The cold months are gone, and it’s time to celebrate the first blooms of gaming spring. GDC kicks off the convention season, and the first, and one of my absolute favorite, events of the week-long festivities is Day of the Devs. Picking highlights out of the indie-studded gathering is always tough, but it felt especially difficult this year. With so many great games, here are the ones that caught my eye in particular.
Colorbound
This painterly puzzler has been on my watch list for a while, so I was excited to get a chance to go hands-on during the show. Its mechanics are intuitive, the music has the secret sauce, and the puzzles get clever very quickly. The general objective of the gameplay is to get from point A to point B in a small level to unlock the next. To do this, I have to use my ability to color the world to erase and manifest segments of the world. I only have a limited amount of paint, however, so using colors in the right order can be the difference between success and failure.
Echo Weaver
I love seeing Echo Weaver out in the wild, especially with developer Chris Sumsky standing by to chat with. We reminisced about how far the game has come since I first encountered it at GDC 2024 and crowned it my Game of the Show. I told him back then that this Metroidbrania would earn a place in the top games of whatever year it releases. While we don’t know officially when that will be, I’m optimistic seeing it in the convention circuit. And having experienced new when-you-know-you-know mechanics, fresh and lush environments, and the beginning of an intriguing story arc, I’m more convinced than ever that this will be one of the best games of its release year.
Enter the Chronosphere
You have to do yourself a favor and check out the demo for this game if you haven’t already. It’s doing something wildly innovative with the bullet-hell, turn-based, roguelike space. Most importantly for me, playing with time. The bullets only fly when I move, making the gameplay feel more like calculated chaos than uncontrollable mayhem. As someone less inclined to stick with bullet hells because they can feel so unfairly frenzied. With the ability to stop and plan before all hell breaks loose, I can’t put the game down.
The Wide Open Sky is Running out of Catfish
I made friends with a catfish in the clouds today, and, for the moments I was doing so, life felt better. In the middle of the hustle and bustle of the increasingly popular Day of the Devs, I didn’t expect to find a game that lured me into a world of gentle adventuring. The basic moment-to-moment saw me picking up a camera and taking perfect shots of the flying sea creatures around my floating home. After talking with my fishy-feline friend, I learned I could use the currency I gained from my photography to populate the sky with even more swimming creatures. With hints of my mom gone missing and the personality-laden humor, I’m glad I got the chance to play this.
Honorable Mentions
There were more than a few games at this year’s Day of the Devs that deserve a shout-out, but for various reasons — like I’ve already covered the most recent demo or couldn’t fight my way to the front of their long line — didn’t feature above. These include: Mixtape, Toem 2, A Heavy Morning, Fishbowl, Wax Heads, Ayna: Shattered Truth, Dosa Divas, and Ballgame.
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