We tried out a bunch of eclectic indies at the Game Awards edition of Day of the Devs. These 8 standouts should be on your Steam wish lists.
Forget Christmas; last week, we got a second Summer Game Fest thanks to a few days of high-profile announcements. That includes the first trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI and a three-and-a-half hour Game Awards broadcast that revealed upcoming titles like Monster Hunter Wilds and Arkane’s Blade. I wouldn’t blame anyone who wasn’t able to keep track of every single announcement offered up in the span of three days.
There’s one showcase, though, that’s worth revisiting. Day of the Devs, a live broadcast that routinely highlights independent games, returned last week with a showcase full of announcements. Titles like Flock and Resistor gave a wide picture of the diverse, creative games brewing in the ever-busy indie scene. To punctate that celebration, Day of the Devs held a public event in Los Angeles the day after The Game Awards, where players could try out over 40 games shown off during the stream.
Digital Trends attended the bustling show, going hands-on with over a dozen upcoming titles. They ranged from oddball horror games about evil landlords to a playable documentary about video game legend Jeff Minter. While we didn’t get to try every game (titles like the surreal Dome-King Cabbage were such crowd hits that it was difficult to get hands-on), we did play enough to get a sense of how many strange and wonderful worlds small developers have brewing. These were just a few of our favorites we played at Day of the Devs. If you’re interested, you may want to consider wish-listing them on platforms like Steam.Flock
Flock is one of those games that feels like it was built entirely for me, an amateur birdwatcher. Created by the team behind Wilmot’s Warehouse and I Am Dead, it’s essentially a nature-classification game. In my demo, I’d hop on the back of a colorful bird and sail through the clouds to a small island. From there, I could study all sorts of quirky alien creatures and try to correctly identify and classify them by species. It’s a relaxing gameplay loop punctuated by some great jolts of animal comedy. While my demo would only give me a taste of its central progression, tasking me with identifying a certain number of creatures or courting them to fly alongside me, that was enough to know I’ll be taking to the skies when it launches next spring.Resistor
Inspired by classic PS2 games like Burnout, Resistor is a unique mash-up of an arcade racer and narrative adventure. The pre-alpha demo I played would drop me in a canyon where I’d be free to zip around winding paths en route to the next story destination. While driving, I could launch off ramps, boost to reach far-off paths, or even bash into other vehicles, prompting a satisfying slow-motion takedown. For a game that’s only been in development for less than two years, Resistor already feels remarkably fast and fun.
