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Sports-loving animals and demon skaters headline must-watch Day of the Devs stream

Tomas Franzese
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Summer Gaming Marathon Feature Image
This story is part of the Digital Trends Summer Gaming Marathon series

The Day of the Devs annual livestream returned this year following Summer Game Fest Kickoff 2023. It featured several world premieres, including games from the teams behind titles like Chicory: A Colorful Tale, Mutazione, and Alto’s Adventure. 

Key art for Beastieball
Wishes Unlimited

Right off the bat, the show impressed with the reveal of Beastieball, which the developers of Chicory are making at their new studio, Wishes Unlimited. It mixes the monster-collection aspects of series like Pokémon with the sports tactics of Desta: The Memories Between (which was also a Day of the Devs game). Essentially, volleyball is turned into a turn-based RPG, with each Beastie’s unique moves and its bonds and rivalries with other creatures influencing the abilities at the player’s disposal. Beastieball‘s unique gameplay ideas definitely make it stand out within the sea of Pokémon-likes and started the show off on a strong note.

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Day of the Devs had another world premiere shortly thereafter with Simpler Times, which looks like it will hit the same emotional notes as Unpacking. Playing out from a first-person point of view, this game puts players in the shoes of Taina, who is reflecting on her life as she packs up and moves out of her childhood home. The game has no fail state either, so it’s just meant to be a chill, contemplative experience.

The next new game to be revealed was Helskate, which is a hell-themed skateboarding game that features combat and builds on ideas that game director Steve Swink got while developing Tony Hawk’s Underground.

A demon riding a skateboard in Helskate
Phantom Coast

Summerhill is being developed by Alto’s Adventure studio Land & Sea. It’s a puzzle adventure game where players herd sheep through increasingly difficult puzzles within ancient buildings and contraptions. The final new reveal of the show is Saltsea Chronicles, an adventure game from Mutazione developer Die Gute Fabrik. It follows the motley crew of a ship that explores several islands while looking for their missing captain. Along the way, players develop crewmember’s relationships with each other and with the cultures that they come across in the flooded world. 

A lot of other indie games — including some titles we already knew about, like Eternights, Cocoon, and Viewfinder — were featured in this presentation. Here’s the full list of titles featured in this year’s Day of the Devs stream, in order of their appearance during the show.

  • Beastieball
  • Hyper Light Breaker
  • Simpler Times
  • Viewfinder
  • Hauntii
  • Cart Life
  • Helskate
  • Henry Halfhead
  • Cocoon
  • Ete
  • Summerhill
  • Eternights
  • Retro Gadgets
  • Mars First Logistics 
  • Saltsea Chronicles 

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Tomas Franzese
Tomas Franzese
Gaming Staff Writer
Tomas Franzese is a Staff Writer at Digital Trends, where he reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…
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