You gotta love that post-Day of the devs showcase feeling. The association, founded by Double Fine Productions and iam8bit, consistently highlights top-tier games from independant developers across the globe, providing space for creators to share their stories in both online and in-person events. This year’s Day of the Devs: The Game Awards Digital Showcase was an hour-long party of 22 upcoming indie games, including six world premieres and three release date announcements.
Settle in and bask in the afterglow with us:
## World Premieres
### *Virtue and a Sledgehammer* – Deconstructeam
Deconstructeam is a small Spanish studio that’s responsible for some of the most cerebral, sexy and darkly philosophical games around, including *Gods Will Be Watching*, *The Red Strings Club* and *The cosmic Wheel Sisterhood*. The team’s next project is *Virtue and a Sledgehammer*, and it represents a new look with 3D, cel-shaded animations and a third-person viewpoint rather than the studio’s typical pixelated planar fare. The vibes are just as sinister and introspective as expected, tho.
*Virtue and a Sledgehammer* is a moody coming-of-age experience set in a wooded ghost town dotted with robots and lost locals. Spend quiet moments with old friends and than swing the sledgehammer to raze your hometown and uncover memories that can definitely help you move on. the game’s buildings and objects are highly reactive, which can only help with the catharsis of it all.
*Virtue and a Sledgehammer* is due to hit Steam in 2026,published by Devolver Digital.
### *UN:Me* – Shueisha Games
Now, this is a horror game. *UN:Me* comes from Japanese publisher Shueisha Games and developer Historia, and it’s a creepy, mind-bending exploration of primal fear. It stars a young woman with four souls trapped inside of her body,fighting for control of her consciousness. She wanders sterile, illogical hallways and encounters grotesque horrors representing common human fe
CorgiSpace & Frog Sqwad: New Indie Games to watch
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CorgiSpace – Finji
In recent years, Finji founder Adam Saltsman has been involved in high-profile indie games like Overlands, Night in the Woods, Tunic and Usual June, but his new project taps into his simplistic and mechanics-driven Canabalt roots. Corgispace is a collection of 8-bit games with off-kilter premises, including the soulslike Rat Dreams where you can only dodgeroll, the no-jumping platformer skeleton Jeleton, and Prince of Prussia, an adventure where you stab Nazis “but in a fun new way,” according to Saltsman. also, he says there are no secrets in this game, which leads us to beleive there is at least one secret in this game.
Corgispace is out now (!) on Steam and Itch.io.
frog Sqwad – Panic Stations
If the former Fall Guys developers at Panic Stations know how to do one thing, it’s make a silly-physics multiplayer game, so that’s exactly what they’re doing. Frog Sqwad is a co-op experience where you and your fellow frogs search the sewers for food in order to satiate the swamp king. You can eat food to grow bigger and become the mega frog, vomit to shrink, and use your long sticky tongue to swing, hang and slingshot your friends. The sewer levels are procedurally generated, so your froggy playground will always be different, and each run gets harder as the swamp king requires more food.
Frog Sqwad is coming to Steam in 2026, with a playtest beforehand.
Release dates
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Day of the Devs 2025 Showcases New Games and Revives a Lost NES Title
The day of the Devs: The Game Awards Digital showcase 2025 featured announcements of several upcoming games and a remarkable resurrection of a previously unreleased title. Highlights included new looks at Into the Fire, a follow-up to The Invincible, the intriguing Unshine Arcade, and the release of Xcavator 2025, a long-lost game from a legendary programmer.
New Game Announcements
Several promising titles were showcased during the event.
* into the Fire: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2988030/Into_the_Fire/ This game is described as an impressive follow-up to The Invincible.
* Unshine Arcade: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3694100/Unshine_Arcade/ Unshine Arcade offers a unique and unsettling premise, centering around the hidden lives of tamagotchis and claw machines.
Xcavator 2025: A Lost Game Rediscovered
Perhaps the most significant announcement was the release of Xcavator 2025, a game originally developed in the early 1990s by Astonishing Technologies, the studio behind Big Buck Hunter. Despite being completed, the game never received a commercial release until now.
The revival of Xcavator 2025 is a collaborative effort between the Video Game History Foundation, Mega Cat Studios, Retrotainment Games, and iam8bit. Chris Oberth, a highly respected programmer known for his work on early computer games, originally developed the title. https://www.vgmf.com/blog/xcavator-2025-nes-release/
An NES cartridge of Xcavator 2025 is currently available for pre-order on iam8bit. All proceeds from the sale of the cartridges will be donated to the Video Game History Foundation,supporting their mission to preserve and celebrate video game history. https://www.videogamehistoryfoundation.org/
About the Video Game History Foundation
The Video Game History Foundation (VGHF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving,celebrating,and studying video game history.They work to archive materials, support research, and raise awareness about the cultural significance of video games. https://www.videogamehistoryfoundation.org/about/
Looking Ahead
The Day of the Devs 2025 showcase demonstrated a vibrant and diverse landscape for independent game development. The successful revival of Xcavator 2025 highlights the importance of preservation efforts and the enduring appeal of classic gaming experiences. The continued support for organizations like the Video Game History Foundation ensures that these valuable pieces of interactive history will be available for future generations.
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