Day of the Devsis always an exciting event. Whilethe most prominent industry showcasesare usually packed full of AAA hype, what makes Day of the Devs a personal favorite of mine is its focus on indie games and the people who make them.
This year, we got to see a lot of games and speak with their developers about what inspired them. Although we weren’t able to go hands-on with everything we wanted, here’s a quick list of the five indie games from Day of the Devs that really caught our attention.
Updated by Peter Hunt Szpytek on August 02, 2025:This article has been updated to fix an error regarding the development of Crowsworn (featured below.)
5Last Time I Saw You
One of my favorite gaming genres is one I made up called“love-letters-to-a-specific-time-and-place-in-a-person’s-life”which includes games like Night in the Woods, A Short Hike, and Firewatch. Games that aren’t entirely autobiographical, but feel like they draw on specific experiences to shape the world around the player and Last Time I Saw You seems like it’ll fit in my new genre quite well. It’s a 2D adventure game follows the story of a Japanese boy who has recurring dreams of a mysterious girl that he tries to make sense of in the days before a Tsunami hits his small sea-side town. I didn’t get a ton of one-on-one time with the game, but what I saw was full of heart and uses little bits of magical realism to help illustrate the feelings of being a kid when the world is a bit more magical than you find it to be as an adult.
Last Time I Saw You is a story that feels like the memories of being a kid when your day-to-day tasks feel like bigger deals than perhaps they ever were, told with gorgeous art direction, and set in a world that feels made with specific inspiration in mind. If you’re also a fan of the “love-letters-to-a-specific-time-and-place-in-a-person’s-life” genre, then Last Time I Saw You is one to keep your eye on.
Last Time I Saw You
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4Janet DeMornay Is A Slumlord (And A Witch)
One of the best parts of indie gaming is that the format lends itself to telling highly specific, personal stories and nothing felt more personal at 2023’s December Day of the Devs than Janet DeMornay Is A Slumlord (And A Witch.) The game is a rather odd third-person adventure game that has players wander around their new apartment in their underwear as they try and make sense of the ever-changing hallways and rooms. As it turns out, the player character’s landlord, Janded DeMornay, is a full-time witch who doesn’t go out of her way to take good care of the property.
The deeply personal aspect of the game comes in the form of the apartment itself. It’s designed to be the exact layout of the apartment of the game’s developers and, with that knowledge in mind, every small detail on the screen becomes a hyper-specific story. While the game doesn’t attempt to mention every misplaced wine glass or dead house plant, the details all add up to a true sense of place and had me thinking about the details within my own home that may seem insignificant at first glance, but tell a larger narrative about my life.
Janet DeMonet Is A Slumlord is an absurd indie game that dives headfirst into witchcraft while also telling the all too common story of having to deal with a landlord who you’d rather not spend much time with.
Janet DeMornay Is A Slumlord (and a witch)
3Thank Goodness You’re Here
Another odd duck from Day of the Devs, Thank Goodness You’re Here is a comedy game first and foremost which means that there’s not a whole lot to it from a gameplay perspective. While it’s a little gameplay-light, I’m not complaining because I spent my time with it completely entertained, chuckling to myself at the very British comedy that Thank Goodness You’re Here is packed to bursting with. That said, although the game makes many specific British references that may go over the heads of non-Brits, it features some British comedians who’ve made it big worldwide meaning that the comedy will likely land no matter where you’re from.
There’s a lot of charm to Thank Goodness You’re Here that’s presented in its animation style that’s reminiscent of a very specific style of cartoon like CatDog, The Misadventures of Flapjack, or Rocko’s Modern Life. If you’re looking for something that’s mechanically dense, then I don’t know if Thank Goodness You’re Here will be for you when it launches in 2024, but as a vehicle for telling some excellent jokes, it feels like it could be up there with the ranks of games like Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion and Untitled Goose Game.
Thank Goodness You’re Here
Holstin wears its survival horror inspiration proudly on its sleeve as a Resident Evil-style love letter to sprite-based games of the 90s. What makes it stand out, however, is its approach to area design. When it first starts, Holstin is an isometric survival horror experience, but players quickly learn that they’re able to rotate the axis of the room they’re in to see it from a new perspective, often revealing new puzzle pieces, key items, and sometimes even doors and other important structural information. It’s a feature that looks fantastic in motion since all of the sprites have been modeled to be seen from any direction making camera movement feel as smooth and natural as a game with 3-D assets.
While I didn’t get to experience any combat during my time with Holstin, the puzzles that lean on the camera movement mechanic really bring the concept of the game to life and add an additional level of horror to things since you never know what’s hiding on the side of the room that you may’t see. The trade-off with that, however, is that players are given a vast amount of space to look over as they explore the horrifying buildings they’re trapped in which means that Holstin isn’t the most straightforward experience. It’s not a deal breaker for me, however, since I love pouring over every detail of an in-game space. Plus, Holstin makes those spaces look so interesting with the excellent sprite work.
WHERE TO PLAY
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1Crowsworn
I’ve had my eye on Crowsworn ever since it was featured in an Iron Pineapple video. It’s an extremely good-looking metroidvania thatshares a lot of DNA with Hollow Knight. Now that I’ve actually had some hands-on time with it, Crowsworn has quickly jumped straight to the top of my most-anticipated list, although we don’t have a very clear timeline of when to expect it.
While some might chalk it up to a simple reskin of Hollow Knight, Crowsworn adds a handful of new mechanics taken from its other influences like Dark Souls and Devil May Cry that gives it an identity of its own. It adds things like a dodgeroll with invincibility frames which allows the enemies and bosses to be much more aggressive since the game gives the player the power to avoid things much easier. That hand-off, however, meant that I wasn’t able to beat the first boss I encountered in my roughly 30 minutes with the game. Crowsworn is a polished version of an already polished concept that’s beautifully animated and feels just as good to play.
