth keeping an eye on.
2Bionic Bay - An Environmental Manipulation Platformer (July 16, 2025)
Control Gravity & Time To Navigate A Beautiful Biomechanical World
Bionic Bayis a sidescrolling platformer all about manipulating the world around you. Across a varied number of biomes, players will be able to do things like teleport, stop time, change gravity, and flip the entire world upside down in order to complete levels. The title from Mureena and Psychoflow Studio is designed with speedrunning and racing in mind, with the trailer also advertising a multiplayer mode.
The levels shown during the showcase looked diverse and creative, blending sci-fi and more naturalistic environments with interesting color palettes. Multiplayer in these varied environments, which are filled with traps and hazards, could add a fun extra layer to this title, especially if all players can control the environment. The game’s Steam page also teases that players will find technology and strange inhabitants as they go, making this a very intriguing 2025 title that sounds like it may offer a lot for players to discover.
1Blippo+ - An Enamouringly-Confusing TV-Based Title (TBA)
Honestly, I Don’t Even Know What This Game Is, But I’m Intrigued
The Day of the Devs trailer forBlippo+was perhaps the most confusing of the entire presentation, but in the best way possible. From developers YACHT and Telefantasy Studios, the title looks to be a sort of television watching simulator, with the video showing several black and white, purposefully low-quality clips of absurd fictional ads, talk shows, and more. It isn’t yet clear if it will be a more active watching style of gameplay, like theDo Not Feed the Monkeysseries, or more of a passive experience.
However, the overall eccentricity of the segment isn’t surprising given who the game’s publisher is: Panic. Panic previously helped produce two other delightfully wacky titles, 2019’sUntitled Goose Gameand this year’scritically-acclaimedThank Goodness You’re Here!, and this looks to be their oddest project yet. Little is known about the upcoming title, but that just makes it even more interesting, and given the excellent track record of Panic, this could be one of the most charmingly-weird hits of next year, making it one of the titles that stood out most in TheDay of the Devs Game Awards Edition.
The entireDay of the Devs Game Awards Editioncan be watched on the company’sYouTube channel.
The Game Awards
thegameawards.com
The Game Awards is an annual event that celebrates achievements in the video game industry, recognizing excellence in categories such as game design, storytelling, and innovation. Established in 2014, it features award presentations, world premiere game announcements, and performances. The event is produced and hosted by Geoff Keighley and is streamed globally.
Source:Day of the Devs/YouTube,Electric Saint/YouTube,Feltopia_game/YouTube,Funny Fintan Softworks/YouTube,Mureena/YouTube,Nagai Industries Inc./YouTube,Philipp Stollenmayer/YouTube,Raw Fury/YouTube,RiffRaff Games/YouTube
